Importance of Sleep
For many years, one thing that I did not pay close attention to was my struggles with sleep. I rarely slept for more than three hours in a night. If I slept three hours, I felt thankful. But this lack of sleep started exhibiting different symptoms. I could not make a connection. My digestion grew irritable and inconsistent. The morning after a restless night, I threw up, or developed a migraine over the course of the day and vomited in the night.
Overall, I was in physical discomfort and mental anguish all the time- not exaggerating!
One day, in 2012, while cleaning the house I had an odd reaction, my heart rate jumped to an irregular beat, which I could feel prominently. It was not a strenuous cleaning activity, I can promise you that, so I was surprised. When I discussed this with my doctor, he said that I had an anxiety attack as my palms became sweaty, my throat started to close, and my heart was going at a very fast pace. I started having these attacks every time my sleep was disturbed or felt aggravated by something triggering. The attacks would come once in two months or so. I started focusing on my breath when I felt an episode looming. I would lie on my left side trying not to move and focus on my breath. It worked on some days, but on most days, I would be sleepless due to the enormous distress. The next day I would rise from bed with a massive headache, no appetite, and an odd feebleness in my body.
As time progressed, the intervals between these episodes started to shorten. Monthly incidents turned to weekly.
Soon, the weekly occurrences turned to daily. What I was thinking to be regular anxiety attacks now had a more specific pattern. At this time, the instances of these episodes would start with or without triggers. The patterns were still erratic, but it was more than an anxiety attack was sure. I consulted my primary care doctor, who casually recommended seeing a cardiologist. Maybe I was not explaining my symptoms clearly enough, because not even once did my physician mention the name of my condition. This went on for years. I bought myself an Apple Watch to track my heart rate more closely.
Recently, one day, sitting in my office with a colleague, I started to feel an onset of a similar episode. The reading on the Apple Watch said 165 bpm. My colleague sensed an emergency coming on and alerted the medical staff. After monitoring me for a while the ambulance was called, and I landed in the ER. Later in the day, my diagnosis came about – Atrial Fibrillation or AFib for short. The culprit- many. But in my case, I recognized it to be chronic sleep deprivation induced by incessant stress and anxiety.
It took 10 years for me to develop this condition and get a diagnosis. That is a long time, and it took a toll on my body.
I am thankful that even with the prolonged suffering, my condition did not develop to an extent where blood clots started to form in my atria and cause a stroke – a reason to be grateful and thankful.
I got a catheter ablation done to improve my situation, but I still get some irregular heartbeats from time to time. But I have started paying close attention to my sleeping habits. I would love to share what works for me. Here are my tips-
- No caffeine after 2 pm – I have made it my habit not to drink coffee or caffeinated tea after 2 pm. As all of us know, caffeine is a stimulant and often taken in the morning to wake us up. It takes about 8-10 hours to cleanse our bodies from caffeine completely. I go to bed around 10 pm, which gives my system 8 full hours to clean out the caffeine from my blood stream.
- Eating early – Both eastern and western medicine stresses upon the fact that one should not go to bed soon after eating. Some movement after dinner helps us settle the food down our digestive system and reduces the heaviness that one might feel after eating. The chances of acid reflux reduce reducing the likelihood of an interruption in sleep cycle. Eating early gives you a few hours before going to bed and lets the food travel through the digestive tracks properly.
- Having a sleep ritual – I like to listen to some calming music. I also have a full subscription of Calm app, where I could listen to stories or narrations from people describing beautiful scenes. I love watching a few videos on YouTube of babies, animals, or motivational content. Fifteen minutes of this ritual soothes me down to a slumbery state.
- Smart watch with sleeping apps – I got an Apple Watch and installed a few apps that track my sleep down. My sleep pattern has improved to as high as 97% sleep quality from a degraded degree of 32% in the beginning. These apps help me understand my stress patterns. The next time a similar situation arises, which I know could lead to sleeplessness of downgraded quality of sleep, I turn my focus inwards. I try not to let the situation get to me.
- Meditation – meditation is a practice that has several important benefits. It improves focus, determination, intuitiveness, cleans your energy, and improves sleeping patterns. You can read the article on Meditation by Dipti Pandey.
- Exercise – although, I know the benefits of walking and yoga, I need to increase my intensity and regularity in practicing these activities. You can read about the benefits of walking by Dipti Pandey.
- Spending time with family – having a family ritual is important. I like to watch TV and movies with my family. My kids and I pick a show and watch one episode a day every day. Since my son started articulating, he and I have had a 2-minute talk ritual. He will be going to college this fall (2022), so this ritual will be continued over the phone. It is okay if that could not continue, because we will find some other ritual.
- Writing for therapy – I loved to write mostly stories since I was young. This blog has given me a cathartic avenue to write what life has taught me. You can read some Journaling tips on this website.
- Reading – reading a few pages of a book could lull you to sleep in a few short minutes, especially after a busy or stressful day. I have done that and do that when nothing else helps.
- Walking away from aggravating situations – this one is the hardest to do. An aggravating situation during the day could keep you awake all night or give you disturbed sleep. How does one walk away from difficult situations? It takes a long time to develop this habit. I have learned that if you do not react immediately, you could give yourself to ponder over the situation. You could understand why that circumstance occurred and what was your role in it. When you give yourself time, you learn to respond and not react. Developing this habit improves the emotional quotient and lets your position always be dignified. And yes, it could help you sleep better as you give yourself the control.
Please let us at Aware-ly know your thoughts and share your experiences with sleep deprivation and how you helped yourself out of it.
