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Adjusting SleepOnce you’ve spent a week getting an idea of your sleep and lifestyle patterns andmaking necessary adjustments, continue to keep a sleep diary and follow these steps:Go to sleep 15 minutes earlier every 2-3 nights, until you’re getting at least 7 hours ofsleep every single night.Use a sleep calculator tool to figure out what time you need to go to bed to achieve thehours of sleep you’d like (don’t forget to factor in sleep opportunity). See the BedtimeCalculator on the National Sleep Foundation’s website.If you’re still tired during the day or you’re not ready to wake up when your alarm goesoff, move your bedtime 15 minutes earlier.Continue this process until you are getting enough sleep every night. You’ll probablyend up somewhere between 7 and 9 hours, but listen to your body and follow its needs.Keep in mind that this only determines how much sleep you need right now. Ifsomething changes in your life, your sleep needs could change, too. Or, as you becomemore and more rested, you may find that you need less sleep.Page 12

Session 2: Engineering SleepReviewSleep is universal to all living things.Sleep is the foundation for all the pillars of wellness: PhysicalSocialEmotionalFinancialSleep is very complex and biologically active.Engineering SleepWatch the video.Page 13

Sleep SignalsThe Sensory Gatekeeper:The ThalamusWhen we’re awake, we’re aware of all ofour senses. We can smell, see, hear,taste and touch. These signals allconverge in one central area of the brain.As we fall into slumber, they continue tocome together in the zone; however, thethalamus, which acts as the sensorygatekeeper, blocks these signals fromreaching the cortex of the brain. Thecortex allows us to consciously perceivethe senses.While the organs continue to receive thesignals when we are asleep, thethalamus induces a state where we loseconsciousness with the outside world.BrainwavesWhen we are awake, our electrical brain signals (brainwaves) are very frenetic andincoherent because we’re constantly processing and responding to the real worldenvironment. When we move into the sleep stages, brainwaves become longer andslower the deeper we sleep.A good analogy for brain cell activity in wakefulness is to think of them as people seatedin different parts of a large stadium. If you placed a microphone in the middle of thestadium, you’d hear a cacophony of noises from all areas, as the people are all havingtheir own conversations. In Non-rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, theseconversations all become synchronized, increasing at thesame time with an accompanying silent pause that directlySleep Factsfollows it.Marine animals haveInterestingly, occasionally a sleep spindle, a burst ofalmost no REM sleepbrainwave activity, appears at the end of a slow wave.because the musclesSleep spindles have multiple purposes, but one of them isare turned off and theyto shield sleep by blocking out external noises.must retain musclemovement to stay awareof their environment.Page 14

Sleep RhythmsWhat time is it?Our bodies know when to wake up and go to bed based on signals from our CircadianRhythms. Along with sleep pressure and melatonin, they drive the various stages of thesleep/wakefulness cycle.Circadian RhythmsCircadian rhythms are biochemical, physiological, and behavioral cycles in all livingthings. In humans, they rise and fall in 24-hour cycles.Numerous clocks throughout the human body drive circadian rhythms. Think of them aspacemakers.Circadian rhythms are important because they: Prepare the body for expected environmentchanges (like exercise, sleep and mealtimes)ooooSet the sleep and wakefulness cyclesPromote sleepiness at usual bedtimeInitiate sleepPromote wakefulness before usualwake-up timePage 15Sleep FactsDolphins use both sidesof the brain to stayvigilant. NREMalternates between thetwo sides which allowsfor one side of the brainto be alert at all times.

