How’s Your Sleep?

The majority of Americans report difficulty with sleep.

How’s your sleep?  You actually don’t have to answer that.  I know the studies.  I’m well versed in many of the articles—academic and otherwise—that are out there.  There’s a significant majority of folks in the Western world (particularly in the United States) that struggle with sleep.  And I am one of them.  I have absolutely struggled with sleep on an immense scale.  In fact, in many ways, my difficulties with sleep actually changed my life—finishing up one chapter and starting a new one for me.  But we will get into that later!

At the end of the day, sleep is tough (see what I did there?).  And perhaps more importantly, our relationship to sleep is generally even tougher.  Once we think that we have or might have a sleep problem, it instantly begins to grow.  But thankfully, there are ways to address our sleep and our relationship to it.

First, we need to start with some understandings.  We need to take a look at what sleep is—in a real sense, for our day to day lives.  We also need to explore how our sleep goes awry and take a look at the problems that we face in trying to get good sleep.  And lastly (here’s the part your probably most interested in) we need to really dive into the ways we can address and resolve our sleep troubles so we can all start feeling more rested.  Along the way we’ll take a look at some client stories, some of my own personal learning, and even a few side quests as we really work to get a handle on what can work and what really doesn’t when it comes to getting better sleep.

So.  Why do we sleep?  What is it?  What does it do for us?  Why do we need it?  The fullest answers are oddly illusive.  Doctors, scientists, and researchers have learned a lot about sleep, how it works, what happens when we don’t get it, and and and.  But as far as a deep fundamental and exacting understanding of sleep answers are are’t so easy to come by.  And equally, I am going to (perhaps frustratingly) sidestep a direct answer as the pace of human learning in the sciences often outpaces the speed at which folks like me can update and republish blog posts.  At the end of the day, however, sleep is a necessary restful function of being human.  It doesn’t just keep up healthy, it keeps us alive.  Sleep effects our wellbeing at every level—mentally, physically, emotionally, and some would argue spiritually as well.

Chronically bad sleep can cause a whole host of wellness problems, and solutions can be tough to pin down.

When sleep is happening in a good way, all those aspects of our wellbeing are more likely to be in balance.  When bad sleep (however you might like to define it) is happening in our lives, however, our internal balance gets upset.  It can cause a whole host of problems, and solutions are hard to pin down.

My own sleep struggles coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.  It was a tough time for most everyone, but it was a time in which I, historically a good and very sound sleeper, began to wake up.  It started fairly innocuously… waking up once or twice to go to the bathroom—a completely normal phenomenon.  But, over time (a few years), my sleep interruptions grew until l was waking up around 15 times a night.  The collateral health and wellness issues drove me to take a leave of absence from my career, and as you might imagine, things were not great.  Despite how, not great, things were, however, I continued to persist.  I pushed forward in my effort to get better sleep.  And in doing so, I have become well armed to help you do the same.

Perhaps most importantly, while we might think that good sleep is a solid, deep 8 hours, good sleep actually looks different for almost everyone.  Good wellness—sleep included is never one-size fits all.  And the success I’ve had in resolving my sleep problems won’t be an exact blue print for success in resolving yours.  The good news, is that the menu of things that can help you get better sleep is pretty vast.  The tricky bit, however, is that the menu of things that can help you get better sleep is pretty vast.  That is to say, if you search for ways to improve your sleep, you can easily get overwhelmed by all the information (both good and bad) that you find.  And if thats not enough, all the marketing for products and services (both effective and ineffective) to help you sleep is equally dizzying.

In the end, you live the life that you have, you think the thoughts that you think, and your body behaves and functions in a way that is uniquely yours.  What causes your sleep trouble and what might help fix it is probably going to be just as unique.  Of course, there are generalities that can apply to many of us, but ultimately, your best sleep solutions will be as unique as you are.  In subsequent blog posts (and more), I’ll be exploring sleep itself, the various ways that sleep can go wrong, and what you can do to start getting better, more restful sleep.  Stay tuned!

Good sleep actually looks different for almost everyone. Solid solutions are never one-size fits all.