Are you sleep-deprived?

A cuppa soup may not be the answer to that serious case of 3:30itis…

We’re sure you remember it, the ad that suggested a cuppa soup was the cure for 3:30itis… but if you feel like you are walking through life in a bit of a daze, doze off the minute you relax or feel like your head just won’t function as it should, soup might not be the cure.

As it turns out, not quite getting enough sleep can have a massive impact on how you move throughout the day. Being tired during the day (daytime sleepiness) can seriously impact your “alertness, concentration and emotional control.” In fact, sleep deprivation has been directly linked to your health and a predisposition for cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, psychiatric disorders, and early mortality.

A 2016 survey of Australian adults concluded that “inadequate sleep, of either duration or quality, and its daytime consequences are very common in Australian adults, affecting 33-45% of adults.” That’s a lot of people.

Are you in that group? Is sleep deprivation impacting your life and not in a good way? If you are, then we’re pleased to say there is something you can do about it.

Why am I so tired?

Before you can tackle the issue of feeling tired, you need to identify if it’s lack of sleep, lack of sleep quality, or both that’s the problem.

Being sleep deprived can be caused by a lack of sleep (sleep quantity) and or sleep quality (how well you sleep or simply how satisfied you feel about your sleep). As a general rule of thumb, adults need around 7-8 hours of sleep a night while primary and high school-aged kids need around 9-10 hours of good sleep a night² ³.

Tackling the issue of how long you sleep can be easier than tackling the quality of sleep. If you aren’t getting enough, start by reviewing your daytime routines and work out how to get to bed earlier (which in today’s busy times, can still be a challenge). Then follow that up with a new routine.

If you are getting too much sleep too often, it seems the outcome is the same as getting too little sleep⁴. Again, you’ll need to make changes to your routine to reduce the amount of sleep you are getting. If you are getting the right amount of sleep but still feel exhausted, then the issue is likely to be sleep quality, not quantity (or another medical issue, such as obstructive sleep disorder or OSA).

Sleep quality, on the other hand, can be a little more trial and error. Sleep quality is more subjective and has been defined as “self-satisfaction with all aspects of the sleep experience.⁵” Basically, it’s about how you feel after you’ve slept when you wake up.

Sleep occurs in five stages: wake, N1, N2, N3, and REM. Stages N1 to N3 are considered non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, with each stage a progressively deeper sleep. Approximately 75% of sleep is spent in the NREM stages, with the majority spent in the N2 stage⁶. The N3 sleep stage, restorative sleep, is considered the most important as it allows the body to heal and grow⁷. It is the phase in which we sleep the deepest. Not getting enough of this phase of sleep can really impair your sleep quality and negatively impact your health.

REM sleep, on the other hand, is when you dream and is not considered a peaceful sleep state, but is still considered beneficial.

Sadly, it appears that as we get older, we will struggle more to get enough deep sleep. Starting early with healthy sleep behaviours and being aware of and getting help when you aren’t getting enough sleep quality can really help your mind and body — at all ages.

How to improve sleep quality

The first step in improving your sleep quality is actually recognising you are not getting enough sleep or have poor quality sleep (research shows we are not always objective about our sleep quality⁸).

Many articles on sleep quality propose that improving your sleep hygiene can help improve your sleep quality. However, the jury is still out on whether this really works as there is too little research to back it up. However, in the research study, Relationship of Sleep Hygiene Awareness, Sleep Hygiene Practices, and Sleep Quality in University Students, it was found that variable sleep schedules, going to bed thirsty, environmental noise, and worrying while falling asleep contribute to poor sleep quality. So, improving each of those factors can help.

Other things that can help improve your sleep are:

• Exercise (although being tired reduces the willpower to exercise)
• Reducing blue light before bed (a 2017 study about blue light and sleep found that blue light decreased sleep quality, while red light has little to no effect⁹)
• Using binaural beats¹⁰, sleep meditations¹¹, and relaxing sleep music
• Getting assessed for a sleep disorder if you are doing all the right things and still wake up feeling exhausted. 

Are you sleepy because your sleep lacks quality? Getting checked out for OSA could make a difference.

OSA or Obstructive Sleep Disorder is a condition in which your breathing briefly stops involuntarily (called ‘apneas’) while you’re sleeping, usually because the airway at the back of your throat narrows or blocks when you relax in your sleep.

It is associated with snoring (although snoring doesn’t necessarily mean you have OSA) and feeling tired during the day. While being diagnosed with a sleeping disorder is never fun, knowing why you are so tired and what to about it can be a lifesaver.

Today there are a variety of devices available to help you with OSA and snoring, from CPAP machines to oral appliance therapy and over-the-counter devices available at pharmacies.