Engineer your sleep to be more awesome
Sleep rocks! Who the hell doesn't like sleep? Precisely!
So why is it on the decline in the modern age?
The average adult gets around 7 hours sleep a night, do you get that much?
Almost a third of us get less than 6.5 hours sleep. So if you have a coworker who is a little cranky today ask them how much sleep they're had recently and I bet its not 7 hours.
If you are getting less than 6 hours a night you'll most likely gain twice the weight of someone getting over that 7 hours
Why do we get less shut eye than we should ?
Drinking a caffienated drink before bed (why the hell do they ask you if you want coffee after a late night meal in restaurants?)
watching TV
using a laptop, phone, tablet before bed
Drinking alcohol before bed
Room is too bright
There too much noise
Stress/thinking about issues you have to deal with
Room too hot or cold
Need the toilet at night
I bet my left arm you could tick more that a few on there. I know I can.
Our sleep health has a massive impact on our day to day living making us suck and functions like zombies.
The problems range from gaining more weight, irritability, short temper, lack of energy and it can even lead to premature death!
Lack of sleeping is killing you!
So......
more sleep = better life = more awesome
We bang on about nutrition and exercise with what we should and shouldn't do. Sweating the really small stuff like meal timings and exercise selection, we miss one very simple thing......SLEEP.
Having some quality time hitting those ZZZZZZZ's will change your life.
Now we're not talking about just getting more sleep, we're talking getting more AWESOME (quality) sleep! More isn't the key, more quality sleep is
How sleep works
The quality of your sleep is determined by a process called the sleep-wake cycle.
There are two important parts of the sleep-wake cycle:
Slow wave sleep (also known as deep sleep)
During slow wave sleep the body relaxes helping with renewal and repair
Growth hormone gets released to stimulate tissue repair and muscle growth
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep
REM sleep is to the mind what slow wave is to the body
Your brain comes to life with dreams that help re-organise the information we've gathered throughout the day
Without sleep your body won't function the way it needs to. Basically without both sleep phases your body literally will start to die.
Top tips to Engineer your sleep to be awesome
1. Get the temperature right
Too hot you can't get comfortable, too cold and you're shivering.
A room temperature of around 18-22 C if perfecto!
That should feel cool like you need the covers. If you can sleep without the covers on you its too warm
2. Ensure your room is dark, like oh my god I'm blind dark!
Your body is sentive to light, even the light on your TV can disturb your slumber
Blackout blinds are a great edition to your bedroom as most curtains are subpar at blocking out the lights from the street lamps and other going ons
Turn off all the lights in the house too as you'll be surprised how much they still light up the bedroom
If you can still make out shapes it's not dark enough
3. Leave the screens in another room
The bedroom should be for sleeping and well.....SEX!
Blue light from electronic device are the worst and have been shown to disturb you're sleep more than any other type of light. Even your tiny mobile screen is bad
Just a small amount of screen time can stop you from going to sleep while also disturbing it when you do get the zzzz's in
If you do have to use a laptop late at night use flux It's great piece of software that dims your screen and changes the hue as the day goes on. The best thing about it is it's totally free
If you use your mobile for your alarm set it on airplane mode so it doesn't go off and wake you when you're sleeping
4. De-stress before bed
Switch off that brain before you decide to go to bed. Doing work right until you get in to bed isn't going to put you in the mood to sleep
Read a book, watch a movie (not one too late as you won't want to go to sleep) or chat with your partner/family. Bloody hell even have sex, remember thats what the bedroom is for! If you're doing it right you'll want to sleep afterwards
Brain dump your stresses. Finding it hard to switch off from the day or have too much to think about tomorrow? Write everything down. Some find this method great for unloading everything that's on their mind
A great app to use is Headspace. Its a meditation app but I sometimes use it to fall asleep when I have things on my mind. I'm not supposed to go to sleep while doing the tasks but I can't help it. Once the guy talks for a few minutes I'm gone
5. Take a shower/bath
Plain and simple, a bath relaxes you, if you're more relaxed you sleep better. Nuff said!
6. Create a relaxing environment
Distractions like a messy bed, clothes on the floor with cause stress and make you think of other things than sleep
Create an environment that helps you come down from a stressful day
Dim the lights, have clean sheets, turn off the TV, play relaxing music, have a bath before bed. Whatever helps Get you in the mood to sleep will help (remember what I said before, yep have SEX)
7. Listen to the rain
I love sleeping without any noise, even a little bit stops me from falling off. Others prefer to have some sound around them
Having a fan in the room or playing a bit of peaceful music (those calming sounds of the beach or rain falling) can help you switch off
It gives you something to concentrate on without actually concentrating
8. Get into a routine
Your body loves routine. Do you have the same parking space at work? The same locker, spin bike in the class etc. we love routine without even thinking about it
Sleep is the same, our body likes to go to bed at the same time everyday. Even an extra hour later than normal throws your body off
Go to bed at the same time while having the same routine whatever that may be
Even go to bed at the same time on weekends/days off. If you don't you'll find it harder to get to sleep come Sunday night. There's only crappy TV on anyway
9. Skip the caffeine
Caffeine can stay in you body for up to 9-10 hours (everyone is different though) so just because you had a coffee at 5pm today doesn't mean you won't feel the effects
Even if you get to sleep the caffeine won't let your body go in to the sleep cycle
Try and stay clear of caffeinated drinks after lunch.
It may take a few days for your body to adjust to lack of caffeine in your system but long term you'll feel better and have more energy
10. Skip the evening night cap
Having an alcoholic drink may make you more sleepy and help you drift off, but it's the effect it has on your body when you are asleep that's the issue. Think about the last time you drank heavly, I bet you slept for hours that night, but I also bet you felt like shite the next day. It's not just dehydration making you tired it's the lack of sleep
Alcohol is like caffeine as it stops your body going in to the good quality sleep your body needs to recover
11. Exercise to better sleep
Exercise is this amazing thing that helps all manner of elements of your life!
Exercise will help you sleep better.....full stop
Exercising late at night though could have the opposite effect so be careful how close you do it
Getting better sleep is an art form and can take ages to get everything right.
Some of the points you may not be able to change but at least make a start.
Aim for making one adjusted every 1-2 weeks. This'll give it time so you can really see what helps.