Do you have a set bedtime? Are you surprised at the time and go to bed whenever? When we looked at different areas to track, one of theme was sleep. Part of getting good, quality sleep is having a good bedtime routine. With a good routine, your body will be ready for bed and lead to less time between getting to bed and falling asleep. So lets break down a sleep routine.
Bed Time
First is to determine when you are going to go to bed. For this instance, we will choose 10pm. You want to pick a time that you can adhere to 7 days a week within an hour. So for 10pm, we can go from 9pm to 11pm. Consistency is the cornerstone to getting to sleep quickly.
Back Off
Next, we want to back off one and half to two hours. This is our ‘drop dead time’. Tech goes away, screens off, tv off, etc. It’s difficult to get the mind to slow down and get ready for bed when your giving it input. Likewise, if you are watching something that can get you spun up, it can spike our fight or flight response. The body doesn’t know if you’re thinking about it, or experiencing it. Be careful!
The Routine
This can vary from person to person. After the back off or drop dead time, we can spend time reading, or doing other mundane tasks to help slow down. About an hour before bed, get your stuff ready for the next day. Keys, wallet, items you need, staged and ready to go. Sometimes, I even lay out my clothes still. This way, you aren’t running through a massive checklist over and over in your head as your trying to go to sleep. And finally, I brush my teeth. After that, I have about 15 minutes or so before bed. Check the doors, make sure everything is where it needs to be and lights out.
A few common issues:
“My mind is racing”. I keep a notebook next to my bed. Write down the thoughts, that way you can tell yourself that it is noted down to address later.
Deep breathing can also help with this to settle down. Sometimes, if our day is full of stimulus, when we settle into bed, the noise of our mind can pierce the silence. It may be that we are just not used to hearing it. We have TV’s, videos, phones, music, people at work, etc., at all times of the day. You can use some left over ‘prep time’ to sit quietly and get used to that.
“I tried this for a week and still cant get to sleep”. This is an individual thing and there is no one size fits all. Sometimes, we’ve had terrible sleep habits for decades and it won’t be fixed in a week! Be patient!
“I keep getting up to pee!” Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and try to go to the bathroom with your eyes half closed thinking you can get back to sleep faster and not completely wake up? Same. One helpful tip is after about 6-7pm, don’t drink a lot before bed. Start sipping your drinks, and no, I don’t mean beer. We’ll address hydration and alcohol at another time.
Other helps:
Keep it cold! A cold room, i.e. below 75, is great for sleep.
Keep it dark! It’s easier to sleep in the dark
Keep it quiet! No tv’s playing. I do enjoy some black screen ocean sounds at times to help sleep though. Also, keeping pets off the bed can help as they don’t sleep in big chunks like people. So their up and down habits can disturb our sleep.
Limit alcohol. It may feel like it helps, but it has a detrimental effect on the quality of sleep!
Above all, be patient. We all go through phases of garbage sleep. If deep breathing and habits don’t help, it may be time to see a sleep doctor to get some help.
Sleep is vital to our recovery from lifting, don’t neglect it!
We will be exploring sleep cycles, quality vs quantity, and sleep debt in the coming weeks. Comment your questions and/or things that have worked for you!
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