Troubleshooting: Functional Medicine Tips for Better Sleep

Continuing the troubleshooting series, today we’re talking sleep. These troubleshooting articles are for those of you who are already on your functional medicine journey, but need more help. Sometimes we feel like we’re doing everything right, but yet our health is not where we want it to be.

As I go through each of the main pillars of functional medicine (sleep, stress, diet, exercise, relationships, and environmental toxins) I hope to hit on some ideas that you might not have tackled yet and therefore lead you closer and closer to that ideal of health you’re looking for.

Last month, we covered stress. If you haven’t read that article yet and think that stress might be derailing your health, be sure to read that article too.

Before we can get very far with this topic, you really have to ask yourself how your sleep is currently. Do you wake up easily with an alarm? How about waking without an alarm? Are you sleeping through the night without waking? Do you wake up with energy and mental clarity, ready to start your day? Do you fall asleep easily?

Take some time to thoughtfully answer those questions. You need to know your starting point in order to figure out a plan to arrive at your desired end point.

Once you have assessed where you are currently with your sleep, you can begin to make goals for improvement. Let’s break this into two main categories: 1. trouble falling asleep and 2. not getting quality sleep.

If your main trouble area is falling asleep, here are some things to consider:

• Do you have a bedtime routine that is relaxing? It can be enjoying a cup of herbal tea (there are teas that help with sleep such as chamomile), the simple process of washing your face, brushing your teeth and putting on your comfy pjs, or reading for a while. If you don’t have a routine that tells your mind and body that sleep time is coming, think about what sort of routine would be enjoyable and doable for you.
• Are you engaging in/with technology too close to bedtime? Experts currently agree that unplugging from devices, especially blue light emitting devices, at least one hour before bedtime is important for quality sleep. I know, I know, many of us love to look at our phones right before bed and then tuck that little friend in right beside our beds. But if you go through this trouble-shooting list and it seems like everything else is in order, but you are on your phone or tablet right before bed, that is where I would start. How can you accomplish whatever it is you’re doing on your phone right before bed at an earlier time in the day? Is what you’re doing really necessary? I know that’s a hard question and if I had to guess, I’d guess that what you’re doing is not necessary and could be skipped. This means you need to form a new habit. You can approach that by either breaking yourself of the existing habit or creating a replacement habit that helps, rather than hurts your sleep.
• Avoid stimulating behavior right before sleep. There is a huge range of activities and consumables that might be making it harder for you to fall asleep. Certain medications (such as antihistamines), caffeine too close to bed, reading the news, which we know is almost all concerning, having a serious conversation and even exercise too close to bedtime are all things that can make it harder to go to sleep.

I am a firm believer in tracking, ie. writing down, what you are doing and then also recording the result. We all think we will remember every detail, but we make so many decisions and have so many interactions and have such complex daily lives, there really is no way you will remember every detail unless you track it somehow. Now, I admittedly am not the biggest tech lover. I much prefer good, old-fashioned pen and paper (and remember, you don’t want to be on an electronic device right before bed), so to that end, I have created a sleep tracker worksheet for you. Ideally, you will keep this beside your bed, record your pre-bedtime activities, foods, beverages, etc., the time you go to bed and then upon waking, record your perception of the quality of your sleep, how you feel, how easily you woke up, how many hours you slept, etc. (right click the chart below to save/download and print).

After a few days or perhaps a couple weeks (depending on how much your day-to-day routine changes) you should start to see a pattern emerge. At that point, you can begin to make an action plan.

If your main trouble area is staying asleep, or generally getting good quality sleep, here are some things to consider:

• Alcohol. Don’t shoot the messenger. You know that alcohol can make you relaxed and then sleepy so it’s easy to think that adding an alcoholic beverage before bed would be a good choice, but in fact, what happens is that yes, the alcohol can make falling asleep easier, but it disrupts your sleep cycle through the night. The net result is poorer quality sleep than you would have had without that drink.
• Consider the temperature of your sleeping quarters. Experts generally agree that 68 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature for sleep. There are also cooling mattresses, sheets, sleeping pads, all sorts of gadgets than can help keep you cool. I don’t personally have any of those so can’t recommend any specific products. Just do your research and choose something with a generous return policy in case it doesn’t work for you.
• There are many relaxation techniques that can help you fall back to sleep if you wake in the middle of the night. There are breathing exercises, techniques to stimulate the vagus nerve which helps with relaxation, and other tips and tricks that I can teach you if you choose to work with me as your health coach.

Below, you will find suggestions for better sleep from the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Bottom line:

1. Assess where you are now
2. Set a goal
3. Start tracking
4. Pay attention to the details – what is working, what is not
5. Make a change
6. Continue to track and adjust as necessary

If all of your efforts do not yield the sleep results you seek, reach out to me. I can help! As a nationally board certified functional medicine health coach, I have many other ideas for you that I just can’t share in this blog format. I’d love to help you!

Here’s wishing you a good night’s sleep tonight!