NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Most people in the first world are sleep deprived, a fact revealed to WAVY.com by Dr. Fouzia Siddiqui, a neurologist with Sentara and the director of the Sleep Center at Rockingham Memorial Medical Center in Harrisonburg.
Siddiqui said routines are extremely important to set up for yourself and your children for sleep success. Almost all of us have heard that screen time before bed is a no-no, but you might be surprised to learn how early Siddiqui recommends your children turn off their devices to get true, restorative, sleep.
“It should be at least at least three or four hours prior to the bedtime,” Siddiqui said. “For example, if it is around 8 p.m., then you know somewhere around four or five. That should be it for the screen time, because screens have all these light sources and distraction that goes into your brain and can affect your circadian rhythm.”
She recommends a good nighttime routine to get your children ready for sleep.
“There are several activities at night that can be done to kind of relax the body and relax the mind so that if you prepare your child to go to bed and go to sleep, a shower at night and/or bedtime stories, talking to them at night … can be more conducive for sleep rather than devices,” she said. “So, if you have you have given them devices at night, they are looking at their phones or their tablets or listening to music, things like that that would actually interfere in their sleep.
“So, preparing them for the nighttime, and kind of making that as a ritual, ‘OK, it’s time to go to bed, it’s time to take your shower, it’s time to get into your pajamas, and then into the bed,’ and then trying to fall asleep. [Having] that routine in place and to make sure that that routine gets done that way is very important for the child’s brain health and also their physical health.”
As for adults? Siddiqui said we should avoid using screens at least an hour or two before going to bed, though she admits to being well-aware that that is a difficult task to achieve.
“We are so addicted to our phones, and so attached to our phones and our tablets and our devices, that a majority of people would have that on their bedside, she said. “I would tell them not to take the phones to the bed, or keep it on the nightstand or even keep it on the dresser or outside of of the room. It is a difficult task to achieve, but that’s that’s what’s required for your sleep to be healthier and restorative.”
Siddiqui also recommends a nighttime routine for adults.
“If they have a 10 p.m. bedtime, maybe around 6 p.m., they should have their meal and not have it later in the night because of you should give yourself at least three to four hours to digest your food before you go to bed,” she said. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the evening. That would interfere in your sleep at night.
“Drinking alcohol too close to bed would interfere in your sleep at night. Exercising too close to your bedtime would interfere in sleep. So, avoid those activities, and then, like in children, try to relax yourself. They can do breathing exercises, meditation, prayers, trying to go to bed, make your own conducive [atmosphere] for sleep, meaning the temperature, the environment should be more restorative, conducive for sleep.”
A study reported by the United Health Foundation shows more than 36% of Virginians report sleeping less than seven hours, on average, over a 24 hour period. Siddiqui said adults ages 18-65 should get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per day. Children range anywhere between nine and 14 hours, depending on their age.
Sleep deprivation can affect children differently than adults.
“It can manifest as a more irritability or attention issues,” Siddiqui said. “Children who don’t get enough hours of sleep at night, or don’t get enough quality sleep at night, they become more hyperactive. They have more attention issues as well. They can be irritable. There can be some mood issues in them as well.”
Siddiqui said while naps for growing children are important, they can also be helpful for adults as long as the nap isn’t too long.
“If you can, take a short nap, like 15-20 minutes or even a half an hour, not a long nap,” she said. “An hour to two hour nap would interfere in your nighttime sleep. Short naps are restorative. If you can incorporate that into your daily routine, that’s OK. If you feel that you need a nap, you can take that, but many individuals who get a good seven hours, they may not feel the need to take the nap.”
If you feel like you can get by on just a few hours of sleep, Siddiqui advised to think again.
“The majority of people would require seven to eight hours of sleep,” she said, “and every person or every individual would know how much sleep that they require because that’s the amount of sleep when they feel fresh during the day. That’s one of the key things.
“If you get a four or five hours of sleep, your diagnosis in sleep medicine would be Insufficient Sleep Syndrome, which means that you’re not getting enough hours, and those are the patients or individuals who, if they go to bed the next night, they go to sleep immediately because they are sleep deprived. So, four hours is a lot less. It’s not good for your brain. It’s not healthy for your brain. Your sleep is the time that your brain is restoring itself. It’s taking away all the bad chemicals. It is generating new connections. It is there to help you regulate your cardiovascular system, your blood pressure, your heart rate, your metabolic system, your blood sugar.
“So, there’s so much going on in sleep that the importance should be there in the mind of the individual that I need to get the sleep in order to perform better the next day, and not to say that, ‘Oh, I can function just on four hours, and I can do well on four hours.’ So, that concept has to change. I don’t think anybody can function on four hours. I mean, they are able to go through that day, but for a good functioning life, you need at least seven to nine hours of sleep.”
Siddiqui said getting a good night’s sleep regularly can save your life.
“A majority of the time patients are coming in for being way too tired and fatigued during the day, not getting good quality sleep, much like the patients have problems with sleep onset or taking hours to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night,” she said. “Snoring is very common, talking, gasping at night and feeling tired, exhausted during the day. So, some of these disorders, we take a good history, do an exam, and then if need be, then we do sleep studies, which are our studies in which we study their brainwaves, their respiration, oxygen, heart rate, leg movements throughout the night. The most common disorder that we come across is obstructive sleep apnea, and there’s simple treatment for that, and once we do that, majority of patients do very well and their sleep gets much better.”
Siddiqui said it’s important to listen to your body. If you feel like you need help getting better sleep, talk with your general practitioner. They may recommend a sleep specialist to get you on the right track.