Counting Sheep is for the birds. Julia Molony talks to a sleep guru who has come up with a natural nightcap that not only lulls you to sleep but reduces anxiety and increases sex drive

THE BIG SLEEP

Dr Craig Hudson is an ambassador of calm. He and his wife Susan have dedicated their careers to helping to alleviate common maladies of contemporary living: insomnia, anxiety and the many varied health problems which come in tow – especially loss of libido, since a healthy sex life is known to be directly related to peace of mind. As parents of four sons, with very busy professional lives, the Hudsons certainly have plenty to cram into the average day, but when Dr Craig glides into the lobby of Jury’s Hotel, he seems completely Zen.

Dr Hudson is a psychiatrist and expert in biochemistry, while his wife is a social worker. Together they have come up with a multi-pronged approach to remedy anxiety, sex and sleep problems. It’s much-needed help: recent research carried out by the MRBI for the National Maternity Hospital shows that a third of Irish people aged 40-64 suffer from broken sleep – and from the serious consequences which ensue.

As the couple has different areas of expertise, it’s no surprise that their prescription to remedy these problems is a hybrid method combining changes in behaviour, environment and diet.

Dr Craig, who has, with his wife, published the self-help manual, Feel Great Day and Night – Overcome Anxiety, Sex and Sleep Problems, believes insomnia is often associated with a particular personality type, most commonly affecting the kind of person who is trying to cram too much into a busy day.

Diets like Atkins that rule out carbs can exacerbate insomnia. ‘You may be slim, but you won’t sleep quite as well,’ says Dr Craig

Many highly pressured people develop very bad habits which interfere with the importance of the bedtime routine. “People turn their bedrooms into offices,” he says, thereby making it more difficult to slip into sleep mode. Instead, we should allow a time to relax and unwind from daily stresses before hitting the sack. He suggests developing a pre-sleep ritual.

“Only go to bed when you feel tired, make your room as dark as possible,” he advises.

Other factors are important too, according to Dr Craig. The ideal temperature for restful sleep is 21C. Simple changes in behaviour such as avoiding naps during the day, and turning the bedside clock to the wall – so that you are not lying in the dark watching the minutes tick away – can make a difference. And if, after 15 to 20 minutes, you still can’t sleep, lying in bed and tossing and turning will make things worse, so you should get up and do something relaxing for a while.

“If you take a small child, you don’t run them around the room before bedtime – you calm them down,” he explains. “People who are time-pressured never live in the moment. In our busy world, we push too much into the day. You have to think, ‘What can I do to modify that – to tone it down one notch?’” he says.

Not only do we have to adapt our lifestyles, we should also eliminate lifestyles that could potentially interrupt us during the night. For this reason, Dr Craig advises parents to discourage their children from sharing their bed. “It is important to set boundaries around beds as young children get older. Children must learn to fall asleep on their own and develop coping skills to deal with the fears that cause them not to want to be alone”. Another no-no is sleeping in on the weekends. “Going to bed late and waking up late contributes to sleep problems,” he says.

Instead, you should try and develop a regular sleep routine. Exercising helps too, but only if it is carried out early in the day, as the adrenalin released during physical exertion is a stimulant which prompts rapid thought and excitement. Dr Craig also warns about getting into the trap of using alcohol to try and knock yourself out. “Alcohol has the effect of disrupting normal sleep architecture and contributing to sleep interruption,” he says.

As a specialist in biochemistry, Dr Craig has done a great deal of research into brain chemistry and how it affects sleep patterns. Many people rely on sleep medication in order to alleviate what Dr Hudson refers to as “lifestyle insomnia”, but this, he argues, “is not addressing the underlying issues”. Instead of replacing the body’s natural hormones and chemicals with synthetic versions, he has investigated the way certain foods stimulate the brain’s own production of tryptophan – an amino acid found in most protein foods. Tryptophan is responsible for the synthesis of serotonin – the chemical in the brain which elevates your mood, reduces anxiety, and also, crucially, facilitates the production of melatonin, the hormone that prompts the onset of sleep.

Paradoxically, although tryptophan is found in protein foods such as milk (hence the old wives’ tale about a glass of milk before bedtime aiding sleep), turkey and pumpkin seeds rather than carbohydrates, it is the process of breaking down carbs that facilitates the transportation of tryptophan to the brain. “Many people who suffer insomnia are aware that they suddenly feel irresistibly sleepy mid-afternoon which, of course, is the likely peak in brain tryptophan levels after the ingestion of a carbohydrate lunch,” says Dr Hudson. But this is bad news for insomniac dieters. According to Dr Hudson, diets that rule out carbohydrates like Atkins can exacerbate insomnia. “You may be more likely to be slim, but you won’t sleep quite as well,” he explains.

The solution he offers comes in the form of a dietary supplement beverage, his own invention, known as ZenBev. It’s a drink that incorporates all the tryptophan found in a large turkey dinner, with the necessary high-glycaemic carbs needed to carry all the god stuff straight to the brain. But, of course, without all the calories. Eating all this just before bedtime would, at the very least, be a chore, and could actually exacerbate the problem. “With the dietary supplement you are still getting the amino acids, but you are minimizing the intake of carbohydrates,” says Dr Hudson.

