The Midnight Sun

Night Terrors - TNG Season 4, episode 17 

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew of the USS Enterprise-D are trapped in the Tyken's Rift, an energy absorbing rupture in space. All but three of the crew begin experience hallucinations and paranoia. They can't concentrate. They all become paranoid. The crew is on the brink of mass insanity.

Dr. Beverly Crusher to the rescue when she realizes that everyone except three crew members have failed to achieve REM sleep since entering the rift. They weren't able to dream, and this led to a gradual loss of sanity. As Lieutenant Commander Data would say, "Intriguing." 

Nightless Nights - My own episode

It was 2:00 in the morning in June. I was in Finland, just north of the Arctic circle. I pulled back the curtains and saw a woman tending to her garden and a man playing softball with his son - all in what looked like daylight.

It's called the midnight sun. The summer sun that never sets here - the phenomenon of the nightless nights. 

The next morning (was it morning? Who knew?) I went to the store and bought a roll of tape and whole bunch of cheap cereal. I threw the cereal away, cut the cartons open and plastered them to every window in my Volkswagen bus. Now instead of daylight inside, I at least had dusk.  

But living without quality sleep was draining me emotionally. (Not quite at the brink of mass insanity, but close.) My melatonin was messed up,  my serotonin was messed up,  all my tonins were messed up. I stayed two weeks, but decided that if I wanted to regain any sense of myself, I needed to point my wheels south.   

I saved the day when I rolled onto a overnight ferry to the Lofoten Islands. I snuck back into the vehicle cargo hold, crept into my bus and slept. It was totally dark down there. Ahhh, at last.  

(Good thing I saved those cereal boxes.The Lofoten Islands are above the Arctic circle too.) 

Rule number one of a good night's sleep:  You need it to be dark. And preferably pitch dark.   

Is It True? Without REM You Go Crazy?  

I didn't have to look up the answer, I already knew how off-centered I felt. I felt ungrounded, unable to think straight or concentrate. The world floated by as if on a cloud.  

Still, in the interest of fact finding, I stumbled upon a study. (There's a study for everything.) In this particular study, researchers set out to determine if REM sleep did indeed contribute to cognitive dysfunction.  

Several participants were denied the REM stage of sleep by being awakened when they entered it. The end result was that participants who had been denied REM sleep were significantly less positive and more negative. They had more depression, more anxiety, more negative memories, and a greater frequency of aggression. (Not to mention a overwhelming craving for cereal - that part was my own research.) 

So, it would seem that getting a good night's sleep, is in fact good for you. Who knew?  

Occasionally we all struggle with getting to sleep. For some, it becomes a lifetime struggle.

Here are 12 of my favorite recipes for achieving a good night's sleep. 

Twelve of My All-Time Favorite Sleep Hacks 

1. Darkness - even a little bit of light at night can disrupt your body's natural circadian rhythm that regulates your sleep and wakefulness.

   Light stimulates the brain making it more alert and preventing the body from entering deep restorative sleep.

   Light exposure before bedtime and during the night, increases the time it takes to fall asleep. Even a faint light can raise your pulse, increase insulin resistance, and make it more difficult to fall asleep. 
   

2. No Eating Before Bed - By not eating at least 3 hours before you go to bed, you allow your body to enter a more restful state without the burden of digestion. Not eating also stabilizes your blood sugar helping you fall asleep faster.

   Want more motivation? Because you're insulin resistance kicks up at night, any calories you eat as a late night snack are stored as fat while you sleep instead of being burned throughout the day. 
   

3. Sun Exposure During Morning - By getting at least 30 minutes of sun in the morning right when the sun comes up, you can regulate your circadian rhythm - your body's internal clock that dictates sleep-wake cycles. This helps you fall asleep easier and increase your sleep duration. 

4. What Your Bed is Not - When is a bed not a bed? When you're using it as your couch. And why is this a bad idea?

   Because when you use your bed for other activities, you cause your mind to associate it with those activities making it harder to fall asleep at night. If you do your work in bed, you are programming your mind to associate your bed with being mentally engaged and thinking. 
   

5. Temperature at 65°-68°F (18° - 20°C)  - your body naturally lowers its core temperature to prepare for sleep, so a cooler environment tells your body that it's time to rest.

   A cooler bedroom reduces the time it takes to fall asleep and can promote a deeper sleep cycle. A cooler bedroom promotes melatonin, which as an added bonus is an anti-aging hormone. 

6. Relax Before Bed to Wind Down - relaxing before you go to sleep signals your brain and body to slow down and transition from the day's activities to a state of relaxation. Winding down establishes a buffer zone between daytime activities and restful sleep.

7. No Caffeine After 2 pm - caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, which are responsible for promoting sleep. Even consuming caffeine as early as 6 hours before bedtime can affect sleep.

   Consider that the half-life of caffeine is between 3 and 7 hours. That means that it takes this amount of time for your body to eliminate half of the caffeine you consumed.  
   

8. No Alcohol Before Bed - although alcohol can initially make you feel relaxed and sleepy, It ultimately disrupts your sleep cycle and leads to a lighter sleep and more frequent awakenings.

   Additionally it reduces REM sleep. Alcohol also increases the risk of snoring. 

9. Write it Down - If you find your mind racing with thoughts and worries and they are preventing you from sleeping, write them down.

   Perhaps you have a to-do list for the morning that you are going over and over in your mind -  Write it down.

   Writing it down offloads the mental clutter giving you a sense of closure. It'll be right there when you wake up in the morning. No need to worry about it now.  
   

10. No Blue Light - If you need to get up and use the bathroom, go for red light. Blue light, like what is emitted from smartphones and TVs, is particularly disruptive to sleep as it mimics daylight and suppresses the production of melatonin, which is required for sleep.

    Red light on the other hand actually stimulates melatonin production. Also, red light is not glaring so it can help you see better at night without significantly affecting your circadian rhythm.

11. Don't Clock Watch - Checking your clock to see what time it is when you wake up during the night increases your sleep anxiety and worry.

    Subconsciously you begin to calculate how much more sleep you can get, which leads to difficulty in actually achieving that sleep.

    Watching your clock can contribute to insomnia. How you feel in the morning is more important then how many hours you slept. Stop losing sleep over losing sleep. 
    

12. Breathe - Several breathing techniques can help you fall asleep easier because they reduces stress.

    Examples are deep diaphragmatic breathing, the one breath meditation, and the 4-7-8 breathing technique.  

4-7-8 

Exhale completely, making a whoosh sound through slightly parted lips. 

Inhale through your nose for count of 4 seconds.  

Hold your breath for a count of 7 seconds.  

Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds, again making a long whooshing sound. 

Repeat 4 to 8 times.