Musicians, Insomnia, and Tips for Better Sleep

Guest post by Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Ph.D.

The opinions in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Brigham and Women’s Hospital or Harvard Medical School.

There’s nothing more refreshing than a good night of sleep, so why is our relationship with sleep so complicated?

The circadian rhythm

Musicians face unique challenges when it comes to sleep: late-night gigs and frequent travel during tours can disrupt your body’s ability to get high-quality sleep. This happens due to the disruption of your circadian rhythm¹. You can think of your circadian rhythm as your internal body clock. Your internal clock controls the timing of many processes in your body, including the window of time when you are able to get the most restful sleep. When you try to sleep outside this window, you are less likely to get 7-9 hours, which is the ideal recommended amount for adults (teens and children need even more!)². You are also more likely to have trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep, which can lead to symptoms of insomnia like daytime sleepiness³.

Going to bed early one night and late the next night can disrupt your circadian rhythm⁴; so can travel⁵. When you travel across time zones, you can immediately reset your watch to the new local time, but your internal clock does not reset immediately. It may take a few days for your internal clock to sync to the new time zone⁶. If you are on tour and in a new time zone every few days, then it can be difficult for your internal clock to keep up with the local time. The symptoms of jet lag you experience are due to this disruption of your internal clock and should improve as your internal clock syncs to local time.

Lack of sleep

In addition to insomnia-like symptoms, lack of sleep can affect your ability to learn or refine a skill. The brain rehearses many skills, such as motor sequences, during sleep. Several studies have shown that participants who learned a simple keyboard sequence during the day performed the sequence quicker and more accurately the next day if they were allowed a full night of sleep compared to participants who did not sleep⁷. This finding is particularly important for musicians who are trying to learn a new instrument or master a new song.

Daytime sleepiness (Photo: Hernan Sanchez on Unsplash)

REM and creativity

Sleep – particularly rapid eye movement (REM) sleep – may also be the secret to creativity. During sleep each night, we cycle through several stages of sleep, including non-REM and REM. REM is the stage of sleep associated with dreaming. Although we cycle through various stages of non-REM and REM sleep approximately every 90 minutes throughout the night, most of our REM sleep occurs during the latter part of the night. Studies have shown that REM sleep enhances creative thinking⁸. Individuals who do not get 7-9 hours of sleep per night may experience less time in REM sleep, which may have an impact on creativity.

Lack of sleep can also impact other aspects of health. Less than 7 hours of sleep per night is associated with weight gain and cardiovascular disease⁹. Lack of sleep can make you more susceptible to the common cold and other illness¹⁰. Along with a healthy diet and regular exercise, adequate sleep is critical to your overall well-being.

Given the lifestyle challenges that musicians face, what can you do to improve your sleep? Here are a few tips and suggestions!

Tips and suggestions

Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every night. If late-night performances are common, then plan a late bedtime every night and do not schedule any appointments too early in the morning.
Try to give yourself an 8-hour window of opportunity to sleep every night. However, if it takes you more than 20-30 minutes to fall asleep, get out of bed and read or listen to music until you feel tired again. Establish a bedtime routine (e.g., a warm bath, reading a book, meditating) to prepare your body and brain for sleep.
Get into bed only when you are ready to sleep. Avoid using electronic devices ― phones, tablets, computers, and TV ― before bed. The light from electronic devices can trick your internal clock into thinking it is daytime, making it more difficult to fall and stay asleep.
Try to expose yourself to light as soon as possible after you wake up; this will tell your internal clock that it is daytime and keep your internal clock in sync.
Create a calm environment in your bedroom to promote sleep. Keep your room at a cool temperature. Consider blackout shades for your bedroom windows if they let in light from the street.
Do not drink coffee or consume any products that contain caffeine for at least 8 hours before you plan to go to sleep.
Although alcohol may make you sleepy and help you fall asleep, alcohol disrupts your natural sleep cycle, and in particular, reduces REM sleep. Try to limit alcohol consumption before bed.
Melatonin is a hormone in your body that signals to your brain when it is time for you to go to sleep. Melatonin is available as a supplement and can help you to fall asleep if you take it before your bedtime, although it may not help you stay asleep if you tend to wake up in the middle of the night.

References

¹Dijk DJ, Czeisler CA. Paradoxical timing of the circadian rhythm of sleep propensity serves to consolidate sleep and wakefulness in humans. Neurosci Lett. 1994 Jan 17;166(1):63-8.

²Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, Alessi C, Bruni O, DonCarlos L, Hazen N, Herman J, Adams Hillard PJ, Katz ES, Kheirandish-Gozal L, Neubauer DN, O’Donnell AE, Ohayon M, Peever J, Rawding R, Sachdeva RC, Setters B, Vitiello MV, Ware JC. National Sleep Foundation’s updated sleep duration recommendations: final report. Sleep Health. 2015 Dec;1(4):233-243.

³Schutte-Rodin S, Broch L, Buysse D, Dorsey C, Sateia M. Clinical guideline for the evaluation and management of chronic insomnia in adults. J Clin Sleep Med. 2008 Oct 15;4(5):487-504.

⁴Phillips AJK, Clerx WM, O’Brien CS, Sano A, Barger LK, Picard RW, Lockley SW, Klerman EB, Czeisler CA. Irregular sleep/wake patterns are associated with poorer academic performance and delayed circadian and sleep/wake timing. Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 12;7(1):3216.

⁵Reilly T, Waterhouse J, Edwards B. A review on some of the problems associated with long-distance journeys. Clin Ter. 2008 Mar-Apr;159(2):117-27.

⁶Revell VL, Eastman CI. How to trick mother nature into letting you fly around or stay up all night. J Biol Rhythms. 2005 Aug;20(4):353-65.

⁷Walker MP, Brakefield T, Seidman J, Morgan A, Hobson JA, Stickgold R. Sleep and the time course of motor skill learning. Learn Mem. 2003 Jul-Aug;10(4):275-84.

⁸Cai DJ, Mednick SA, Harrison EM, Kanady JC, Mednick SC. REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 23;106(25):10130-4.

⁹Grandner MA, Alfonso-Miller P, Fernandez-Mendoza J, Shetty S, Shenoy S, Combs D. Sleep: important considerations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2016 Sep;31(5):551-65.

¹⁰Prather AA, Janicki-Deverts D, Hall MH, Cohen S. Behaviorally Assessed Sleep and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. Sleep. 2015 Sep 1;38(9):1353-9.

Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Ph.D. Associate Biostatistician, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Instructor in Medicine, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School

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