Longevity Project: Skiing hard, working way harder triggers sleep deficiency

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of the series The Longevity Project, a collaboration between The Aspen Times and the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

Society’s quest for fresh-powder slopes has conceived quite a hapless saying among ski-resort locals: You either own three houses or you’re working three jobs.

Corporate Wellness Manager Alisa Vetter Owens has spent the past five years promoting healthy, proper sleep among Aspen Skiing Company (SkiCo) employees — many who tend to work multiple gigs to make ends meet in the resort-ridden Roaring Fork Valley.

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For them, daytime is spent teaching skiing and snowboarding. At night, it’s off serving après fare and cocktails. This sort of bohemian, modern-day ski-bum lifestyle often triggers sleep deprivation, Owens’ experience shows.

“It’s challenging when you look at the cost of living,” she said. “You can’t necessarily survive as a ski instructor. Especially this season, you’re going to get cut a lot and not work as much. So, you work other jobs to fill that void.”

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Most adults need a minimum seven hours of sleep, a recent Aspen Valley Hospital article states. Stages of deep sleep offer the body time to recharge its vital functions, as well as release “growth hormones that reduce inflammation and repair tissue and strengthen bone.”

But falling asleep in the name of mind, body, and soul gets tricky under the exciting duress of long days and even longer nights. In addition to prolonged working hours, Owens says sleep neglect is often caused by increased caffeine intake later in the day, persistent stress, and the excessive lubricant that flows through most resort communities — alcohol.

And after a long night, people roll out of bed to do it all over again. This commonly leads to less than five hours of sleep, which often prevents reaching the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep and that refreshed feeling when waking up.

Then comes what’s called “microsleep.” This psychological phenomena briefly causes abrupt drowsiness and short periods of sleep. Microsleep is said to be more dangerous than drunk skiing.

“We were seeing a correlation between a lack of sleep and employees getting injured,” Owens said.

Accordingly, she routinely hands out questionnaires to SkiCo employees, inquiring about their lifestyles and sleep habits. She also lists pointers on how to better catch Zs:

• Know your caffeinated beverage: Caffeine is ubiquitous. That sweet cup of joe in the morning is great, but soda, certain teas, and other drinks do possess the stimulant. Always check labels, and know what you’re drinking. Also, it’s advised to consume your last caffeinated beverage at least eight hours before hitting the hay. That reserves enough time for the jitters to subside, and you’re not tossing and turning.

• Limit screen time: Laptops, TV monitors, smartphones, and touchscreen tablets project what’s called “blue light.” Blue light tricks the brain into thinking it’s daytime, and that in turn disrupts the hormonal secretion of melatonin. This naturally-occurring compound is conducive to good sleep.

• Dim the lights: Just like blue light, household light fixtures being on at night also distract the mind. Turn off major lights. Instead use lamps and other dimly-lit lights before bedtime. Also, draw the curtains, and cover windows. The more darkness, the better, Owens says. 

• Drink responsibly: Libations are often synonymous with rebels possessed by the inviolable affinity for fresh powder and the high-country lifestyle. But too much of grandpa’s cough medicine before bed can fragment sleep. In other words, you’re not properly navigating the healthy stages of sleep. Crush your last beer at least four hours before nighty night — and don’t drink too much.

• Maintain a routine sleep cycle: The seasonality of resort work is hard to circumvent, and that can pose issues for healthy sleep cycles. Still, maintaining a consistent sleep regimen manufactures better refreshment and alertness. Your overall health is likely to improve if you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

Most of this is easier said than done, of course. The younger worker might be able to hack it without sleep, but it’s the older generations who tend to find themselves more confronted by less hours of sleep. 

Meticulous research shows sleep neglect increases chances of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Sleep deficiency also impacts behavior and “has been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior,” according to the National Institute of Health.

“We have a pretty big problem with mental hygiene in this valley,” Owens said.