Would You Make This Change to Your Sleep if Your Life Depended On It?
Most of us experience times when we feel split - one part of us knows something, but another part of us doesn't want to know it.
One reason we don't want to know that “something" is that it conflicts with cherished values or beliefs (about ourselves or the world).
Another reason could be that in embracing the knowledge, we would have to make inconvenient or undesirable changes.
This internal split is fairly common and is particularly insidious when it comes to the prospect of adopting new habits.
I encountered this situation when I recently spoke with a dear friend.
She confided she was forgetting things.
Common everyday things, like what she bought at the grocery store yesterday. She is alarmed.
What if this is the first sign of Alzheimer's Disease?
The thought of losing her mind, and starting the long slow slippery slope down towards dementia is terrifying.
My friend has spent her life sleep-deprived.
She will nod off in the evening while watching TV, and then rouse herself for a second wind. She sails on through the night puttering around until 2 or 3 a.m.
When she worked, she'd be up at 7 a.m. Now she's retired, she sleeps until 8 a.m., her alarm set to turn on the morning news.
That is about 5 hours of sleep or less, most nights.
She shows classic signs of sleep deprivation.
I have known her to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence while chatting in the evening.
Here is what is happening: the brain, starved of sleep, finds opportunities for "microsleeps." Little moments when the brain goes off-line to catch a smidgen of rest.
I explained to her there is a strong link between Alzheimer's Disease and lack of sleep.
People who are sleep-deprived build up a protein called beta-amyloid in their brains and this same protein is associated with Alzheimer's Disease.
Sleep is when beta-amyloid is cleared from the brain.
During sleep, the brain goes through a kind of wash-and-rinse process known as glymphatic clearance.
The glymphatic system is responsible for carrying away metabolic waste, dead cells, and toxins from the brain.
While it is at work, neurons in the brain shrink, increasing intracellular space, thereby allowing a more efficient cleansing. This only happens during deep sleep.
Sleep is essential for cleansing the brain - and is preventative against Alzheimer's Disease.
My friend will not countenance that lack of sleep may be related to the cognitive decline she is experiencing.
"I've been very lucky with sleep," she declares. "I can drop off just like that. I've never had a problem with sleep."
When presented with an opportunity to resolve her mental decline by getting more sleep, she prefers to deny the connection.
She has chosen to hold on to a preferred habit.
Meanwhile, she lives with the fearful shadow of a horrible disease lurking under her days and her nights.
This is known as cognitive dissonance.
It is a terrible place to be.
My friend has stuffed down her fear, but it is still there, prowling beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, she continues with her 4- to 5 hours of sleep each night.
Most of us experience some degree of cognitive dissonance in our lives. After all, we don't, and probably can't, act on everything we know we should.
The question is, what is the trade-off?