Sleep Solutions for the Family

Your husband is on his third cup of coffee -- and it's not yet 8 AM. Your teen is so bleary-eyed and grumpy that you want to run in the other direction. And you're so tired you can barely remember your middle name.

If your family is like most, everyone is seriously sleep deprived. A study from the CDC found that only one out of three Americans gets enough sleep all month long. And 16 percent of adults get less than six hours per night, says the National Sleep Foundation. That's well short of the seven to eight hours needed to ward off obesity, high blood pressure, and other ills. To complicate matters, each family member deals with unique sleep sappers, says Susan Zafarlotfi, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Sleep-Wake Disorders at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Follow these simple strategies to help every member of your family sleep longer and better every night.

Help Kids Nod Off
Late-night gadget time can cut into sleep.

Artificial light from computer and television screens tells the brain that it's not time to wind down. "Your body thinks artificial light is daylight -- which prevents the release of melatonin, a sleep-inducing chemical," says Zafarlotfi. A study from Wayne State University found that talking on a cell phone before snoozing causes a 13 percent drop in deep sleep -- the type that helps people recover from daily wear and tear.

Try these three solutions to get your kids to log off:

1. Set a tech curfew
Shut off the TV and have your children stop using phones and computers at least an hour before bed, advises Zafarlotfi.

2. Use the dimmer switch
Turn down the lights in your kids' rooms a half hour before bedtime to allow melatonin to kick in, says Zafarlotfi. Or try switching the bulbs in their rooms to 60 watts or less.

3. Do morning prep at night
Teens, whose biological clocks tend to be on a later sleep cycle, often struggle with early start times at school. Encourage your kids to shower and get clothes and homework ready in the evening and choose fast breakfasts (like cereal) so they can sleep in as much as possible.

Find Your Stress-Free Sleep Zone
Calm your mind for sounder slumber.

Anxiety and other frazzled states cause your body to release adrenaline, a brain chemical that triggers alertness, says sleep specialist Joyce Walsleben, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at New York University. Adds Zafarlotfi: "Stress seems to keep more women awake than men -- which explains why 90 percent of my patients are female."

Try these three solutions to ease worries and get the rest you need:

1. Shower an hour before bed
The warm water is relaxing. Plus, your body temperature will dip afterward, mimicking the physiological changes that naturally occur before you sleep.

2. Write away worries
During the day, scribble down your concerns and how you plan to handle them, advises Walsleben. For example, if you're panicked about bills, you might write that you'll go through them and come up with a payment schedule for those you can't tackle right away. Then, if you start to ruminate before lights-out, tell yourself firmly, I've already dealt with this. It's time to go to sleep.

3. Make exercise a habit
Getting your heart rate up for 20 minutes every day -- by walking, gardening, or cleaning the house -- can lower anxiety by as much as 40 percent according to a study of about 20,000 adults at University College in London.

Push Your Husband's Snooze Button
Snoring can be more serious than you think.

By age 50, half of men snore, says Michael Thorpy, M.D., director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "The noise can actually wake him up," he says -- or prevent him from getting into deeper, more restorative sleep stages.

Try these four solutions to stop the noise:

1. Measure his neck
"A big neck increases the odds that breathing during sleep will be interrupted," says Charles Bae, MD, a neurologist and sleep specialist with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. One reason: If his neck is bigger than 17 inches, it may indicate excess weight -- which puts pressure on the airways and can lead to snoring.

2. Skip wine with dinner
If he likes to wind down with a drink, make sure his cocktail is at least three hours before bed. Alcohol relaxes the throat, which makes snoring worse, says Thorpy.

3. Get help
If he has tried everything and still feels exhausted during the day or is falling asleep during work (or while driving!), have your husband checked for sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing is blocked for seconds at a time. The disorder prevents the body from getting enough oxygen during sleep and raises the risk of heart attack and strokes. Your husband is also more likely to have high blood pressure and erectile dysfunction if he has sleep apnea.

4. Don't banish him to the couch
It's tempting, but even if he has severe snoring or apnea, try to nod off next to him. (Use earplugs or a white-noise machine to muffle the din.) A man is more likely to stick with sleep treatment if his wife shares his bed, finds a study from Rush University.

Best Rest for Your Parents
Changing circadian rhythms can play havoc with sleep patterns.
As people get older, hormonal and brain changes cause a shift in the body's internal clock, so they might find themselves sleepy very early in the evening. "This starts a vicious cycle," says Zafarlofti. "If your parents go to bed at eight, they may rise at three or four in the morning. Then they take long naps. So when bedtime rolls around, they're not tired enough to doze off, which deprives them of deep sleep."
Try these three solutions to help your parents snooze on schedule:

1. Skip catnaps
Your parents should try to get all eight hours of sleep at one time -- or, if they must take a nap, have them set an alarm so they sleep no more than 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Stick to light fare
Recent animal studies suggest that a high-fat diet can disrupt circadian rhythms. Though further research is needed, "greasy, heavy dinners and desserts may disrupt digestion, so you toss and turn," says Bae.

3. Turn up the light
Unlike teens, seniors may benefit from bright light exposure in the evening -- it keeps them from falling asleep too early, explains Bae. Look for full-spectrum bulbs, which mimic natural daylight.