Have you ever experienced of repeating waking up in the night and struggling to sleep again? Irritating, right? Some may think it is normal, but it is a condition known as fragmented sleep. In simple words, people that have fragmented sleep does not have problem to sleep, but have problem staying to sleep. People who experience fragmented sleep will feel tired in the morning, sleepiness, morning headaches, foggy memory and have problem in concentration. Hence, how to overcome it?
1. Allow yourself to be sleepy and tired
Tired and sleepy people have less probability to get fragmented sleep. By avoiding sleeping during daytime and make yourself tired can help you sleep well at night without any interruption. Accumulation of fatigue during daytime facilitate your sleeping process and maintain your sleep during night.
Source:
2. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day
Regular sleep patterns reinforce circadian rhythm, a timing mechanism in human body. A consistent wake up time can help people to sleep better during nighttime. However, bad circadian rhythm can cause a lot of illness to your body. It is important to care about sleep and wake time because having a consistent sleep and wake time can improve digestive system, make immunity system stronger, have better cognitive function and emotion becomes more stable.
Source:
3. Avoid electronics in the last hour before bed
Electronics such as mobile phone and tablet need to be put away because it can distract you for going to sleep. Dr Walia, a medical doctor subspecializing in sleep area said connecting with the phone even just for a while can engage to the brain and prolong sleep. She also states blue light emitted from screen can reduce melatonin, a hormone for sleep-wake cycle and affecting circadian rhythm.
Source:
4. No caffeine, alcohol, and smoking before bed
Caffeine suppressed adenosine, a neurotransmitter responsible to make people sleepy, hence make people more difficult to sleep. Meanwhile, alcohol make people easier to wake up, night sweats, nightmares and headaches. Therefore, people will likely feel like having no sleep. Nicotine make people suffers to sleep and to stay asleep. Therefore, it is much better to avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine before sleep.
Source:
5. Sleep in a space that’s dark, cool and quiet
Before we sleep, our body will release melatonin to prepare us to sleep. However, lighting during nighttime can suppress the production of melatonin. Lighting also increases cortisol level which can interrupt sleeping at night. Research showed sleeping disorder and lighting at night can make people fatter, more depressed and more likely to get cancer. A cool or right temperature will help you sleep better. Of course, you don’t want to wake up because of too cold or too hot, right? Meanwhile, noises can wake people up from sleeping. Hence, it is better to minimize noise as much as possible.
Source:
6. Take supplement such as valerian or melatonin
Supplement such as melatonin and valerian can help to overcome sleep fragmentation problem too. As been mentioned before, melatonin is important for sleep-wake cycle, and it is suppressed by several factors like lighting at night. Study on taking melatonin have been conducted and it shows it is safe if is used for short period of time. However, there is no research found for long-term effect yet. Other than melatonin, valerian can be taken to have a quality sleep, but more research needs to be done for different group of people such as pregnant woman.
Source:
7. Neurofeedback
SOL offers alternative treatment to treat sleeping problems like fragmented sleep called NEUROFEEDBACK. Do not worry, it is SAFE, PAINLESS and NON-INVASIVE. Neurofeedback helps by teaching body and mind to relax. Research show neurofeedback help increasing density of sleep spindle that appear during stage 2 of light sleep. When sleep spindles appear, it keeps people in relax state so they can move to the next stage of sleep. Having a high density of sleep spindles make a better quality of sleep.
Sleep spindles also act as a physiological index of intelligence. During sleeping, sleep spindles appears to transfer memory from short term memory into long term memory. There will be more frequency of sleep spindles when there is more learning process during daytime. Therefore, a quality sleep is needed for better health and cognitive functions. Call SOL at +60340226689 if you have any questions regarding this matter. We would love to help you.
Source:
CALL US: + 603 4022 6689
CALL US: + 603 4022 6689
CALL US: + 603 4022 6689
By: Ms. Nurfarahin- SOL Neurofeedback Trainer