Here you are, staring straight at your ceiling, snuggled up in your jammies, and closing your eyes to fall asleep. It’s quiet, you’ve finished everything you need to do, but there’s just one problem; you can’t seem to enter dreamland. So you reach out to your phone, scroll through your feed to your heart’s content, and only to realize it’s already morning.
We can’t say enough how often we’ve been a victim of this situation, where you’re just trying to get in some Zs, but your mind takes you elsewhere and, before you know it, you’re already sleep-deprived! It’s one of the worst ways to start the day, and it just eats up into your motivation, leading to more restless nights and an endless cycle of sleep deprivation.
However, since the beginning of this pandemic and all the way to the current day, more and more people are falling into this destructive rabbit hole of bad sleep schedules, dark circles, and constant restlessness. Even when they are able to bounce back, most people end up sleeping too much, revolting against their alarms, missing out on responsibilities, and bringing them back to square one. And, we think it’s time to draw the line.
Too Little and Too Much: Both Are Bad
Both extremes are bad, and you don’t want to be sleeping too little or too much. In this case, we need to find the middle ground, and that’s somewhere between seven to nine hours of juicy sleeping goodness. Of course, we can’t take into account every minute detail of each person’s life because that will take too long and won’t give us a standard to follow. So, to give everyone some general guidelines here’s what you need to do.
#1 Introduce Regularity
Whether you’re a busybody, creative soul, or student crunching on papers, it’s never a good idea to have your sleeping schedule everywhere. You want regularity so your body can adjust its natural clock and know when it’s time to sleep. So, avoid any intensive late-night sessions whatsoever and get busy sleeping well.
- Work Your Way Down: As a good rule of thumb, we recommend finishing up your most important responsibilities first thing in the morning. After which, you’ll work your way down the pyramid until you only have the simple chores to get done. This approach helps alleviate any unwanted stress and is also a more natural flow to your daily activities.
- Skip The Caffeine: Look, we get it, coffee is our best friend when it comes to waking up, meeting deadlines, and bringing out our true personality. However, overreliance on caffeine can lead to some crazy adverse effects, especially when you take them late in the afternoon and affecting your sleep. So, skip the caffeine and try some of the alternatives.
#2 Create A Good Sleeping Environment
If your working environment needs to be conducive to productivity, then your sleeping environment should also encourage and motivate good sleep. We need to start addressing the fact that our immediate surroundings directly affect our sleeping practices. So, it’s time we throw out the unnecessary and look toward a bedroom makeover.
- Dim the Lights and Keep it Cool: Turning the lights down low and keeping the room temperature at a cool-level are two crucial factors that create a healthy sleeping environment. So, keep the phone away and turn the air conditioning up because these will help flip the switch to sleep mode.
- Neat and Tidy: Likewise, you wouldn’t be able to sleep in a mess, and that goes for double if you’re sleeping with your partner. Make it a habit to clean up and go the extra mile for arranging a couples’ bed so that both of you get ample room to get into a good sleeping position. Don’t forget to clean up the bedside table too, and make sure the room smells nice.
#3 Disengage and Relax
Lastly, we recommend practicing the act of disengaging and relaxing to remove yourself from the stress and busy state of mind and put yourself in a position to rest. For most people, this can come in the form of a nightly routine, like taking a quick bath before bed and stretching it out before they call it a night.
Of course, everyone’s sleeping rituals are unique, and, for some, that could be playing some relaxing music or doing some meditation right before they go to bed. There’s nothing wrong with being different, so find the routine that works best for you and stick with it.
Relearn The Act of Sleeping Well
Sleep is important, and in this fast-paced world, far too many people are forgetting the significance of getting a good night’s rest. So, learn to slow down a little and don’t be too harsh on your body. Take these simple methods with you and relearn the act of sleeping well.
