Why you're not sleeping

Sleep isn’t just a nice rest for your grey matter. Far from it: It’s when your brain goes into housekeeping mode and cerebrospinal fluid mop away metabolic wastes that have accumulated during the day.

This discovery, in the US lab of neuroscientist Dr Maiken Nedergaard, may explain why lack of sleep has such a profound effect on our brains, making us forgetful, unable to concentrate, grumpy, accident prone, and clumsy. It may also open the door to preventing neurodegenerative illnesses linked to the accumulation of waste products in the brain, like the amyloid deposits associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

The scariest news: If you deprive your brain of adequate rest long or often enough, it may never fully bounce back. “We used to think your brain could recover with extra sleep,” says sleep expert Dr Sigrid Veasey. (Who hasn’t slept in on weekends to try to catch up?)

But last spring, Dr Veasey found that extended sleep deprivation can lead to a permanent loss of cells involved in functions like alertness, attention, and recall. What’s more, while everyone’s brain loses volume over time, the shrinkage happens faster in people who have trouble sleeping than in those who are better rested, a recent European study found. The brain areas in which cells are lost are the ones that regulate decision-making, emotion, memory, and learning. “We can no longer think of sleep as a luxury,” Dr Veasey says. Experts recommend seven to nine hours a night. Read on for the surprising things blocking you from getting shut-eye - and how to conquer them.

“Me” Time

Yes, you desperately need and deserve those “me” minutes, but doing something good for yourself can actually backfire when your evening is as full as a workday (dinner prep, eating, story time with little ones, homework with bigger ones). Once the house is finally quiet, you’ll want to catch up on e-mails, read a book, call your sister, or just talk to your husband. You should! Just be more strategic about it.

Sleep Solutions: Small bites of scheduled “me” time throughout the day can satisfy the yen the same way five- to 10-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day can add up to fitness. Every morning, make a point to get up 15 minutes before your family, listen to a recorded book on your commute, or set aside 15 minutes at lunch. Set a phone alarm for a predetermined amount of time for the chores that eat up your nights, and get everyone involved: Your kids can unload the dishwasher; your husband can make their lunches for tomorrow. When the timer dings, you’re done - and ready to decompress.

Your Mobile Phone

Tablets, phones, laptops - whether you’re using them for work, social media, an addiction to Candy Crush or streaming television, they can be next to impossible to turn off at night. They keep you up because they’re stimulating, and the short wavelength (blue) light suppresses melatonin, your body’s sleep-inducing hormone. And e-readers have been added to the list of sleep saboteurs too: A US study found that compared with those who read printed books, users of e-readers that emitted light felt less drowsy in the evening, took longer to fall asleep, and were sleepier and less alert the next morning - even after eight hours in bed.

Sleep Solutions: To prevent the sleep-quashing effect of blue light, power down all electronics at least an hour (ideally two hours) before bedtime. After you’re exposed to two hours of blue light, your melatonin drops 23 per cent, according to US research. Alternatively, you can download software that blocks your screen’s shortwavelength light, or buy a pair of glasses that block blue light. In a study published in Chronobiology International, people who wore these glasses before going to bed every night for two weeks enjoyed a three-point jump (on a 10-point scale) in sleep quality, and their daytime moods were happier.

Buzzy Thoughts

Get the car inspected. Call the vet. Make brownies for the school cake stall. When you turn out the lights, do you turn on your list, churning over how you’re going to fit three days’ worth of to-do’s into a three-hour slot? Or do you replay regrets, like wishing you hadn’t snapped at your boss when she asked for an update on your project? Worry about things that need to be done - or what you wish you hadn’t done - fuels insomnia in many women. And it can become self-reinforcing: The more you agitate, the less you sleep; the less you sleep, the more stressed you feel. Stress is associated with an outpouring of neurotransmitters that tend to promote alertness rather than sleep, creating a negative cycle that’s hard to break.

Sleep Solutions: Meditation helps you get off the worry treadmill, shifting your brain from wakeful beta waves to the slower, more restful type that come on as you’re getting drowsy, says biologist Dr Bruce O’Hara. Any type of meditation that focuses on breathing can help you fall asleep, and if you wake in the night, he adds, “you can do it again.” You don’t need a lot of time or training either. O’Hara speculates that even five minutes of meditation can shift the brain to a relaxed state more conducive to sleep. If you can’t “turn off your head enough to override your internal chatter,” try a little music, says sleep expert Dr Helene Emsellem. “Download a short, soothing playlist, and listen on an MP3 player in the dark,” she says. “It’s the only exception I make to the ‘no electronics at bedtime’ rule.”

Allergies and Congestion

Lying down can start a cascade of sleep disruptions in sufferers: The mucus draining from your nose (postnasal drip) collects in your throat, causing you to cough, while your nasal passages become congested, making it hard to breathe. You toss and turn (and snort and snore) through the night, waking up feeling dopey (and perhaps facing a grumpy bed partner).

Sleep Solutions: You may need to see an allergist to identify your triggers. If you’re sensitive to pollen, keep your bedroom window closed when your particular offender (like trees and flowers) is in bloom. But if indoor allergens bother you - dust mites, pet hair, mould - you need to encase your mattress and pillows (with no feathers) in protective covers, vacuum your bedroom with a machine that has a HEPA filter, and wipe down surfaces frequently. Using a saline spray during the day and before bed may be enough to thin secretions, but if not, a prescription nasal spray (possibly in combo with an antihistamine) can help you breathe freely.

Silent Heartburn

Although it’s called “silent,” the tell-tale signs are an annoying cough and a need to keep clearing your throat when you lie down. It can disrupt your sleep as much as regular heartburn, which also causes indigestion and a burning sensation in your throat and chest. Both types are the result of stomach acid backing up into the oesophagus and throat (reflux), and night-time symptoms can be relieved with a number of DIY steps. (Lose weight if needed. Quitting smoking will help too.)

Sleep Solutions: Eat dinner at least three hours before bedtime, so there’s plenty of time for digestion. Avoid fats, spicy or tomato-based foods, chocolate, mints, citrus fruits, carbonated drinks, alcohol and caffeine. Elevate the head of your bed four to six inches, or sleep on a wedge-shaped pillow; gravity will help keep stomach acids where they belong.

Your Pet

If you sleep with a dog or a cat, you probably already know that its whimpering, nudging, snoring, and peculiar hours interfere with your rest. In one survey, the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine noted an increase in patients reporting being disturbed by their pets, while another US survey found that 63 per cent of pet owners who slept with their pet more than four nights a week said they slept poorly.

Sleep Solutions: A dog will be easier to train than a cat. Set up a separate dog bed, and lavish your pet with attention when it lies down on it. You’ll probably have to banish your cat from the bedroom altogether. Lure her to another part of the house with a special bed and toys.