Walking to a good night’s sleep...!!!

Walking to a good night’s sleep
August 15, 2010, 5:54 pm



By Professor Jim Horne



Much has been said about how to seek a good night’s sleep, from taking pills and potions, to ‘sleep hygiene’ – an unappealing term which conjures images of a sanitised sleep with sterile bed clothes, open windows and no bodily contact, but actually involves avoiding various things (alcohol, coffee, exciting films) and not going to bed until sleepy. But these methods do little to promote natural sleepiness.



Sleep scientists have, however, found various enjoyable waking activities which are effective in bringing a sounder sleep.



While many believe that a physical work-out and plenty of exercise promotes sleep, it doesn’t, and nor does sleep provide any extra benefit to recovery after exercise, beyond that gained in relaxed wakefulness. Although heavy exercise can lead to deeper sleep, this has little to do with the exercise itself, and more to do with becoming hot as a consequence - the same exercise in a cool wind, keeping both body and brain cool, has no effect on deep sleep. A hot body also means a warmer brain; its chemistry will work faster and be in need of more recovery during sleep.



The good news for couch potatoes is there is an easier way to warm up body and brain, requiring no physical effort whatsoever, that not only increases deep sleep but also leads to more sleepiness at bed-time and a quicker sleep onset. Just lying in a hot bath in the evening will help deep sleep that night. Besides, it’s a relaxing pastime and the accompanying peace of mind also gives a more restful sleep. Adding plenty of bath foam also helps; the insulating bubbles keep the heat in the bath for longer.



More sleep science concerns the body’s need to cool down before a night’s sleep, which seems at variance with having that bath. But drying off afterwards accelerates this cooling; your body overcompensates, radiating out more heat than was gained in the bath, further speeding up sleep.



That exercise should be relaxing, not taxing, was strongly advocated by the Victorians. In 1900 the British Medical Journal pronounced: "daily bodily exercise in the open air, but always short of great fatigue must be enjoined. What is called carriage exercise is better than no outdoor change at all, but walking is far better exercise and cycling better still, and riding on horseback the best of all ….Gardening in the open air, not in conservatories or hothouses affords good exercises and it is very efficient in keeping up objective attention."



Though quaint, as a means to improve one’s sleep it is wiser than you might think; the mental activities of gardening will certainly ‘exercise the brain’ if sufficiently varied and stimulating. ‘Brain exercise’ leading to deeper sleep comes not so much from crosswords or suduku but from spending a few hours walking in a changing, interesting environment, looking around and absorbing what is going on. Window shopping, sightseeing; anything new and different enough to hold your attention will do. Having conversations and meeting new people adds the important ingredient of novelty, putting further agreeable demands on one’s mind and brain. All this new stimulation makes the brain work harder than staying indoors surrounded by familiarity. Reading or watching TV only engages relatively small parts of the brain, unlike getting out and about. Similarly, seeing an exciting film is still too passive - one has to be moving purposely, interacting with your surroundings. A multitasking parent, juggling various activities at once, may be comforted to know that their efforts may help them sleep well later.



The feeling of weariness after that day out at the seaside or walking around a museum is not so much due to the ozone or a surfeit of ‘fresh air’, but the novelty. And I suspect the accompanying aching feet is not from excessive walking, but a cry from the brain that it has had enough, and it’s time to sit down and stop. Here’s where sleep science comes in once more; not only will you feel sleepier that evening, but beneficial changes to the brain’s circuitry in response to the day’s novelty occur during this sleep. Such changes are reflected by increases in newly discovered ‘slow oscillations’ in the minute electrical brainwaves generated by the sleeping brain.



(C) The Telegraph Group London 2010