Sleep is not self indulgence or self care. Sleep is a basic human need that’s critical to our health, well-being and self preservation!

While I know I started the last sleep article with this same quote, it really is that important that we make sleep a priority.

It’s not accidental that we will spend approximately ⅓ of our lives sleeping.

Our bodies are really very busy when we sleep!  Our bodies need this time to be able to heal, integrate everything that happened during the day, create new memories, reset our digestive system and so much more.

In the last article, we talked about if you’re actually sleeping, the ‘how’ of sleep, setting up your room for sleep and the effects of lack of sleep (hint: you’re effectively drunk).  If you missed this article, you can click here to read it.

This time we’re going to talk a little about what happens during sleep, and more about how to set up an evening routine to support your ability to fall asleep quickly, stay asleep and get a good night's sleep.

What happens during sleep…

As I mentioned before, our bodies are really busy when we sleep.  Some of that work includes healing and learning.

Healing

Physical activity isn't complete without sleep because you heal during sleep! 

When you exercise or are physically active, you create micro-tears in muscles which is how they grow stronger. Repairing these micro-tears happens during sleep. 

Healing from injury or illness also happens during sleep. Really, repairs to all systems in the body happens during sleep.

Learning and Memory

Your mind converts what you've learned and your experiences to memories during sleep. This includes moving short term memories to long term memories.

Studying or memorizing anything works better when you sleep rather than pushing through! 

Better yet, if you review whatever you're learning or are trying to memorize before sleeping, you’ll actually learn it faster and better. 

This also works for new physical skills, as well as remembering faces and names. 

Practising anything new doesn't get integrated while you practice but rather it’s integrated while you sleep a full night’s sleep. 

Sleep is also needed to maintain normal levels of innovative and flexible thinking which helps to link new ideas with existing knowledge - those flashes of insight and brilliance.

Sleep and a Clean Brain

Scientists are researching the idea that the brain “cleans” itself of waste proteins during sleep as part of the brain's maintenance process. 

Interesting research is coming out and showing that these waste proteins can cause a buildup of inflammation and if not properly removed these waste proteins may lead to additional health complications (ie: Alzheimer’s, ADHD and more)

Habits!

As humans, we love habits!  Habits are how we run our lives without having to actively think about every little detail.  Ugh!  That would be utterly exhausting and we’d get nothing else done!

Here’s the thing, habits are neutral.  They can be beneficial or detrimental.  It’s up to us to create beneficial habits and override the detrimental ones that may have come into being.  

Creating an evening routine and making it a habit will help to let your body know that it’s time for sleep, which will help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

New habits take time!  Please be patient with yourself.  It can take 60+ days of consistent daily activity to create a new habit.  Also, you never truly “break” a habit; you create new habits to replace the old ones.  Sort of like recording over something that was previously recorded.

If you’re interested in additional info about habits and how they work, please check out Charles Duhigg’s book: The Power of Habit.

Setting up Good Sleep Habits

Optimising your sleep schedule and pre-bed routine are part of helping you create good sleep habits, which will help to make quality sleep easier and more automatic.  Creating a pleasant bedroom environment can be an invitation to relax and doze off.  (Click here for tips for creating a pleasant bedroom environment)

The following are a handful of tips and tricks that can help create good sleep habits.  Please note that they aren’t rigid requirements, but rather suggestions to help you build your own personalized sleep routine!  

How you prepare for bed can determine how easily you’ll be able to fall asleep. Setting up good sleep habits can put you at ease and make it easier to fall asleep when you want to.

Prioritize Sleep & Set Your Sleep Schedule: 

Calculate a target bedtime based on your fixed wake-up time and do your best to be ready for bed around that time each night. 

Ensure that any exercise that increases heart rate is completed 3 hours before sleep. If choosing exercise prior to sleep, choose a relaxing yoga practice like yin yoga or restorative yoga.

Having a set schedule normalizes sleep as an essential part of your day and gets your brain and body accustomed to getting the full amount of sleep that you need.

Have a Fixed Wake-Up Time: 

Regardless of whether it’s a weekday or weekend, try to wake up at the same time since a fluctuating schedule keeps you from getting into a rhythm of consistent sleep. 

It might be tempting to skip sleep in order to work, study, socialize or exercise, but it’s vital to treat sleep at a priority

Budget 30 to 60 Minutes For Winding Down: 

Take advantage of whatever puts you in a state of calm such as soft music, light stretching, reading, meditation, a bath and/or relaxation exercises.

Unplug From Electronics: 

Build in a 30-60 minute pre-bed buffer time that is device-free. Cell phones, tablets, laptops and TVs cause mental stimulation that’s hard to shut off and also generate blue light that may decrease melatonin production.  

This can be combined with your 30-60 minutes for winding down!

Dim Your Lights:

Try to keep away from bright lights because they can hinder the production of melatonin, a hormone that the body creates to help you fall asleep.  Your body starts to make melatonin around 8:30pm.

Make Gradual Adjustments:

If you want to shift your sleep times, don’t try to do it all in one fell swoop because that can throw your schedule out of whack.

Instead, make small, step-by-step adjustments of up to an hour or two so that you can get adjusted and settle into a new schedule.

Keep Your Routine Consistent: 

Following the same steps each night, including things like putting on your pyjamas and brushing your teeth, can reinforce in your mind that it’s bedtime.

Test Methods of Relaxation: 

Instead of making falling asleep your goal, it’s often easier to focus on relaxation. Meditation, mindfulness, paced breathing, and other relaxation techniques can put you in the right mindset for bed. 

Don’t Toss and Turn: 

It helps to have a healthy mental connection between being in bed and actually being asleep. For that reason, if after 20 minutes you haven’t gotten to sleep, get up and stretch, read, or do something else calming in low light before trying to fall asleep again.

IMPORTANT - Don’t Overdo It With Naps: 

Naps can be a handy way to regain energy during the day, but they can throw off sleep at night. 

To avoid this, try to keep naps relatively short and limited to the morning or early afternoon. 

Another idea is to have a “coffee nap”. A coffee nap is when you drink a cup of coffee and then lay down for a short name. It takes about 15-20 minutes for the caffeine to naturally wake you up from your nap. (read more about coffee naps here)

Final Thoughts…

Sleep is something that we fight as children, indulge in as teenagers, forgo as adults and often struggle with as we get older.

Creating great habits is the first step in making sleep as easy as it can be because your body will start to crave it.

Pop over to Instagram or Facebook and let me know how sleep is going for you!  If you’re struggling with sleep, book a 20 minute consultation and we can chat about how I can help you.

Andrea

Resources:

Book: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Medical Disclaimer: Please talk with your family doctor if you're consistently sleeping more than 9 hours per night and you're still exhausted. In this case, consistently is more than two weeks of 9 hours per night if you were chronically shorting your sleep prior to that.