Activating your brain is something you do not want to do when you’re trying to sleep, but if you find yourself putting off going to bed night after night, you’re not alone.
ABC7 went to the LPG sleep disorders center in Fort Myers to ask Medical Director Dr. Jose Colón some questions, but instead, he had some questions for us.
Dr. Colón asked, “I’m going to ask you a set of questions, okay, and I promise they’re not difficult questions…Do you drive?
Amanda: Yes
Dr. Colón: When you drive, are you trying to fall asleep or trying to stay awake?
Amanda: Stay awake
Dr. Colón: When you’re driving and trying to stay awake, do you ever listen to the radio?
Amanda: Yes
Dr. Colón: Can you see how subconsciously you’re learning to associate that radio with alertness?
Amanda: Interesting
Dr. Colón: it’s activating the brain”
Recently, social media platforms have been filled with people talking about something called “revenge bedtime,” which is when you stay up way later than usual as a way to relax. Since you’re telling yourself, it’s “me time,” you’re tricking yourself into thinking bedtime can wait.
Dr. Colón said, “I haven’t heard the term sleep revenge, but you know, for a long time, people have been trying to cut sleep when they feel like doing it.”
Doctors say sleepless nights lead to less success the following day, so we decided to talk to college students about what keeps them from going to bed.
Brock Daniels, a student at FSW, said, “Unfortunately, I don’t get enough sleep. I should get more, but that’s what I’m working on. I don’t know. It just needs to be a better habit.” Bianca Moise, another student, said, “TikTok keeps me up.” Her best friend Nairobi Taveran, also a student, added, “Absolutely TikTok, Instagram, and sometimes just the college workload.”
Dr. Colón always knew sleep was necessary: “The benefits of sleep are improved attention, and it helps your metabolism as well as your immune system.”
You would think those benefits would make us want to sleep, but as life gets busy, bedtime gets put on the back burner, “reduced sleep time can affect us physically, cognitively, and emotionally…In that lack of sleep has been associated with higher depression and anxiety, ADHD and attention issues in both children and adults.”
Lack of sleep can also cause cardiovascular problems later in life or even make you more prone to getting sick because your body is working overtime while you’re passed out. Every hour, we go into REM, which stands for rapid eye movement. During that time, we take the day’s information and move it from our short-term to long-term memory.
So, for college students staying up late to cram for an exam the following day, Dr. Colón “if you haven’t studied at all and you’re cramming, maybe that’s better than not having studied at all, but you’re not going into REM and meaning you’re not learning that material so it’s actually deleterious.”
Dr. Colón makes it simple for us to understand. Remember the questions he first asked ABC7?
It wouldn’t make sense to turn on the same song you use to stay alert in the car to help you fall asleep, so what should you do?
“If you want to use some relaxation time to help guide you to sleep, that can count as some me time as well, like a skincare routine, and it’s important to do things that are relaxing and not mentally engaging or going to stimulate your brain,” said Dr. Colón.