Set the timing for other circadian rhythms that regulate physiology andbehaviorso Hormoneso Body temperature rhythm (higher in late afternoon and lower when wesleep)o Eating and digesting foodThe pacemaker has an internally driven 24-hour rhythm that urges the body to wake upat the beginning of the day and go to sleep at night.The day/night rhythms remain unchanged, preferring sleep at nighttime andwakefulness in the daytime.External cues also impact the cycle.Light and the BrainLight and dark are the strongest cues forcircadian rhythms. Exercise and melatoninalso appear to influence the timing of thepacemaker, but not as much as light. Normally,light enters the eye (even through closedeyelids during sleep) and signals thepacemaker to wake up, perform certainactivities, and go to sleep.Page 16

Individual Rhythms Sleep FactsRhythms vary from person to personEarly birds and night owlsPartially genetically determinedImpact work productivityNot all humans have precisely the same circadian rhythm.You probably already know whether you’re an early birdor a night owl.This is determined partially by genetics.Some seals, who spendboth time on land andtime in the water, haveREM sleep on land(when no aquaticmovement needed), andenter only NREM sleepunder water.Our own rhythms can work with or against our workschedules. If you’re a night owl and naturally prefer to goto bed late, it can be difficult to work an 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. schedule. The later sleep cycleand earlier wake time can make it challenging to concentrate, have positive workrelationships and complete work duties.Sleep PressureAnother part of the sleep cycle is something called sleep pressure, caused by a steadyincrease of the chemical adenosine in the brain, which builds up in the body duringwaking hours and causes an increasing urge to sleep.For most, this usually happens after12 to 16 hours of wakefulness. Thepressure gets stronger the longer westay awake and decreases duringsleep, reaching a low after a full nightof good quality sleep. The cyclerepeats when we wake up.The dashes in the graph show thatsleep pressure continues to increase ifwe do not sleep, and resets when wego to sleep.Our body produces a higher need forsleep under some circumstances, where sleep could be longer and/or deeper. Sleeppressure increases: During illness/infectionLearning/brain stimulationIntense physical demandPregnancyPage 17

MelatoninThe brain communicates day and night signals to the body by the way of a messengercalled melatonin. It is released into the bloodstream at dusk to send a message that it’sdark. Melatonin concentrations slowly decrease throughout the night.Example: When it gets dark earlier and nights are longer, have you ever felt like it wastime to go to bed earlier?Although it is an extremely popular sleep aid, melatonin does not have anything to dowith the generation of sleep. Think of it as the timing official at a race. It signals the startof the race but does not participate in it.It can be helpful for jet lagged individuals whose nights and dayshave been altered but it’s not a very effective sleep aid for thoseon a regular night/day cycle. However, there is a significant sleepplacebo effect which should not be underestimated.CaffeineAs adenosine builds up through the day, working with circadian rhythm and melatonin,its signal to go to bed gets louder and louder.Caffeine, which is the most widely used psychoactive stimulant in the world, fights thesleep pressure chemical for the receptor sites on the brain that welcome adenosine.Once caffeine occupies the landing sites, it masks the sleep signal, tricking the braininto thinking it’s wide awake.It takes about 30 minutes for the effects of caffeine to peak. It also has a half-life of 5 to7 hours. Half-life means the time it takes the body to remove 50% of the concentration.If you drink a cup of coffee with dinner at 7 p.m., your body would rid 50% of it at 1 a.m.,Page 18

so about half the caffeine continues to circulate throughout the body. For this reason,limiting caffeine intake to earlier in the day can be very helpful in improving sleep.Synchronized RhythmsThe red line represents when we’re awake and the blue line represents sleep pressure.Our feeling of being awake rises until it begins to diminish in the evening. At the sametime, the moment we wake from sleep, sleep pressure starts to build up again. Once wefall asleep, the pressure clears out by morning.If you have a normalday/night wake/sleepschedule, sleep pressure andcircadian rhythms aresynchronized. It would seemlogical to think that thecircadian cycle wouldcommunicate with adenosine,but in fact they do not.Although they arecoordinated to work toward acommon goal, they do nottalk to one another.De-synchronized RhythmsCircadian rhythms, melatoninand sleep pressure all marchalong on the 24-hour cycle thatinduces sleep at night and beingawake during the day. If we dothe opposite and stay awake atnight, all of these processescontinue to release signals andchemicals signaling the body tosleep at night. Thisdesynchronization causesextreme fatigue and bodydisruptions.Page 19

