Why are we suddenly so bad at sleeping?
I love to sleep and I love the fact I get to do it for 7-9 hours a night I just wish I could manage it more than a few times a week, I’ve become absolutely rubbish at sleeping through the night!
I have absolutely no problem getting off to sleep but if I’m woken up it can take hours to fall back asleep and what surprised me was I’m not alone. 80% of the people I shared my Saturday morning with (in the virtual sense) agreed they’re struggling to sleep too which made me realise this is a big problem…
Waking in the night for any extended period of time is not acceptable in my book, I’m in favour of the 7-9 rule of sleep and not being able to dose back off can be frustrating. This is something I’m really not happy about unsurprisingly as the quality of our sleep plays a huge role in our wellbeing; a well-rested body means a more focussed, calm, happy mind and our glymphatic system needs this time too to clean and flush our body of toxins which takes at least 7 hours to do, just some of the reasons we all need to be getting some good kip especially right now!
There’s a lot going on right now my friends, we’re going through a huge amount of change and it’s been constant.
The truth is there’s a lot going on even though we like to think there’s not and this will be having an impact on our sleep patterns, after-all our brains have a lot to process from the information we read, hear or digest in other ways and through other people as well as the experiences we have during the day.
We’ve seen changes in our lifestyle, habits, behaviours, the food we eat, the exercise we get, our social interactions and conversations have all changed in small or bigger ways. The conversations we are having these days might be deeper than before with serious global worries layering onto our personal problems and those of our friends and loved ones. We’re likely to be doing more self-enquiry and we are 100% more concerned and invested in our physical and mental health!
We process much of our day as we sleep because it’s the longest period of time we give ourselves to ‘switch-off’ so it’s natural we tend to use this time to digest the information we receive which in turn influences our dreams and thoughts in the night even creating physical sensations and responses in our body which lead to the sleep disturbances we’re experiencing.
It’s not enough to simply walk from the home office to the living space and hope for the best.
Before working from home became the norm for many of us we had a commute slotted into our day and whether it was long or short it was most likely a time for you to decompress before arriving home by listening to some music, getting some fresh air, exercise or reading a book and that time has been snatched away. We have to create new ways to switch from work-mode to home mode, to shift from our logical thinking self to our free-thinking, creative and emotionally intelligent self.
Even if you aren’t working you might have people around you who are, you’ll still be having those deep conversations and experiencing changes in your lifestyle, even if it feels pretty unaffected, which all impact your behaviour and in this conversation, your sleep.
The good news is we can improve our sleep by changing our behaviour in the lead up to the moment we shut our eyes.
If like me you think you’re great at falling asleep it could be from pure exhaustion, as soon as your body recovers from that initial hit of fatigue you could find yourself awake plotting, planning and worrying so changing up how we do things at night can set you up for the best chance of a restful and long nights sleep. Here’s a few tricks helping me out right now…
Writing out your to-do list for the next day as soon as you finish work allows you to get clear on what needs to happen tomorrow and gives you time to put anything in place you might need to support you, this way you’re less likely to wake yourself up thinking things through!
Screen-time, honestly this is my top rule; reduce the stimulation you’re sending to your brain to give it the best chance to slow down by getting away from screens a minimum of an hour before you head to bed. A busy brain is usually what keeps me awake so 1-hour before bed I set my alarms and switch my phone to aeroplane mode or do not disturb. If you have an iPhone they’ve now got a down-time setting in screen-time so you can customise your apps and limit your phone usage, winning!
Create a soothing wind down and make it personal. Scent and sound might be a good place to start; candles or a pillow mist, soothing music or a book can help ease your brain into sleep mode by calming your nervous system through your senses.
Grab a journal, it’s not for everyone although I’d suggest giving it a try for a week before dismissing it completely! Write down how you’re feeling, what went well that day and what you want to do differently tomorrow. Think about how you want to feel when you wake up and how you want to step into the day feeling your best self.
Try a breathing technique, your breath is the fastest way to impact your nervous system and by following a simple breathing pattern which switches you into your parasympathetic nervous system is a pretty easy yet effective way to help yourself drift off. Two of the best proven techniques are the 4-7-8 breath and ladder breath.
There are days when we all need a little extra help getting into the most relaxed state of mind which is where a pre-sleep meditation or visualisation can work wonders. You might want some earphones and keep them beside your bed in case you do wake up, that way you can listen again and send yourself back off to sleep more easily.
My last suggestion is a pre-bedtime stretch or bed yoga to unwind your body and mind. This can be done in your bedroom and even from your bed and is intended to calm your nervous system and allow you to switch to the calmer, floatier setting of your brain. You can find more helpful tools here.
Remember we’re all unique so different things will resonate with you, the things which work for me may not work as well for you and vice versa. It’s about giving things a try to see which feel good and creating your own bag of tricks to use as and when you need. Your magical combo may change depending on how you feel each day, be kind and patient it takes time so stick with it, just like it might have taken a while for your sleep to become disrupted it will take time to get back into a happy sleepy rhythm.
Wishing you all as much rest and sleep as possible!
Becki