Is this you during the day?
I know I have often found myself struggling to stay awake throughout the day, the constant on and never off lifestyle we live these days, makes it difficult to unwind, especially at night time which leads to poor sleep, struggling to be productive the next day, which then leaves us stressed and unable to relax further adding to the vicious cycle of constantly being exhausted.
Well, fear not here are 5 tips you can implement starting right now which will begin to help you get a better nights sleep from tonight
#1 No Scrolling in Bed
Blue light which is emitted from our favourite electronic devices can actually trigger our brain into thinking it is day time. Blue light is important for health, blue light helps memory, it can improve mood as well as boost alertness and cognitive function. Most importantly, blue light plays a role in regulating our circadian rhythm (i.e. our natural sleep / wake cycle) so by scrolling during the hours leading up to bedtime, we trick our brain into being more alert, thus making it difficult to wind down. So, put the phone down and pick up a book, meditate or have a conversation - remember when we used to do that with the people in the same room as us? 🤪
#2 Develop a regular Sleep Schedule
We touched on the circadian rhythm above and how blue light plays a role in regulating how our bodies naturally wake and sleep, and whilst avoiding scrolling our mobile devices in bed is important for a restful nights sleep, what is just as important, if not more important is picking the same time to sleep and wake as much as possible. Why?
Our brain likes to burn as little energy as possible, hence why habits are so hard to break. Same goes with knowing when to sleep, your body has a schedule it wants to operate off of and this largely based off the natural world - it wouldn't be great to find yourself being chased by a saber tooth tiger many moons ago to suddenly need to take a nap now would it?
The body wants to know when to be alert, when to increase body temperature, when to secrete melatonin for sleep (the hormone responsible for sleep regulation) etc.
Now I am fully aware there will be a few of you out there who work night shifts. every fortnight, and can't possibly develop a regular sleep schedule, in that case, you want to create a sleep routine, which will help indicate to the body when it should prepare for sleep, after all, the body is an amazing machine vastly capable of massive adaptation.
#3 Sleep Cycles
Before we move on to developing a sleep routine, I want to talk about how we sleep. You see, we don't just go to sleep and wake up. We sleep in stages with each stage becoming progressively deeper as the night goes on and subsequently lighter as morning approaches.
As we fall asleep, we enter stage 1 or what is known as light sleep, this is an NREM or Non-Rapid Eye Movement Stage of sleep, it lasts about 5 minutes, think of when you are "dozing off".
We then enter stage 2, still in NREM, this can last up to 60 minutes. respiration slows, heart rate decreases and body temperature drops.
Bonus Tip: Have a hot shower before bed, the spike in body temperature will lead to a sharp drop off in temperature, helping you reach stage 2 a little quicker.
Stage 3 of Deep sleep is where it is much harder to wake someone up, muscle tone has decreased, heart rate decreases further as does body temperature, as the body begins to relax more. Experts identify this stage of sleep by the Delta Waves recognised when monitoring brain activity in subjects in a lab setting. They believe it is an important part of the sleep process for recovery and restoration. These stages typically last 20-40 minutes decreasing as the night progresses, with more time being spent in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.
Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep is where your body goes into a state of atonia or temporary paralysis, this catatonic state of your muscles prevents you from acting out your dreams, it gets its name "Rapid Eye Movement" as the only muscles than don't become catatonic are your eye and breathing muscles. If you were to open someones eyelid during REM sleep, you would see the eye darting around rapidly, hence where it gets its name.
This stage is thought to be important for memory, cognitive function and creativity, so if you are experiencing a lot of brain fog, you definitely need to improve your sleep routine to ensure adequate amount of REM sleep.
Both Deep and REM sleep play a vital role in regulating thinking, emotions and physical health. By not getting adequate sleep, exercise performance can also be affected with a decrease in cardiac output, that is the amount of blood your heart is able to pump per beat.
Last but not least get out of the habit of hitting the snooze button (yes you🫵)
I know you think you are getting an extra few minutes of sleep but what you are actually doing is kickstarting a whole new sleep cycle and as we can now see, your body is rudely interrupted 10 minutes later by the alarm just as it is entering into another 45-60 minute cycle leaving you feeling more tired and possibly irritated - Look who got out of the wrong side of the bed eh?
#4 Developing a Sleep Routine
Now that we understand how and why we sleep, let's look at putting that into action so our body knows when and what to expect. I am not going to tell you how to do this because the simple fact of the matter is, everyone is their own individual and what works for me, may not work for you. The trick is to find what works for you and stick to it. Here are some examples that you can follow, let's say your bedtime is 10pm. Put your phone down by 9pm at the latest, Brush your teeth and use mouthwash, turn on the lamp and turn off the main light in your bedroom, close the blind / curtains, get dressed for bed, this is again indicating to the brain, along with the low light in the room that it's time for bed. Let's say this took you 15 minutes, grab yourself a book or notebook and start reading or writing out your thoughts for the day for 20-30 minutes, this is beneficial because you can "unload" your mind knowing your thoughts are safely stored on a piece of paper.
Slowly as you begin to unwind, your eyes will begin to feel heavy, listen to your body and put the book/notebook down, hit the light and let your head hit the pillow, the body is entering stage 1 or dozing off, let it do its thing!
Bonus tip: Struggling with late night snacking? Brushing your teeth and using mouthwash rinse is a signal that the brain will interpret as food time is over, plus, have you ever eaten chocolate after drinking mouthwash?🤮
#5 Avoid Coffee and other caffeinated beverages after 2pm
If you desired bed time is 10pm, then it's important to understand how that much needed coffee break at 3pm is actually part of a vicious circle. You see, caffeine has a half life of 8 hours, which means 8 hours after you consumed it, its potency is still at 50% in your blood stream. If you caffeine sensitive like me, good luck drinking coffee past 11am😂
Also, ask yourself if you truly need this cup of coffee? If you like the taste, maybe you can try decaf, but when it comes to caffeine, you'd be surprised how for many people it's actually a mere habit and the caffeine itself is actually having zero effect on them because they have become so tolerant to it🤷♂️
My advice is keep the caffeine hit for when you really need it and opt for decaf at all other times, because we may not recognise it as such but it is a drug and the more we consume it, the more we need of it.
So, what to do with all this information?
Well, there is a lot to digest above, so if I was to be succinct and give you some simple practical tips to takeaway and implement right away it would these four which will benefit both sleep quality and quantity.
During the day:
1. Avoid Caffeine where possible
2. Get plenty of Daylight and Fresh Air
During the evening:
Avoid blue-light
Avoid Snacking
Avoid Alcohol - we didn't discuss this, but alcohol actually sedates you rather than helps you sleep
Before bed:
Reduce Noise
Keep the room cool
Sleep in Darkness
I hope you found this blog post helpful and I would love to hear if you did, or if you have any content you would like covered in relation to health and fitness let me know by following me on instagram and dropping me a comment or DM @brianbrennancoaching
For any coaching related queries drop me a line at info@brianbrennan.ie
Sleep Well!
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