It's 1:16am on Sunday night/Monday morning. Personally I don't think it becomes morning until you've slept, unless you make it to sunrise. Anyway, I'm up watching arguably one of the best World Series games ever. I'm starting the blog now because tomorrow is a crazy busy day and I'm not going to have the normal amount of time I would have to write. So I figure I might as well take advantage of this time. This is going to be a "do as I say, not as I do" post. I'm a parent so I feel like I can play that card. So with that, you should get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. (Said with the alarm set to go off in 4.5 hours.) Sleep is important. Sleep resets our bodily systems and while we build muscle and burn fat while we sleep.
(It's 1:40am, the baseball game just ended, I'm going to bed.)
(It’s 1:30pm, on my home for a quick break before my last session.)
Also hormone regulation occurs while we sleep. I think we can agree that these are some important topics. That being said most of us don’t get enough sleep (clearly myself included). A quick Google search showed that on average 40% of adults don't get the recommended amount of sleep (this stat is from a old 2013 gallop poll; I'm fairly confident this number has stayed the same if not gone up).
The obvious question is "what should we do?" The obvious answer is "sleep more...duh."
The better question is "how can I get more sleep?" The answer to this question isn't as obvious but I'm going lay out some tips to help get you some extra zzz's.
- Same time...every time: this is one I could stand to work on myself. You want to go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. Yes this includes weekends. Your sleep/wake cycles are rhythms (ever heard the word circadian?). By going to bed and getting up at the same time you make sure your body goes through all the necessary sleep cycles in order to be fully rested.
- Set the mood: at least an hour before your scheduled bed time, start turning off/dimming lights (especially flourescent ones) in your home. As you get closer to bed time eliminate electronic "blue light": this includes computers and cell phones among other things. Also set the thermostat in your bedroom a few degrees cooler than the rest of your home if possible.
- Get in the routine: change into your pj's, brush your teeth, lay out your clothes for the next day and then maybe read for a few minutes. Your routine can be whatever you'd like as long as it relaxes you and you can repeat the process nightly. A nightly routine lets the body/brain know that sleepy time is coming and will allow you to fall asleep faster.
- Exercise: I'm not just saying this because I make people exercise for a living. Exercise promotes sleepiness and helps you to fall asleep faster. The caveat here is you want to get your workout in early in the day. Like before 2pm if you can. If you wait too late (like after 8pm) and your workout is too intense it can actually make it harder to fall asleep. So you have to find the right balance here.
- Your bed is for sleeping...: You shouldn't watch TV or read or hang out or anything else in bed. When you do things, that aren't sleep, in bed it promotes wakefulness. Your brain then associates your bed as a place where you should be awake. So only get into bed when you plan on sleeping. If for some reason you can't fall asleep in 20 minutes or less, get out of the bed. Go read or do some other relaxing activity in another room for a few minutes. Then go back to bed.
These are a just a few tips you can try out to consistently get a good night's sleep. Also you probably shouldn't stay up watching sporting events that really have no bearing on your life (unless you can honestly say if was one of the best games ever).