Sleep DebtWhen we don’t get enough sleep, we go into "sleep debt,” which builds over time. Wemust catch up on sleep to "pay down" this debt. For example, a person needing 8 hoursof sleep but getting only 6 hours would accumulate a sleep debt of 2 hours that day. Ifthey continue for 5 days, they’ll have 10 hours of sleepdebt at the end of the week.To keep sleep debt down, get the length of sleep youneed in order to feel rested when you wake up. Allowextra time to sleep if you were not able to get enoughsleep the previous night. A person does not necessarilyneed to pay back hour for hour of lost sleep since thebody sometimes sleeps more soundly to pay down thedebt.However, it is a bad idea to build up sleep debt regularlyand try to pay it off later by catching up on sleep. Althoughyour level of sleepiness may return to normal after a dayor two of recovery sleep, your brain and body functionscontinue to be somewhat compromised when compared toyour well-rested norm. It is extremely important to getenough sleep on a regular basis rather than sporadicallyon a continuous basis.Sleep CyclesPage 20Sleep FactsBird flocks line up in arow to sleep. The twoend birds act assentinels, keeping theoutside eye open andthat part of the brainwatchful for predators.Halfway through thesleep cycle, they bothturn 180 degrees, openthe other eye andactivate the other side ofthe brain.

Humans don’t just sleep, they cycle through two completely different types of sleep in 5cycles that repeat but are not symmetrical.There is more deep NREM sleep earlier in the night, whereas REM sleep predominatesin the second half of the cycle.Sleep FactsPeople who aresleep deprived donot have the abilityto gauge how tiredthey are.Page 21

Sleep Cycle VideoWatch the video.Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM)Physical and electrical characteristics: Inactive musclesNo eye movementSlower brainwavesHippocampusThroughout the day, our brains absorb an incredible amount of information, which isstored in the hippocampus. If you took the Stress-Proof Brain Wellness Series, you’llrecall that the hippocampus is the biographer of the brain– it writes down the stories of the day. However, it is onlytemporary storage as it has limited space. NREM sleepidentifies which of these stories are important enough tostore permanently and with every slow brainwave,transfers them into permanent storage in the cortex.If we do not get enough sleep, NREM does not effectively“clean house” in the hippocampus. As a result, we havetrouble absorbing and temporarily storing information thenext day. When sleep deprivation is chronic, it posescontinued memory problems.Page 22

Also, when we absorb information the day prior, it can sometimes be difficult to recalljust before sleep. NREM refreshes the brain and allows for recall the next morning. Aftera night of adequate NREM, we’ve all experienced a moment where we say, “Oh! Iremember now ”NREM for Skill MemoryWhen we learn new skills that require movement, like riding a bike, typingon a keyboard or playing the piano, we cannot learn them by simplyreading a book. They require repetitive and coordinated musclemovement. We often refer to this type of learning as muscle memory,when in fact, muscles do not have memory. The memories exist in thebrain, and with repetition, practice and time, the brain creates increasinglystrong neural pathways (information superhighways) to the muscle, givingit instruction to perform the skill.Research has found that increasing speed and accuracy resides in stage2 NREM sleep, especially the last two hours of an 8 hour night. Skillmemory is linked to a high number of sleep spindles occurring at thattime.Rapid Eye Movement (REM)During rapid eye movement sleep, brainwaves are fast and remarkably similar to thoseof wakefulness. If hooked up to a sleep tracking machine, the only distinguishing factorwould be that of a lack of muscle activity during REM. There is no muscle tone at all.REM sleep has other unique characteristics. In deep Non-Rapid Eye Movement(NREM) sleep, the floodgates from the thalamus to the cortex close, effectively blockingexternal “noise.” During REM sleep, the gates open, but not in the same way aswakefulness. Memories, emotions, motivations and many other signals reach the cortexand are played out in different areas of the cortex that control hearing, vision andmovement.REM sleep also produces dreams.Key functionsUnlike NREM, which stores factual memories, REM processes these signals and refinesour understanding of the real world, including insight, problem solving andcommunication. It also induces a therapeutic effect in ridding our brains of trauma andnegative emotional experiences, helping to maintain emotional health.As highly evolved animals, REM plays a role in cognitive intelligence and ourunderstanding of the complexity of society and culture.Page 23