Originally, he and his wife simply aimed to help people address their sleep problems, but as an extra bonus they revealed that many people reported a reduction in anxiety and an improvement of sex problems.

“When people started trying the product, the trend seemed to be that their sex drive went up a little bit,” he says. Which can’t be a bad thing – though surely that would keep you awake a little longer.

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There is no doubt about the negative effects of poor or disrupted sleep over time

Insomnia can be a vicious cycle

Small changes can make a big difference to sleep, Dr Craig Hudson tells Elaine Edwards

In these hectic, stressful times, is there anyone who doesn’t complain of trouble sleeping? The knock-on effect of insomnia, often the result of anxieties about work, health, overloaded schedules, kids and family, is a vicious cycle of even more stress caused by that very lack of sleep.

Although the reasons we need it are still poorly understood, there’s no doubt about the effects of poor or disrupted sleep over time.

Canadian psychiatrist Dr Craig Hudson in his book Feel Great Day and Night focuses on the reasons for poor sleep, including unhealthy patterns and habits that can ultimately impact negatively on all aspects of our wellbeing, including sex drive.

“The most common problems are heightened anxiety, depression, poor relationships, irritability, poor intimate relationships, a whole slew of things. If it goes on long enough, you can run into health concerns arising from insomnia,” he says.

A prolific academic, Hudson’s research interests include schizophrenia and work on how the amino acid tryptophan, which aids sleep, works on the central nervous system.

He believes his programme of small but effective lifestyle changes can make a power of difference to what he terms “sleep efficiency”.

These include minor changes to diet and even to how people think about sleep, but they work, he says.

“Up to three-quarters of the population in North America, and I’m sure it’s the same here, have problems falling asleep on an occasional basis. But almost one is six can have difficulties with sleep on a consistent basis.

“We call it lifestyle insomnia. People are trying to pack more and more into the course of a day. Our brains are hard-wired to work in a 25-hour day cycle and we’re always trying to compress it into a 24-hour day, so it’s a constant drive towards insomnia because of the way our brains are configured.”

Dr Hudson’s firm Biosential Incorporated has developed a natural product called Zenbev derived from Pumpkin seeds, which stimulates the production of tryptophan. To be fair, he doesn’t oversell the product.

He researched the use of natural products in medicine during a fellowship following his psychiatric training in Canada.

“I became more interested in the natural health aspect of research, which I think is largely ignored by rigorous psychiatry, to our discredit. Some of it is quite helpful and some of it is not, but when you do rigorous research you are able to pull out the things that actually work from the things that don’t do anything. That’s important.”

Among Dr Hudson’s suggestions for a restful night are a “pre-sleep” ritual or routine and perhaps half an hour spent reading or just doing nothing before bedtime.

“The other thing is to only go to bed when you feel sleepy. Don’t go to bed when you’re feeling frustrated or generally just hoping to get away from something – only go to bed when you feel tired.”

He also urges people to avoid “clock-watching” in bed, which only serves to increase frustration.

“If you can’t sleep after 15 or 20 minutes, then get out of bed until you feel sleepy.”

“You should also remember that a bed is for sleeping and for sex, it’s not for listening to the radio or watching television or for working.”

A high-protein meal before bed will also reduce the amount of serotonin and melatonin available to the body: better to have small snack consisting of some sweet carbohydrate with a tiny amount of protein.

Dr Hudson brings good news for those simply concerned about odd rest patterns. Some of us are indeed natural early birds and some are wide-eyed late nighters who confound sleepy patterns with their ability to stay up past 11.

“Some people are just genetically programmed to be up late at night or up early in the morning and it that’s the way you’ve always been, don’t try to change that.

“Some people just need a lot less sleep. People shout be respectful of their body chemistry. Also, people should not try to fool themselves into thinking they’re short sleepers when in fact they’re not. People think they can be up late when they feel sleepy at 9 o’clock at night.

“If they feel sleepy, that’s the time they should be heading off to bed.”

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Author provides a wake-up call and important life changes for those who suffer with all types of insomnia

I can’t get not sleep

Almost a quarter is the population suffer from insomnia due to worry, stress and other lifestyle factors.

Missing out on one or more of the sleep stages that a person requires for a goof night sleep can result in mental and physical health problems but can also affect their families, their work and even their communities.

In his book Feel Great Day and Night; Overcome Anxiety, Sex and Sleep Problems Naturally, Canadian psychiatrist and sleep specialist Dr Craig Hudson identifies the five sleep stages and draws up a 30-day plan to help beat insomnia and related problems such as anxiety and sexual health difficulties.

“One person in six has chronic sleep problems and one in three quarters have some sort of problem with sleep,” says Dr Hudson.

Hudson identifies three types of sleep problem; Type I is sleep latency insomnia (trouble falling asleep initially), Type II is sleep interruption insomnia (repeatedly waking up in the night), Type III is terminal insomnia (wakening to early and not being able to fall back to sleep).

