I’m generally pretty good about keeping up with self-care, until November rolls around and ornament sales pick up and life gets crazy. So I figured this would be the perfect time to write a blog series on self-care, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who lets things slide around the holidays. Over the next couple of posts I’ll be talking about what I think are the most crucial components of self-care that a lot of people neglect (particularly this time of year…). As the title suggests, this post will be about the ever-elusive SLEEP!
I was a graduate student for 7 years, so I’m all too familiar with stress and pulling all-nighters and just in general not getting enough sleep. Since finishing graduate school I’ve also dealt with a lot of chronic pain that has made sleep difficult, so again, I’m basically an expert in insomnia. Ugh!
Over time lack of adequate sleep can greatly increase your risk for medical conditions such as asthma, seizures, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. It also increases your risk for mental health problems such as anxiety or depression. Mental performance at work or school, and especially while driving is also greatly affected (we are all familiar with this aspect of sleep deprivation, I’m sure!). Last but certainly not least, lack of sleep shortens your life expectancy (yikes)! Maybe we ought to stop making sleep the first thing we sacrifice when life gets busy, huh?
In a previous life, part of my job involved helping parents get their kiddos to sleep well. Basically I taught parents how to apply what those in the medical field call “sleep hygiene” (plus a few extra behavioral psychology ‘tricks’ too). The good news is that the same rules apply for both children and adults! Sleep hygiene can generally be broken down into a few categories: environment, schedule, and habits. I’ll break down each of these categories below and tell you how I apply them in my own life.
1. Environment: You want your bedroom to be a soothing environment for sleep. What does that look like? There are four main things to consider—quiet, dark, temperature, and comfortable mattress/bedding.
a. Quiet—This one is fairly self-explanatory, but don’t have music playing or any other noisy devices when you’re trying to sleep. Minimize outside noise as much as possible by keeping windows closed and having thicker curtains if necessary.
b. Dark—Obviously keep the lights off. ;) Utilize blinds and blackout curtains to keep the outside light from shining in through the window. You’ll also want to turn off or face away anything with a constant light (e.g., alarm clock/radio/blu-ray player, etc…). If you can’t turn it off or face it away, put a piece of tape over the small light. In our bedroom we have tape over a few things and then I placed a candle in front of the TV light.
c. Cooler Temperature—I’ve read that the best temperature for sleep is somewhere between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. However, this number varies somewhat per person. Basically you need to keep your home cooler at night, but not so cold that you can’t fall asleep. We generally keep our thermostat between 70 and 73 degrees at night.
d. Comfortable Mattress & Bedding—A few years ago I bought this super heavy duvet with a white pin tuck cover that I loved. Our bed was gorgeous made up. The only problem is that we live in south Louisiana and there was never a season when we needed a cover that heavy. This was a quick lesson in practical over pretty and we now own a lightweight quilt that’s perfect. Other things to consider—are your sheets scratchy or worn out? If you wake up achy from your mattress, it’s probably time to look into a new one! There are endless options for bedding and mattresses these days—it’s worth it to find what is most comfortable for you.
2. Schedule: As with most things in life, consistency is key when it comes to sleep! It’s important to go to bed and wake up around the same times EVERYDAY—yes, even the weekends. You can generally vary it by up to 30 minutes on either end and still be okay, but much more than that and it will start to interfere with your sleep quality (and obviously quantity). It’s also important to avoid naps unless absolutely necessary [new moms get a pass on this one obviously ;)] If you must take a nap try to keep it to about 20 minutes (and for sure no longer than an hour!).
