Don't Sleep on Sleep
I’m coming in with another hot dose of inspiration from the random holiday edition: It’s National Sleep Awareness week and I figured it’s a great topic to address for a number of reasons. The core reason: Sleep is very much an essential element in our lives, but we tend to be in the habit of short-changing ourselves.
Personally speaking, after several years working the night shift, no matter how much sleep I would try to get, there was always a degree of sleep deprivation. I progressively felt more fatigued, dealt with brain fog, and to be honest became irritable and cranky more often.
Here’s 2 strategies I’ve learned to implement and has been recommended by numerous sleep specialists:
To achieve adequate rest is to develop a great sleep hygiene routine.
Try to fit in a nap when you can. Especially when you hear your body calling for that power nap.
What’s the importance of sleep? It’s vital for restoration and renewal for the body and the mind.
How much sleep do we need? There’s no universal guideline, but several sleep-related organization recommend most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
Just so that you know: In modern society, insufficient sleep, also chronic partial sleep deprivation, is defined by sleeping for less than 7 hours per night.
What happens when I’m sleep deprived?
Short-Term: You feel tired, irritable, sluggish.
Long-Term: You start to drain your mental abilities, your physical health is at substantial risk and your quality of life diminishes. How does this happen? Lack of sleep disrupts your hormones, where it increases your appetite, slows down your metabolism and can increase the risk of early death by 12%.
How to Create a Healthy Sleep Hygiene
Make the Bedroom a Sanctuary: Keep the bedroom neat and quiet so you feel calm once you step into it. BTW, if you have a TV in the bedroom, consider moving it out of there (or discipline yourself from watching at least an hour or two before closing your eyes). The light can confuse your body thinking it’s still light out and makes it harder for your body to “shut down.”
Keep the bedroom dark: Low lighting eases the body for sleep. Especially when you work nights, blocking out the sun will be beneficial. Try installing blackout shades or drapes to fully darken the room
Create a bedtime ritual. This may be your most important part of your day. Without good sleep, your body doesn’t have a great start to the following day. If you get in the habit of going to bed at the same time, your body will expect to be sleeping. Whether it’s a warm shower, soft music, aromatherapy, journaling, find a ritual that helps you wind down.
The Best Steps to take for a Power Nap
Set your alarm for about 20 minutes. This allows your mind to feel refreshed without entering the deeper stages of sleep.
Schedule your nap early in the day. This way you minimize the likelihood of your nap interfering with your ability to fall asleep at night.
Shut the lights. What more can I say? Any type of light (either from the sun or some device), can interfere with the process.
Reduce volume/surrounding noise. Try earplugs or a sound machine to prevent any disturbance from your power nap.
Aromatherapy with lavender. Some studies have revealed that people fell asleep with more ease to the scent of lavender.
With that, catch some Z’s to fortify your temple.
Sleep well,
Val
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