Quality Sleep, and why you are not getting enough of it!

Quality Sleep, and why you are not getting enough of it!

October 23
by Adam Rathfon
Pennsylvania Health Examiner

The old saying, "there just aren't enough hours in the day," has never been more true. As our lives become more and more hectic the time that we have to devote to ourselves dwindles. Usually one of the first things that dwindles is our sleep, more importantly our quality sleep. There is a big difference between sleeping and getting quality sleep.

As I'm sure most of you know when we sleep we go through several different stages of sleep. They are broken down pretty simply into stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, and R.E.M. sleep. Stage 1 sleep is more commonly called drowsy sleep. This is where you are disconnected from your surroundings, however you are still somewhat lucid. This stage would be where you are when you are cat napping or just dozing off. Stage 2 is where your muscle activity continues to decrease and your awareness of your surroundings disappears. Stages 3 and 4 are very similar and are considered deep sleep. This is where your most restful sleep occurs. The final stage or R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) sleep is where dreaming occurs. There are many different theories about why we dream what we dream however this article is not about that. If you looking for dream interpretation I would recommend Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams.

Anyway, when you wake up in the morning and feel as though you didn't get any sleep at all, it is most likely because you spent most of the evening in stage 1 and 2 sleep. When you wake up in the morning and you are very groggy and it is difficult to get going, that is usually an indicator you spent most of your night in stage 3 and 4. Some people claim that they feel that way all the time because they are not morning people. what you want to achieve is a proper balance light and deep sleep with some R.E.M. sleep in there as well.

In the last few years the industry of sleep has really exploded. There has been an influx of research and products designed to give you the consumer a better nights sleep. Everybody claims they have the "secret" but the truth is there is no secret to getting a good nights sleep. There are beds designed to have no pressure points. Pillows engineered to give you the most amount of comfort possible. There are products to reduce or eliminate snoring. Do they all work? Probably. Are they necessary to get a good nights sleep? No.

If you are waking up every morning with low back pain, or stiffness in your spine or shoulders, consider purchasing a new mattress. Locally here in Pittsburgh I feel that the Original Mattress Factory has the best mattress's, but any quality mattress that supports your spine while you are sleeping will work. Memory foam and air mattress's also work but for the money an old school pillow top mattress and box spring usually does the trick just fine and usually at quite a discounted rate.

If your problem isn't your low back but your neck is always sore when you wake up, obviously you need to think about a new pillow. You can buy ergonomic pillows, foam pillows, water pillows feather pillows, hypoallergenic pillows, etc. I personally use a water pillow called Chiroflow that I am very partial to, however as long as the pillow supports your neck while you are sleeping it doesn't matter what the pillow is made from. The way to test this is simple. If you are a side sleeper, lie down on your side and put your head on the pillow. Then take your hand and slide it between your neck and the pillow. If the pillow supplies sufficient support your hand will not slide very easily into the space, if you are lacking neck support your hand will slip in very easily. If you are a back sleeper, do the same thing lying on your back.

Those are two very simple remedies for improving your quality sleep. In my next post I will go into a little bit more detail about quality sleep and some more specific fixes for more problematic sleeping such as sleep apnea.