Complete Life Success

Sleep, or lack of it, is one of those things that many of us struggle with. Some of us deal with it…every…single…night. I have been one of those people many times myself and it is not fun.

Lack of sleep, both in quantity and quality, is a serious problem. Many of us stumble through our days half-awake. Our productivity at work suffers, but maybe more importantly, our personal life suffers. We miss out on so much because our concentration and attention span is damaged due to lack of sleep.

How It Happens

There are many reasons for sleep disorders, some caused by legitimate medical conditions, but much of the problem is our own fault. We push ourselves to get more and more done each day. We take on additional responsibilities and tasks in order to be more productive. We all know that there are only 24 hours in a day yet we try to squeeze more and more into each day. The one area it seems we think we can “gain” some extra time is to cut back on sleep.

What Can Be Done

The obvious answer is to sleep more. Research shows that most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. What we actually get is another matter. I have some friends who swear that all they need is 4-5 hours a night. I went through a phase early in my working life where I averaged 3-5 hours a night for nearly two years. I can definitely say that those years were some of the worst as far as enjoyment of life was concerned. If I wasn’t working I was sleeping or eating. There wasn’t time for much else. Once I got back to a more normal sleep schedule It took me a solid 10 years to totally readjust. I now know that I am one of those people who needs 7-8 hours a night and I do whatever I can to make sure I get that amount.

How To Improve Your Sleep

If you are getting less sleep than you need you probably already know it. But how do you get more sleep without completely impacting your life all at once. The trick is to do some small things to at least improve the quality of sleep that you are getting now while you work on the bigger issues like freeing up additional time to sleep. Here are some tips:

• Plan to sleep-Get in the habit of having a pre-bed routine. Don’t just shut off the TV or put down your work and jump into bed. Take 10 minutes to unwind. Turn off the TV, reduce distractions as much as possible and just focus on relaxing. Let your mind clear. I will often do a little gentle stretching for 5-10 minutes. I find it helps my mind settle and slow down.
• Go to bed at a consistent time- The more consistent your bedtime the easier you will find it to get to sleep quickly. Our bodies get used to patterns. Pick a time that works for you most nights and then stick with it. When I was struggling with getting good quality sleep I experimented with bedtimes based on counting back 7-8 hours from the time I needed to get up. For me that means 10 to 11PM.
• Watch what, and when you eat- Eating within 2-3 hours of bedtime can impact the quality of sleep. It’s hard to get to sleep with a full stomach. Also drinking alcohol or caffeine before bed can disrupt sleep patters and result in less effective sleep. If you are one of those people who exercises after work, as I do, it might be hard to eat before 8PM. To combat that I try to eat some good quality food a couple of hours before my workout and then follow up with a light dinner afterwords. It seems to work for me as long as I don’t eat too much.
• Set the right sleep environment- Make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and at a comfortable sleeping temperature. Many people like to have the bedroom a little cooler at night. If you have a TV in the bedroom I would suggest getting rid of it. A television in the bedroom can be too big a distraction to sleep. If you must watch TV before bed watch it in another room then take a few minutes before bed to clear your thoughts.

Start Tonight

If you are having trouble getting good quality sleep try some of the suggestions I have outlined above. These are all simple things you can do without a lot of effort starting tonight. Use them as the first step in improving your sleep. The next phase might include more drastic steps such as adjusting your life to allow more time for sleep. I will address some of those issues in future posts, so stay tuned. In the meantime, Get Some Sleep!