Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Julie A. Palm, editor in chief
For someone who generally made A’s while in school, hearing that I scored 65% on anything is troubling.
But that was the news I got after Dr. Robert Oexman, director of Kingsdown’s Sleep to Live Institute, reviewed the results of my two-week sleep study.
Relying on a sleep diary that I filled out daily and the physiological factors charted by an Actiwatch monitor that I wore throughout the two weeks, Oexman told me that my “sleep efficiency” score is only about 65%, though I sometimes reach 80%. By comparison, someone getting a healthy, restorative night’s rest has a sleep efficiency score of about 90%.
Oexman described my sleep as “very fragmented.” I’m not necessarily aware of it, but I wake up frequently, especially during the first few hours after I go to bed. That’s the time that I should be getting my deepest sleep. No wonder I’m tired all the time.
And so I’m beginning “Hell Week,” Oexman’s joking description of a series of changes I need to make to my habits and environment to reset my sleep cycle.
What makes it Hell Week? For starters, I’m purposely going to be sleeping less. I’m moving my bedtime back about an hour and will need to get up at the same time every morning. No naps—not even on weekends—no matter how tired I am.
Another challenge: I have to give up the nightly Benadryl I’ve been taking to make me drowsy. As I’ve written in the past, giving up my reliance on medication—even a nonhabit-forming, over-the-counter medication—is a key reason I wanted to participate in Oexman’s cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia program.
Instead of the antihistamine, I’ll be taking melatonin, a compound our bodies already produce to help regulate circadian rhythms.
Oexman has recommended a number of other modifications that I need to make. I’ll write more about those—if I can stay awake!—in the coming days.