As well as a 30-day sleeping plan, Hudson lists the environmental, dietary, and behavioural factors that can impact on our sleep.

Environmental factors include the amount of stimulation (TV, phone, computer, etc) in your bedroom environment – these should be kept to a minimum.

You should also make sure your room is as dark as possible because this stimulates the natural production of melatonin (a hormone that help to induce the sense of drowsiness that comes before sleep) in your brain.

The room should also be at a comfortable temperature.

Regarding dietary factors, caffeine should be avoided after lunchtime every day.

“Caffeine is a stimulant and it increases your heart rate and respiratory rate as well as mental activity. You really shouldn’t drink caffeine after lunchtime,” says Dr Hudson.

“People know that coffee contains lots of caffeine but what they don’t realize is that tea contains a lot of caffeine too. Try to replace them with decaffeinated tea and coffee instead.”

Some people resort to alcohol to help them sleep but it’s ineffective in treating sleep problems because rather than aid in promoting sleep it has the effect of disrupting normal sleep and contributing to sleep interruption.

Also, it’s very important to reduce the amount of protein that you eat at least three hours prior to bedtime. Instead, increase the amount of high glycaemic carbohydrate.

Behavioural factors that negatively affect your sleep include exercising before bed, napping during the day, not taking down time before bed, clock watching and using your bed for activities other than sleep.

Obviously, the adrenaline released during exercise stimulates your mentally as well as physically so it’s best to avoid exercise in the evening, particularly in the last hour before bed.

Also, napping during the day is counter-productive. You might think you’re catching up on lost sleep from the night before but you are actually stealing from sleep you will need that night.

Daytime naps often incorporate mostly stage 3 and 4 sleep which is borrowed from stage 3 and 4 sleep for the coming night.

This loss of sleep is replaced with light sleep (stages 1 and 2) which is more easily interrupted. And this disrupted sleep does not result in a sense of waking refreshed.

It is also important to maintain a regular sleep schedule. Our brains actually cycle on a 25 hour clock which makes it very difficult to get a sleep pattern that’s not disruptive.

You need to train your brain to 24 hours and this involves working with external clues like a relaxation time before bed or establishing consistent bedtimes and rising times.

It sounds obvious, but taking time to relax before going to bed is very important. Mental activity will increase your adrenaline levels so working or reading/watching heavy material won’t help.

When you’re stressed out your heart rate and respiratory rate increase, so try to do something to relax.

It often seems like there are not enough hours in the day and this means that a lot of people work right up until bedtime, but in reality if they do this, their sleep suffers and they’re actually less efficient the next day.

The payback for doing less work and getting a good sleep is that you’ll actually be more productive the next day. Don’t worry about abandoning tasks – you’ll have improved mental energy to tackle them tomorrow.

Again, it sounds obvious, but only go to bed when you’re tired. Don’t try to catch up on a poor sleep from the night before by going to bed early. Pick a time when you feel reasonable certain you’ll fall asleep.

“One of the worst things that people with sleep problems do is keep checking their clock,” says Dr Hudson.

“They see it’s 2am, then 3am and they get increasingly frustrated, which adds to the problem. They should set their alarm for when they need to get up and turn the clock to the wall.”

Also, use your bed for sleep alone. Often people fill their bedrooms with activities that engage the brain – TV’s, computers, phones, etc – the bedroom should be reserved for sleep (and sex) alone.

You’re trying to train your brain to associate the bed with sleep so do other activities elsewhere in the house. It is very important that you reinforce the separation of your busy day from a restful night’s sleep.

Another helpful move is to get out of bed if you haven’t fallen asleep after 15 minutes (you’ll have to estimate your 15 minutes because your clock should be turned to the wall!).

Since you’re trying to build a strong association between bed and sleep, if you stay in bed for extended periods of time while you’re awake you build an association with bed and wakefulness.

If you don’t fall asleep quickly, don’t panic. Simply get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy. If it takes a while, don’t worry.

If you have Type II insomnia and you’re waking during the night, then you can associate the bed with a brief waking and rapid return to sleep or you can associate the bed with a lengthy period of frustration as you toss and turn.

If you get out after 15 minutes of wakefulness and do something relaxing such as listening to music or a pre-recorded TV show that’s short and not too stimulating, then you are more likely to become sleepy again.

You should aim to get back to bed in 15 to 30 minutes. The temptation not to even try to return after this time might be strong but if you don’t go back to reinforce a pattern of chronic night time waking and in some cases extremely early waking times.

The secret to getting good sleep is to persevere. You’re not going to cure insomnia in a night – you’re trying to break well established negative patterns – but four weeks of perseverance should build a pattern of good sleep that will stay with you for life.

Don’t feel tempted to spend too much time in bed because you feel you need at least eight hours and that’s that, but there is a wide variation in the need for sleep between different people – you might need less sleep and less time in bed.

Hudson’s book is complemented by a natural sleep product called Zenbev, a 100 per cent natural foodstuff which tackles the root cause of insomnia and anxiety by supplying the nutrients that our bodies require to manufacture the hormones we need for sleep and restfulness.

One of the worst things people with sleep problems do is keep checking their clock.

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