12 Tips For Sleep

School holidays are a wonderful opportunity to catch up on much needed sleep. It is glorious to sleep in and not be a slave to your alarm. However, whilst school holidays provide the prospect of sleep, many teachers find that they don’t always get the much needed rest they need. Rather than immediately slipping into blissful slumber each night, they lie awake thinking and unable to switch off. I recently read an excellent book called ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker. It is a comprehensive guide and explanation of sleep and provides many practical tips. This post is a summary of Walker’s 12 tips for sleep outlined at the end of the book.

1. Routine: Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This routine should also be maintained over the weekend and during holidays. The reason for this is that our bodies have difficulty adjusting to different sleep routines over short periods of time. This is why you often wake up early on the weekend despite the fact that your alarm hasn’t gone off. It can be helpful to set an alarm for bedtime as well as waking up in the morning.
2. Exercise: Regular exercise promotes good sleep. Around 30 minutes each day is ideal. But it important not to exercise 2-3 hours before bed time. Exercise increases your core body temperature, raises your heart rate and releases adrenaline. This is not conducive to falling asleep.
3. Avoid Caffeine and Nicotine Before Bed: Both are stimulants that make it difficult to fall asleep or mean that you sleep very lightly. Coffee is the biggest offender of caffeine, but soft drinks, tea and chocolate also contain caffeine which can impact sleep. The effects of caffeine can take up to 8 hours to fully wear off. Therefore, avoid caffeine and nicotine in the afternoon and evening.
4. Avoid Alcoholic Drinks Before Bed: Many people feel that one alcoholic drink in the evening can help them relax. However, greater use of alcohol impacts REM sleep which means you stay in the lighter stages of sleep rather than deep sleep. Alcohol can also impact your breathing when you sleep and can cause you to wake during the night when the effects have worn off.
5. Avoid Large Meals and Drinks Before Bed: A large meal late at night can cause indigestion and drinks can lead to frequent awakening over night.
6. Contributing Medications: Some medicines can delay and disrupt sleep. For example commonly prescribed heart, blood pressure or asthma medications as well as some over the counter cough, cold and allergy treatments can impact sleep. If you think this might be the case for you, then speak to your doctor about whether these medications are impacting your sleep and can be taken earlier in the day.
7. No Naps After 3:00pm: Whilst napping is a great way to catch up on sleep, late afternoon naps make it difficult to fall asleep at a reasonable time in the evening.
8. Relax: It is important to build relaxing activities into your bedtime routine.This provides your body and mind with the opportunity to wind down ready for sleep. Relaxing activities might include reading a book or listening to a story.
9. Hot Bath or Shower: Not only is this a relaxing activity, but when you get out your body will immediately drop in body temperature. A cooler body temperature will make you feel sleepy.
10. Bedroom Conditions: Your bedroom should be dark, cool and gadget free. Eliminate anything in your bedroom that might be a distraction such as noises or bright lights. A comfortable mattress, pillow and linen will also foster good sleep. It can also help to turn clocks out of view so you’re not distracted by the passing of time.
11. Light: Exposure to sunlight is key to getting a good night’s sleep. It is helpful to have at least 30 minutes of sunlight exposure each day. If possible, it is good to wake up with the sun and then dim lighting an hour before bedtime.
12. Don’t Lie Awake: If you are still awake after lying in bed for 20 minutes or if you’re beginning to feel anxious about being awake, get up and do a relaxing activity. Anxiety about sleep makes it very difficult to fall asleep.