30-day Sleep Challenge: How a sleep diary holds the key to better health

As the Golden Gophers' matchup with Penn State approached this past fall, Dr. Michael Howell was tasked with making sure the football team was rested and ready for the game's 11 a.m. start.

Howell, a sleep medicine doctor and associate neurology professor at the University of Minnesota, advised the coaches to make sure the players soaked up artificial sunlight from a light-therapy lamp every morning during the week leading up to the game. That would help them align their body clocks and improve their sleep, Howell said.

How much of a role did that sleep hack play in the team's historic win? It's impossible to know, but research clearly shows that the quality and quantity of sleep we get is directly linked to our health, productivity and well-being, whether you're a college football player or a 9-to-5 office worker.

Sleep has become one of the nation's biggest — and most overlooked — health issues. Lack of sleep has been linked to an increased risk of developing conditions like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke. Yet more than a third of Americans aren't getting enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Sleep is the third pillar of health. Diet, exercise, sleep, these are the three things that will keep us alive," said Sarah Moe, a registered polysomnographic technologist and the CEO of Sleep Health Specialists in Minneapolis.

That's why the Star Tribune is hosting the 30-day Sleep Challenge. For the next four weeks, our goal is to make sleep a high priority, discover our natural sleep cycles and try small adjustments that local experts like Howell and Moe say can make a big difference in how well rested we are.

Each week, online and in the Sunday print edition, we'll introduce a specific challenge, set snooze goals and provide information about the science of sleep. We'll also host a private Facebook group with daily check-ins, discussion and more. (Join us by clicking the link above.)

Our first challenge begins today. All week, we're asking you to keep a sleep diary.

In the diary, you'll keep track of what time you go to sleep, what time you wake up, and how you feel throughout the day: Are you groggy in the morning, or do you wake up ready to jump out of bed? When do you first feel hungry? At what point(s) in the day do you feel tired?

Your responses will help you discover your current sleep patterns and give you clues about the changes that might improve your sleep.

As an educator and specialist, Moe works with Twin Cities-area companies to improve their employees' sleep — and boost bottom-line issues like performance and productivity as well as morale, recruitment and retention. When she teaches a one-hour "lunch and learn" class, she begins with the question: "How many people have heard that you're supposed to get eight hours of sleep?"

After most raise their hands, she follows up by asking: "How many of you try to get eight hours in six hours?"

Making time for sleep is an important first step toward actually getting more sleep, Moe said. So is changing the perception that it's normal to feel tired.

"We're supposed to have our alarms go off and say, 'OK, time to start the day,' but that is very rare," she said. Some experts suggest that if we get an adequate amount of sleep, we wouldn't need an alarm to wake us.

Our increasing reliance on cellphones and other devices has become a major disrupter, joining troublemakers like caffeine and alcohol, said Moe.

Research also shows that our natural sleeping patterns are wired into our DNA and develop as we age, as much a part of us as our height or eye color.

People who are naturally more inclined to stay up and wake up later shouldn't necessarily force themselves to hew to an early bird schedule that makes them sleep-deprived, doctors now say. They advocate for timing work or school around natural sleep patterns if at all possible, instead of the other way around.

That isn't time we should take for granted, said Dr. Conrad Iber, a pulmonologist and sleep expert with M Health Fairview. During the past 15 years, the field of sleep science has grown exponentially, greatly expanding the knowledge about sleep's power.

Here's what we know: Each day, what we see and experience "remodels" our brains, as neurons and synapses make new connections, Iber said. But it is during sleep that we reinforce and integrate the connections that are important and prune away those that are not. When we don't get enough sleep or when our sleep is disrupted, this process is impaired, he said.

The toxins in our brain, including beta-amyloid, which is linked to Alzheimer's, are removed when we get appropriate stretches of uninterrupted sleep. If that doesn't happen, these neurotoxins can build up.

Additionally, sleep is closely connected to our mood. When we slumber, the amygdala, which governs emotions, connects to other parts of the brain to maintain "equanimity," Iber said. If this doesn't happen because we don't get enough or we get poor-quality sleep, mood disturbance and irritability rise measurably.

While making time for sleep is vital, not all sleep is equal.

There are many steps we can take to make our sleep better. But we don't need to make them all at once, said Amy Mattila, a wellness coach who has helped Mayo Clinic cancer patients get better rest.

She often asks clients to make a list of the things that they know might be making it difficult for them to sleep. Then, she asks them to start by choosing just one thing to change.

While one person might choose making their bedroom completely dark with blackout shades, another might decide to avoid television at night, she said. Still another might try a new bedtime self-care routine to wind down, like using lavender-scented oil.

Throughout the 30 Day Sleep Challenge, we will take a similar approach: We'll offer suggestions from local experts and invite you to choose one simple snooze goal that appeals most to you.

Something else you should know about sleep: It can unlock creativity or help us master skills, said Howell. He often asks clients to try harnessing sleep's power by using a short meditative visualization for about 3 to 5 minutes before taking a nap or falling asleep at night.

"Just sleep on it — your brain will put it together," he said.

It sounds a little out there, but then again Paul McCartney has said that the entire tune for "Yesterday" came to him in a dream. Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev claimed the same thing about the periodic table of elements.

Who knows what the next four weeks could bring?