Sleep Deprivation : It's Not Just for New Parents Anymore

In the last year or so, I've found it more and more difficult to not only get to sleep at night, but to stay asleep. Part of it is my own fault. I'm a night person. That's when I get my best work done. The house is quiet. The kids are asleep. No interruptions.

But the result is I'm frequently still up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, which wouldn't be so bad, except I have to be up at 6:30 to get my kids off to school. That leaves me (yes, it's true) 3.5 to 4.5 hours of sleep. But wait! It gets better. Sometimes I don't fall asleep right away. I toss and turn for a little bit, worry about bills, think of all the stuff I didn't get done that day.

Now most of the time, I can go back to sleep for a few hours after I drive the kids to school. But if I have transcription work due that morning, it's just not happening. And even if I do get back in bed, there's no guarantee I'll actually get any quality sleep. Many times, the phone wakes me, or the dog next door has a yapping fit.

So I've been searching the Internet for information about insomnia. And here's some of what I found:

• Sleeping less than 8 hours a night leads to obesity.
  
• The less you sleep, the more likely you are to suffer a serious illness.
• If you sleep less than 5 hours a night, you are at increased risk for high blood pressure.
• Sleep deprived brains don't make new brain cells. So yes, you are getting dumber.
  
• Recent studies show that more and more Americans are sleep deprived.

What can you do about it? Here are some tips:

• Only use your bed for sleeping. Don't lie in bed watching TV or reading. Help your brain to associate the bed with sleep.
• Keep your room dark.
  
• And this surprising fact which, in my case, explains a lot: Using your computer before you go to bed suppresses melatonin.
  
• The best temperature to sleep at is between 54 and 75 degrees. My sleep number is 74.
  
• Get up at the same time each morning, and try to hit the sheets around the same time each night. You have to train your body to sleep.
• Avoid caffeine after 7:00 at night. (All bets are off on this one.)
• Get some exercise.
• Have a light snack of tryptophan before bed. That's milk or turkey.

I'm going to try some of these tips myself. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight and grow some new brain cells. Wish me luck!