Sleep Across the LifespanAs we age, both circadian rhythms and NREM sleep change. They interconnect with thebrain in ways that both support early brain development, or, are affected by braindegeneration later in life.In Vitro and InfantsThe brain develops at an intense and extremely directed way during this time. REMsleep acts as a fertilizer for growing brain cells, which increases electrical activity,creating and increasing millions of neural pathways and synapses between differentareas of the brain.REM sleep is vital in building the brain mainframe. The objective is quantity because thebrain creates as many connections as possible toprovide for multiple ways of absorbing informationand learning. However, this creates redundancy,which is addressed later in childhood. Also, baby’scircadian rhythms don’t develop until after the firstfew months of life where they finally start to showsigns of sleep rhythms. This explains the erraticsleep of a newborn.In the womb, a fetus spends the majority in REMsleep and babies split their time 50/50 betweenREM and NREM. Sleep disruption during this time is extremely serious as vital braindevelopment halts if REM sleep is interrupted. Over time, it never fully catches up.A good analogy for early developmental brain growth is that of an internet serviceprovider laying fiber-optic cables in a new neighborhood. They lay the same type ofcable to all homes, providing the same bandwidth.Page 24

ChildhoodIn mid to late childhood, the brain builds and learns from millions of experiences andshifts focus to create efficiency and effectiveness. Here, the original brain architecturebegins to refine all of those connections, recognizing and choosing networks that arequicker, more useful and efficient. NREM/REM ratio shifts dramatically to a 70/30dominance of deep NREM sleep, which prunes the brain’s connections. It is also criticalin retaining new facts and cementing memories.Continuing the internet analogy, we can liken this to the internet provider researchingwhich households need more data and which don’t use much, and programming thecables to deliver stronger signals to the areas that need it most, and dial down signals inlower-use households.As children mature into adolescence, a markedly higher percentage of deep NREMsleep develops cognitive reasoning and critical thinking.AdolescenceAdolescents and young adults continue to broaden their cognitive capacity, building thebrain that will eventually develop into an adult brain capable of making complexdecisions, rational thinking, peer-group relationships and communication.They face two challenges during this stage: a later circadian rhythm and early schoolstart times.As any parent of a teenager knows, it can be frustrating to find their child awake lateinto the night and unable to wake up in the morning. It turns out this is developmentallynormal in sleep cycles and brain development. Having to wake up early for an earlymorning school start time poses a challenge for brain development and academicperformance.If you have or will have a teenager in your home, it’s important to support their sleeprather than label it as laziness. Go easy on your teenager; their brains are hard at workand need the sleep!Early Development & Mental HealthBoth sleep types (NREM and REM) are critical for brain development. InsufficientNREM in teenagers is linked to psychiatric disorders. Common disorders that appear inchildhood and adolescence: Bipolar disorderSchizophreniaMajor depressionADHDAltered or insufficient sleep during these critical stages early in life can have profoundlynegative effects on healthy cognitive function. NREM sleep in teenagers provides someunderstanding of sleep’s connection to mental health.Page 25

Adulthood and AgingIt is a myth that adults and older adults need less sleep. In fact, they need just as muchsleep as younger counterparts, and studies show they try to get enough, but aspects ofaging can make it difficult to fall or stay asleep.As we age, we experience reduced quantity and quality of sleep, reduced sleepefficiency and disrupted timing. REM sleep remains fairly constant throughout thelifespan, but NREM sleep begins to degenerate in both quantity and quality in the latetwenties to early thirties. By our forties, our time spent in NREM sleep diminishes.These restorative brainwaves decline in both number and power. By the late forties, weexperience 60-70% less NREM than teenagers, and 80-90% by the time we’re seventy.This decl

Assessing our own sleep habits can be extremely helpful in bringing awareness to ways in which we can improve it. We are going to do so in two ways. A quick sleep assessment Track our sleep and keep a sleep diary for the next 4 weeks. Sleep Assessment . Total your score and take a loo