Why sleep is SOOOO important....
So I know we all hear it... all the time,...how important sleep is... but the truth is, it is important!
Harvard Medical conducted a study and found a direct link between sleep and mood stability. They found that the "poor or inadequate sleep can cause irritability and stress, while healthy sleep can enhance well-being." Researchers are also discovering a link between sleep and other long term health problems including dementia and chronic illness.
Yes the average person needs 7 hours of sleep each night to function at their best, but that is an average, meaning some of us need more and some need less. It is important to find out how much sleep you need in order to feel at your most alert state each and every morning. In addition to knowing your personal sleep need, there are some easy and simple things you can do each day to help improve your sleep.
1) Create a sleep routine:
A sleep routine is a type of ritual completed every night before bed. And I'm not talking about out of the ordinary things. I'm talking about the normal things you do every night, but done with purpose, mindfully, and in a structured way. By making a consistent pattern and routine of behaviors before bed, you train your brain to wind down, to know that it is time to start producing the sleep related neurological chemicals in preparation for sleep.
Sleep routines do not have to take long. They can include a small number of things or they can include a large number of things, but it should work for you, and be easy for you to keep consistent.
My sleep routine includes the following...
Fill up a glass of water in my kitchen (filtered water)
Make sure all the lights and electronics are off in the house
Walk with my dogs to my bedroom
Change into my night clothes
Fill up my dogs water dish in the bathroom
Brush my teeth
Floss
Wash my face
Take my medications and drink the glass of water (from earlier)
Unmake the bed, put the decorative pillows away
Turn the fan on
Plug my phone in
Final check of my schedule for tomorrow, set my alarm
Turn off lights in room
Get into bed
Complete a Mindfulness Body Scan
2) Be consistent on your fall asleep and wake up times
Have you ever experienced when you naturally wake up in the morning and feel completely awake, look over to your clock and its 3 minutes before your alarm is set to go off.... UGH, I hate that, but it is a good thing. It means that my internal rhythmic clock is in sync. When you are consistent on your timing of sleep, your body will naturally wake up at the same time every day and with natural energy and motivation. This is one of the most important aspects of healthy sleep hygiene. Falling asleep at a consistent time is also important, but waking up at the same time is the key. If you did not get enough sleep the night before, go to bed early the next day... do not sleep in! I know, some people will hate that I said that, but it is true... sorry. Find a wake up time that will work for you consistently and count backwards the 7, 8, or whatever hours of sleep you personally need and that will give you the fall asleep time you should be working with.
3) No electronics before bed
If you just thought, I can't do this step, yes you can! Now I am not your mother, and I know most of us have heard about this via the news or social media or all that other stuff, about how blue light disrupts our sleep. So I'm not going to harp on this point too much. All I'm going to say is give yourself at least 30 minutes of no electronics before bed. Its ok to work up to that point, but if you are struggling with sleep, then it might be a good time for change.
4) Make sure your room is set up for success
Temperature, darkness, quite, and comfort is the recipe for success. The room has to be at a comfortable temperature. Personally I get hot really easily so I do use a fan at night to help keep the room at a nice cold temperature. Light from outside or inside can also effect sleep so be sure to turn them off or utilize things like blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Silence is often hard to come by, but its about not adding to the noise of the world and working on eliminating external noises. Like I said, I use a fan at night which helps provide a soft and consistent white noise, drowning out other sounds. My dogs can be a pain when it comes to noise so if I need a really good nigh sleep I use ear plugs. And of course there is the bed... The bed is the thrown of the room, it should be the most comfortable space in your house.... I know... for many of use it isn't. Without the comfortable mattress and comfortable sheets and blankets and pillows and everything else, we really are not setting ourselves up for success with sleep. It seems counterintuitive, but saving and spending $$ on our beds is possibly one of the best self care moves we could make. Its ok to think about yourself every once and a while, being selfish in this case is not a bad thing at all!
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There are additional things to consider when it comes to healthy sleep hygiene so if you are interested in learning more and expanding your understanding of the importance of sleep, please check out Tuck Sleep website and their information page about Sleep Hygiene.
Good luck on your sleep ventures, I know you'll see the improvement in your sleep very soon!
Until next time,
Rene Nevarez, LMFT
@TheSacramentoCounselor