This article is adapted from research by Coach Steve (BSc Microbiology, Psychology, Nutrition) as a Biomedical Science student at UniSA and a year long project while managing large numbers of rotating night shift employees at a FMCG company.
The human body (as well as animals, plants, fungi and cyanobacteria) wakes and sleeps according to its natural circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm, or body clock, is based on the 24hr light/dark cycle of a day and the release of melatonin, controlled by the hypothalamus, that drives your body’s natural cycles of sleepiness and wakefulness. For most people, you feel the most tired at around 3am, when you are generally fast asleep anyway, and 3pm, when you get that post lunch drowsiness. The more sleep deprived you are, the more you will notice the difference between your wakefulness and sleepiness, especially around those times.
If you constantly have trouble falling or staying asleep, it may be that you have disrupted your natural circadian rhythm, and your wakefulness and sleepiness patterns are out of sync with your lifestyle. Below are a list of very easy to follow and very commonly overlooked steps to fall asleep more quickly, and stay asleep in the REM deep sleep phase more often.
Coach Steve’s 11 Sleepy Time Tips
- Your bed is for sex and sleep only. Make sure your body subconsciously knows that when it lays down in that bed, it is to get to sleep. Don’t work, study, check phones or watch TV in bed. The only allowance I make here is light reading can be ok if you use it as a cue to switch off before falling asleep at night. Ideally you would read in a chair next to the bed, then go to bed when finished, but lets keep this easy and realistic.
- Exercise regularly. Move well and move often. Exercise is a great way to burn off energy and help you fall asleep at night time. High intensity exercise several hours before bed time is the best way to induce a good sleep, but anything is better than nothing, so even a light walk after dinner can help.
- Avoid overtraining. Symptoms of overtraining in high level athletes can include sleeplessness. Check your training intensities and recovery patterns, speak to your coach and monitor your heart rate and general fatigue levels for signs that you might be doing too much too often.
- Have a routine. Get into a set routine for bedtime so that your body starts receiving cues that it is time to shut down and relax BEFORE you get into bed. You may want to try light stretching, breathing exercises or some form of reading, relaxation or meditation.
- Avoid screen time 1hr before bed. Yes, yes, I know – this is almost impossible in the crazy info tech world we live in these days. But if you want a good nights sleep, then Facebook and Insta just has to wait till morning. Switch off TV’s, computers and phones an hour before going to bed. The light from the screens tricks your brain into thinking it is day time and plays havoc with the release of melatonin and this then throws your circadian rhythm out of sync.
- Avoid heavy fatty meals, alcohol, caffein* and any other drugs before bed. The body is fuelled by what you put into it. The more unnatural stimulants or depressants that you add to it, the more work it has to do to recreate homeostasis. Eat and drink as clean as you can and let your body function naturally.
- Learn your *caffein tolerance. Caffein is a potent wakefulness stimulant and it has a half life of around 6 hours. If you are drinking coffee at 3pm to try and get you through the post lunch slump, then chances are there is still caffein in your system at 10 or 11pm when you are trying to get to sleep. Try and cut back on caffein (including soft drinks, tea, energy drinks and chocolate) especially after midday.
- Don’t self medicate. Sometimes it is very easy to think a glass of red or a quick pint will help you sleep better. It will defiantly help you FALL ASLEEP more quickly, but the QUALITY OF SLEEP will be reduced as alcohol affects your ability to enter into the deep sleep REM phase.
- Make your bed and bedroom the perfect environment for sleep. To fall asleep and get quality sleep, you need DARKNESS, QUIET, COOL TEMP and COMFORT. DARKNESS – get good quality blinds or curtains that shut out all light from outside. Use low light lamps in the bedroom instead of bright ceiling lights. Avoid LED clocks. Keep gadgets on night settings so that messages or alerts don’t light up the room. QUIET – if your room (or your partner) is noisey, get ear plugs. Switch all gadgets to slient and non-vibrate. Use white noise or quiet, soothing background music with constant tempo and beat. COOL TEMP – as a part of the circadian rhythm your body naturally drops it’s core temperature between approx. 11pm and 7am. Don’t fight this. Stay warm with a doona, but avoid hot water bottles and electric blankets that will fight against your body’s natural attempt at cooling. COMFORT – make sure you have a comfortable mattress and pillow. Shop around, visit orthopaedic sleep retailers and find something that is comfortable that suits your body shape, size and weight.
- Wake up time. If you wake up and it is a reasonable hour, get up. Don’t lie in bed wishing you were asleep. Remember bed is for sex and sleep only, not clock watching or day dreaming.
- Day time habits. As soon as you wake up, expose your eyes and body to (preferably natural) bright light so that your brain knows it is time to wake up and it can kick start the wakefulness cycle of the circadian rhythm. This will help the sleepiness cycle come around naturally at a time that you should be considering going to bed anyway. Avoid napping during the day if you are finding it hard to get to sleep or stay asleep at night time. At all times, try to eat and drink natural, nutritious foods and avoid processed junk.
There you have it. Try and integrate as many of the above strategies into your life and you will find that you will fall asleep more easily, and also get a much higher quality of sleep each night. If you find that you still can’t drift off, or you are waking up all the time, then seek some advice from a medical professional. Quality sleep is the best way to recover between sessions if you are an athlete and life is a lot easier if you are well rested and alert in the day, and asleep at night.
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