NPR｜How to salvage your day after a bad night's sleep

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
A bad night of sleep never feels good, but how you choose to deal with it can make a big difference in how you feel the next day and even in the quality of your rest the next night. Life Kit's Andee Tagle has more on what to do and what to avoid when dealing with a bad night's sleep.

ANDEE TAGLE, BYLINE: Tell me if you can relate. It's the middle of the night. You're up when you want to be down, so you sit there in bed, watching the minutes go by, thinking...

RAVI AYSOLA: Oh, I'm not getting good sleep. Everyone says you have to get good sleep. What am I doing to myself? What's happening to my brain? Oh, my gosh, I'm worrying, I'm worrying I'm worrying. All those things are activating the sympathetic nervous system, and that's incompatible with sleep.

TAGLE: Dr. Ravi Aysola is a sleep expert and pulmonary critical care doctor at UCLA. He says this scenario - stressing, calculating - is a very common mistake when insomnia hits. The thing is...

AYSOLA: More time in bed does not equal more sleep. What it typically equals is more time in bed awake, becoming increasingly frustrated that you're not getting the sleep that you want and starting to calculate however many hours you believe you're going to be able to get. And then what happens is with time, you develop a very powerful behavioral association with the bed and the bedroom and bedtime with stress.

TAGLE: So first up, don't try to force sleep if it isn't happening. The minute you start to feel annoyed that you're not asleep, just get out of bed. From there, he suggests doing calming activities in dim lighting. Take a warm bath, read a dull book, listen to a favorite podcast or soothing play list. Or if stress is keeping you awake...

AYSOLA: For people who tend to kind of perseverate and make lists in their head, you know, which is a lot of people, what I suggest is, you know, instead of just making the list in your head, get a piece of paper and write that down. Oftentimes I say that things lose their power once they're on the paper.

TAGLE: Managing your stress, he says, can shift your nervous system into rest and digest mode, and hopefully ease you back into sleepiness. The next morning, you might be tempted to sleep in. But he says you have to fight the urge to hit the snooze button.

AYSOLA: 'Cause you're essentially giving yourself jet lag.

TAGLE: Throwing off your circadian rhythm can lead to crankiness, headaches, indigestion and an overall wrong-side-of-the-bed feeling. So instead, Aysola suggests keeping your normal morning schedule and getting lots of natural sunlight to boost your internal body clock. Then opt for a nap, if needed. You want to keep it no longer than an hour and aim for earlier in the day, at least 6 hours before bedtime.

Next up, caffeine - for a lot of us, it'll feel natural and necessary to reach for a pick-me-up after a night of poor sleep. And Aysola says, generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with a morning latte. But best practice, you should cut yourself off from caffeine about midday or so.

AYSOLA: Just to avoid any residual effect of that when you're trying to regain sleep.

TAGLE: From there, exercise - I know, I know, but don't be mad at me. These are doctor's orders.

AYSOLA: Most of the times when you're sleep deprived, not a lot of energy to exercise, but there's a very direct correlation - the kind of harder you exercise, the more slow-wave sleep you'll get.

TAGLE: It's worth noting here - insomnia can also affect balance and coordination, so it's OK to avoid strenuous workouts if you're not feeling up to it. Any movement that feels good to your body - a brisk walk, some yoga, dancing in your living room - can contribute to good sleep. Other than that, making basic healthy choices like avoiding alcohol, eating nutritious foods and sticking to your sleep schedule will make your next day and your next night's rest that much better. Aysola says people will often try to overcomplicate their sleep routines or ask him about various sleep supplements. He says some of these things might work for some people.

AYSOLA: But really, the best way to protect yourself from episodes of sleep deprivation is to have a chronically good sleep pattern.

TAGLE: For NPR's Life Kit, I'm Andee Tagle.

DETROW: For more Life Kit, go to npr.org/lifekit.

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