The art of functioning on broken sleep.

You're in bed. It's 11:44pm, and with every minute that passes, the pit of anxiety in your stomach ratchets up. 

You need to get to sleep.

You've listened to the podcasts, you've read the research, and you're painfully aware that without a full eight or nine hours (more if you're perimenopausal), your risk of adverse health impacts — everything from diabetes to dementia — increases. 

Listen to the latest episode of the Well podcast below, post continues.

You know your mental health is compromised without a healthy sleep pattern, you know you're more likely to wake up and crave junk food, and you know the brain fog that's been a constant companion for longer than you care to remember will only get foggier, but there is one (or two, or three) little barrier standing between you and the land of health-improving nod…

Children.

The parenting paradox.

Those joy-bringing, life-sucking and sleep-demolishing creatures, the ones that no 'sleep hygiene advice' seems to ever take into account. 

Because no matter how much blue light you avoid before bed, it doesn't seem to impact the fact that they pad in each night on little feet at 2am, begging to get in for a cuddle (if you're lucky) or requiring lengthy periods of resettling if you're not.

And even if you're in possession of those rare unicorn children who remain in their own beds all night long, the likelihood is that they — having drifted off around 7:30pm — are ready and rearing for WeetBix sometime around dawn. 

Your little people are some of the biggest disruptors of sleep. Image: Getty

Unless you go to bed alongside them (which is hard to resist with the dulcet tones of a sleep story playing and the warm oxytocin-rich smell of a freshly bathed toddler lulling you off), you're likely going to be functioning on far less sleep than you need, for far more years than you'd like to admit. 

A 2019 study published in Sleep journal found that following the sharp decline in sleep satisfaction and duration in the first months postpartum, neither mothers' nor fathers' sleep fully recovers to prepregnancy levels up to six years after the birth of their first child.

Research from the Sleep Health Foundation found that poor sleep costs the Australian economy around $17.6 billion annually in lost productivity, with health system costs of $1.8 billion.

The ongoing detriment to our society as a direct result of sleep deprivation has prompted The Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) to call on the government for the establishment of a 10-year National Sleep Health Strategy. 

But what to do about it?

While government initiatives and cohort studies are great, the parents of today are looking for more tangible ways to improve their shuteye. And when a solid eight hours isn't a possibility, what are we supposed to do (apart from buying shares in Vittoria Coffee)?

It turns out, there are a few ways to hack the system. 

Watch: The physical and mental changes of motherhood. Post continues below.

Sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo said one of the simplest ways to overcome the anxiety that can appear when we struggle to fall asleep is counterintuitive — get up. 

"Sleep anxiety is usually driven by poor stimulus control — aka laying in bed anxious, not sleeping," she explained.

And as any sleep-poor person understands, the irony of not being able to fall asleep because you're worried about not falling asleep is a singular cruelty.  

"If you are awake in bed, get up," she continued. 

"Stay away from (cortisol-enhancing) blue light, use (cortisol-reducing) lavender and occupy your mind with a tech-free activity like reading, which can reduce stress by 68 percent, with the effects starting in just six minutes".

But what about the more bang-for-buck options? Are there ways to stretch five hours of sleep into the health-boosting benefits of eight?

As it turns out — kind of.

Sleep hacks to trick you into feeling rested.

"Take a NASA nap," suggested Olivia, referring to the power nap so-named because it was originally studied by NASA to improve astronaut alertness and performance. 

"A 26-minute nap has been shown to boost cognitive performance by 34 percent and boost attention by 52 percent," she explained. 

"Take this before 3:30pm to ensure you don't disrupt your sleep that night, though."

While squeezing in a nap might be tricky for full-time employees, the rise of working from home means your lunch break could be put to far more efficient use.

Another way to trick your body into thinking it's had more sleep is favoured by neuroscientist and podcaster, Dr Andrew Huberman — NSDR. 

Non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) is a kind of meditation also known as yoga nidra, which encourages a short practice of deep relaxation credited with being able to decrease anxiety and improve a person's dopamine threshold. 

Most exciting for the sleep-deprived amongst us, however, is a 2022 study that found just 60 minutes of NSDR can deliver the equivalent health benefits of four hours of restorative sleep. 

You can find a host of guided NSDR meditations free on Youtube, and best of all, you can do them in achievable 15-minute bursts throughout the day to layer the benefits. 

Quality over quantity.

While the quantity of sleep you're getting does matter along with the quality, says Olivia, those who can't control the former are well-served to make the most of the latter.

"Aim to spend 20 percent of your total sleep time in SWS (deep sleep), and 25 percent in REM sleep," she says, adding that the actions you take in your waking hours count when it comes to making this happen. 

"You need to maximise circadian alignment," Olivia says. 

Sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo says 30 minutes of tech-free time before bed can help. Image: Getty.

"In the evening, reduce all blue light from 8pm. Wear blue-light-blocking glasses, dim the lights, reduce screen brightness and make sure you have 30 minutes of tech-free time.

"Also, reduce your core body temperature. Set the air con to 18 degrees, have a shower and take glycine as a sleep supplement." 

In the morning, Olivia recommends exposure to bright sunlight within the first 30 minutes of waking, when your circadian rhythm is most sensitive, and increasing your body temperature.

And while these measures work as a stop-gap when sleep is harder to come by, Olivia still urges everyone — parents or not — to strive for that holy grail of eight hours as soon as circumstances allow. 

"Sleep unlocks mental clarity, emotional resilience and peak productivity," she says.

"It's not wasted time— it's your competitive advantage. Research shows we are 29 percent more productive when sleeping eight hours rather than five.

"Imagine getting 1.5 hours back in your work day, simply by sleeping more!"

Well, Mamamia's new health brand for women, is shaped by the health experiences of women just like you. Sign up to the Well newsletter to receive your weekly dose of trusted health expertise without the medical jargon, ask a question or share your story.

Feature image: Getty.

Well by Mamamia. Australian women, welcome to your full-body health check. At Well, our goal is to improve the health of one million women by delivering the game-changing health info they actually need. This initiative is made possible through the support of our presenting partner, Chemist Warehouse.