The trouble with being a light sleeper

Hi, everyone. Do you wake up at every little noise or light during the night? Or maybe you feel that your sleep. Is fitful or only surface level, like.  You're on the verge of waking up at any moment. If this sounds familiar, you may be a light sleeper.

So high-quality uninterrupted sleep is important to feeling vile during the day, which is why being a light sleeper is frustrating. When things out of your control disrupt your sleep, you may feel resentful, and then this can further disrupt your sleep. and poor quality sleep not only makes you more irritable, but it increases your risk for some health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and even dementia.

So being a light or deep sleeper generally refers to how likely you are to wake up to disturbances while asleep.  A light sleeper may wake up to someone walking down the hallway or even a car passing by, whereas a heavy sleeper, could sleep through a freight train.

So your tendency to wake up is called your arousal threshold, and it isn't as straightforward as you think.  In fact, your arousal threshold varies during the night, depending on what stage of sleep you are in and how sleep-deprived you were when you went to sleep. 

Stress and anxiety can also decrease your arousal threshold, making you wake more easily during the night and unfortunately, we tend to sleep more lightly as we age. 

Sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea can also result in light sleep. So talk to your doctor about being. tested, especially if you're overweight or if you snore.

Now, while sometimes sleep disturbances are out of your control, there are lots of things that you can still do to help increase your arousal threshold and increase your chances of getting better quality sleep.

One is to control your environment - for example, using blackout shades or an eye mask can help decrease disturbances from light and white noise machines or earplugs.  They can help muse noises. Following good sleep habits will also help, this includes limiting substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol before bed and keeping a routine sleep schedule.

But my very favorite tip for adding depth to your sleep is a calming meditation before bed. There's something about tapping into this area of your brain that seems to prime the pump for deep sleep. And even a ten-minute body scan or a deep breathing exercise can be helpful. So give it a try. What do you have to lose except for light sleep?

Thanks for being here.  I'll see you next week.