Time and again we are reminded of the importance of sleeping better but let’s accept it- we want to squeeze our 24 hours to do as much as we can. From pursuing our day jobs to that extra consulting project to not missing a party or watching that favourite web series on OTT platforms, sleep routine takes a backseat.
From temporary lack of sleep to a permanent sleeping disorder or insomnia, sleeplessness should be timely treated to live a happy and healthy life.
Result- feeling tired throughout the day and not getting the kick to do anything efficiently. Speaking of efficiency, whether you are a student, professional or entrepreneur, everyone expects you to perform well in all your areas of life.
I am a 34 years old entrepreneur who has a confession to make. I never treated my sleep respectfully until I realised I was losing a lot because of not prioritising it.
I abused my body by working 14-16 hours a day, attending late-night parties, watching television and surfing the internet. It went on until I realised how much I was losing by doing so.
Over the last 2 years, I have developed the habit of building a peaceful sleep cycle and I believe you can do that too. I go to the bed strictly at 10 pm to get up early in the morning. This has led me to several magical positive changes in my life.
Understanding the Sleep Cycle
The sleep has mainly 3 cycles through its full duration. These cycles namely Deep, Light and REM are by and large the representation of how sound sleep you get.
Almost a third of our sleep is deep sleep which is responsible for muscle and tissue repair. This is why you hear so much emphasis on increasing the deep sleep duration to feel rejuvenated after every sleep.
Lastly, REM also known as Rapid Eye Movement is the stage in which dreaming and bodily movements happen. It is believed that REM sleep plays a crucial role in memory and healthy development of the brain.
Light sleep navigates through 2 stages where in stage 1 you get the lightest sleep between being awake and being asleep. We spend the most part of the night in stage 2 which leads to dropping body temperature and lowering heart rate.
Tips to sleep like a baby
The babies arguably get the best best sleep. As a toddler you could sleep anywhere, while traveling, on the couch, in your parents’ lap, in noisy parties, basically anywhere. We all have been longing to get that sleep back in our lives.
So, here are a few tips on how to sleep like babies do.
Fix a sleeping routine
Unless you fix a sleeping routine, you can not expect your body to understand that it needs to rest. The ideal sleeping duration is 7 to 8 hours for any adult reading this. Your body needs that much for muscle recovery, recharging cosmic energy (if you believe it) and good mental balance.
This is why you need to fix a time for you to hit the sack and stick to it most of the time. Sometimes a bit of deviation is fine but try to adhere to it mostly.
Do some physical activities
Staying physically active can contribute to your sound sleep. If you are into a sedentary lifestyle or a desk job, you should try working out at least 5 times a week. If you have been procrastinating on hitting the gym or doing morning walks or doing regular running, you should start it now to experience how better your body functions with a bit of activity.
Whatever activity you do, try to measure it with some fitness band or smart watch. These devices can help you track your sleep better.
Cut caffeine intake
Consuming tea and coffee in the night can cause your body to stimulate and keep you awake. Remember those Nescafé ads in your childhood which promoted coffee consumption essential to study hard, work harder and stay happy. Well as you age you know that your sleep is more important for happiness.
Reduce stress
Consuming tea and coffee in the night can cause your body to stimulate and keep you awake. Remember those Nescafe ads in your childhood which promoted coffee consumption essential to study hard, work harder and stay happy? Well as you age you know that your sleep is more important for happiness.
Reduce your screen time
We live in a connected world where you are disgusted for not adopting technology. While it’s a boon for the overall economic development, it has become a curse for removing the working hour timeframes. Remember your parents doing their 9 to 5 and not being stressed about their work mostly?
On one end, work related screentime has skyrocketed and on the other side OTT platforms are fighting for our sleep. Netflix considers sleep as its biggest enemy.
An average adult actively uses the internet for almost 7 hours everyday and spends over two hours on social media. You can imagine where we are headed with this.
A good habit would be to put yourself off the screen at least 1 hour before bed and try to cut your screen time as much as you can through the day. It also helps to choose a non working day during the week (Sunday for most) for digital detox.
Build bedtime reading habits
Remember your time as a child when your grandmother used to read you bedtime stories that made you sleep in no time. We need to rewind and get into the habit of reading before bed.
This can also be seen as a good replacement for your time off the screens alongside feeding you with great learnings. Developing the habit of reading just 20 pages before bed consistently will help you read dozens of books every year, making you a wizard in your peer group. Needless to say, books make us go to sleep easier, pun intended.
Reduce smoking and alcohol
Cutting the consumption of alcohol and smoking helps in getting better sleep. Needless to say, alcohol makes you sluggish and tired if consumed regularly. Some may argue that liquor makes them sleep better but it does more harm than benefit to your overall health and sleep.
A study shows that your few extra sips are actually making your quality sleep slip away by 9 to 40%.
Smoking also leads to sleep disruption along with many other health ailments.
So if you have been facing sleep disorder, try to reduce your smoking to see how it affects you positively.
Take Sleeping supplements
Melatonin- a hormone produced by your brain when in dark is responsible for a sound night’s sleep. There are tons of sleeping supplements available for inducing melatonin that help you sleep better without being addictive. You get these as gummies, capsules, strips, pills and what not.
My favourite of these is the melts offered by Wellbeing nutrition. Just putting one melt on your tongue before bed does all the magic, giving you a restful sleep. It’s non habit forming, contains plant based ingredients and is FDA certified drug free.
It’s worth giving it a try.