3. Habits: There are a lot of habits/activities that a lot of us are guilty of that have a dramatic impact on our sleep.
a. LIGHT a.k.a. TV/tablets/phone—In the evening our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin that helps make us sleepy. The sun helps to regulate our release of this hormone (thus it kicks in when the sun goes down & dissipates when the sun rises). Unfortunately even the introduction of electricity (and thus artificial light) has impacted the way our body’s circadian rhythms naturally function. But television, computers, and more recently the introduction of tablets and smart phones has an even greater impact on our body’s natural ability to fall asleep, as it should. All of these devices emit a certain type of blue light that tells our brains to stop producing melatonin. Even if you successfully get drowsy while watching TV, the blue light exposure can delay REM sleep and affect the quality of your sleep. It’s generally recommended that you stop watching TV (and using the computer, tablet, and phone) at least an hour before bed. Two things I’ve done this year that have helped me to sleep better: turn off the TV two hours before bedtime (I’ve slacked on this lately, but this blog post is my kick in the butt to get back to it!), and utilize the “night shift” function on my iPhone beginning 3 hours before bed (I have it set on auto). Basically this feature puts a yellow tint on your phone, which reduces the affect of blue light exposure. It’s under the ‘Display and Brightness’ section in your settings if you have an iPhone. Most computers and tablets also have this same feature.
b. Caffeine and Stimulants—You’ve heard this before, but avoid caffeinated beverages after about 2p.m. (the latest you can possibly pull off caffeine is around 5p.m., depending on your bedtime and the impact caffeine has on you personally). Don’t forget that caffeine is also in sneaky things like certain medications and chocolate (and sadly dark chocolate has more than milk chocolate)! Don’t forget that anything that is coffee or chocolate flavored will also have caffeine—ice cream, energy bars, etc. I tend to want something sweet after dinner and will often consume about an ounce of dark chocolate a few hours before bed, but I ensure that I keep it to that small serving as much as possible. ;) Also, don’t forget that nicotine is a stimulant and although I’d recommend avoiding completely ;) for sure avoid it several hours before bedtime!
c. Food/Exercise/Other— Research shows that heavy meals (especially those high in fat) in the evening can impact your ability to sleep well. However, a light snack (preferably a good balance of protein and carbs; ex: apples and nut butter) before bed can help keep you satiated throughout the night. It is also recommended to avoid spicy foods that can cause heartburn. Heartburn worsens when lying down and thus can keep you up at night. Avoid rigorous exercise 3 hours before bed. Exercise has a tendency to make us more alert and also raises your body temperature (your body temperature lowers at night to help you to sleep). Although alcohol might initially make you sleepy, it affects the quality of your sleep by reducing REM sleep and will often cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. So limit your alcohol to less than two drinks and never use alcohol as a sleep aid.
d. Bedtime Routine—It is paramount that you have a simple, relaxing bedtime routine. The negative habits/activities above should NOT be included, obviously! Examples include: drinking non-caffeinated tea, hygiene habits (teeth brushing, etc.), light stretches/yoga/breathing exercises, bath or shower, reading, or journaling. My bedtime routine looks like drinking chamomile tea, diffusing lavender essential oils in our bedroom, brushing my teeth, and reading a book. I often take an Epsom salt bath before bed as well. You basically need 1-3 simple soothing activities that signal to your brain (and body!) that it’s time to sleep. Your bedtime routine should generally take 30 minutes or less. My sleep routine is a little more involved than average because I’ve basically been on the sleep struggle bus my whole life. But it works for me and I can easily remove a step when necessary and still sleep well.
I fully realize that this sounds super basic, and some of you may be thinking, “I do all of these things and I still don’t sleep well”. In that case I would HIGHLY recommend seeing your doctor, because it’s likely there’s something bigger going on. But if we’re all being honest with ourselves, it’s likely that we could be better in one or more of these areas. I know I personally decided to make sleep a big priority this year, and it involved improvement in most of the areas outlined above. Let’s make sleep a priority this holiday season (and beyond, obviously!). Self-care isn’t selfish. It allows you to become a better spouse/significant other, parent, sibling, co-worker, and PERSON (and sleep is one area that can have the greatest impact on that).
Want more information? I re-confirmed a lot of the information I learned in graduate school via WebMD and Sleep.org . Got questions? Want to share personal experience with how getting better sleep has impacted your life for the better? Hit me up in the comments!