Episode 2: Chasing Sleep...chasing productivity...

Do you find yourself constantly chasing sleep and still feeing like you could sleep for another week? 

If your answer is a resounding YES…then you may need to take a quick look at your bedtime routine. 

By creating a habitual bedtime routine, we can effectively ease our body into a more relaxed state making it easier to fall to sleep and enjoy a beautifully restful nights sleep. It can even be a comforting aid for sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep anxiety.

The best thing about it? You can cater it to suit your specific needs! We are all different at the end of the day- so what works amazingly for some, may not work quite in the same way for others so make sure you do the best thing for you. 

Here are a just a few factors to consider when creating a new night time routine:

CONSISTENT BEDTIME ⏰ Having the same “lights out” time every night can have an amazing impact on your overall quality of sleep. Whether you need 6 or 8 hours kip each night, it’s important that you have the same wake up time as well to maintain your body’s natural routine.

 CAFFEINE INTAKE ☕️As I have said before, I am a wretch for coffee. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, coffee is always an option. However, by swapping that last coffee of the day for a herbal tea or going for the decaf option, it decreases the chances of restless sleep and also helps to hydrate your body more efficiently than caffeinated beverages do. So a win, win situation there! Research suggests that you should have your final caffeinated bevvy around 6 hours before your bedtime as this how long it can take your body to metabolise half of your days caffeine consumption. Crazy right?! No wonder I am still buzzing about after 11pm (to be fair, the evening is usually my work time so it suits me fine!) 

EVENING MEALS 🍔 Have you ever experienced going to bed on a full stomach? It’s nauseating…and who can sleep well feeling like that?

So the saying goes, “Breakfast like a king; lunch like a prince; dinner like a pauper.” Quoted from American nutritionist Adele Davis (who actually is referring to the recommended daily calorie intake) it makes sense to apply this to our sleep routine. 

Going to sleep on a full stomach means lots of digestive activity…potentially leading to acid reflux, indigestion and other delightful wonders!

 SLEEPING ENVIRONMENT 🌡️💡🎧 Being in a comfortable environment is essential for healthy sleep. Room temperature, lighting, noise elements, bed sheets and general room clutter can all present their own problems:

-Temperature: It is suggested that the ideal bedroom temperature should be somewhere between 16-18 degrees Celsius. Having the room too hot or cold can have a serious impact on how quickly you drop off to sleep.

-Lighting: I always used to sleep with a light on somewhere- complete darkness always seemed slightly ominous to me. Not that I thought any monsters were going to randomly appear and growl at me from under the bed (apart from the occasional lone sock monster!) Just because I didn’t like it. It also used to take me until gone 2am to eventually fall asleep. Was it the lighting that was the problem? It turns out, I am flat out asleep nowadays almost as soon as those lights go out (but that could also just be due to managing an energetic toddler day in, day out)

-Noise: Sometimes it’s difficult to completely get away from every day noise, especially when you live in the city. If sound is being disruptive to your sleep then noise cancelling ear plugs might be the answer.

ELECTRONIC DEVICES ⚡️Do you find yourself checking your phone right before lights out? The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you switch off those phones and iPads at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. The reason being is that screen time can disrupt the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) which enables our bodies to settle down to sleep as well increase our alertness. 

 REMOVING MAKE UP💄It might sound ridiculous thinking that having not removed ones make up and having a good facial cleanse before bed would make any ounce of difference to your sleep…but here’s where it counts… At night, our skin undergoes a process called cell mitosis- this is where the skin cells divide in order to renew and regenerate. Our blood flow increases while we sleep, increasing collagen production and allows for repairing minor UV damage from day to day exposure.

Unfortunately we aren’t regenerating to lizard standard where they can regrow an entire limb but it still pretty awesome stuff!

 FOOT MASSAGE 🦶 Each of your feet houses over 7,000 nerve endings! By relieving tension in the feet and relaxing the nerves, it can encourage the body to unwind naturally, increasing your chances of a restful nights sleep.

 STRESS/ANXIETY 🤯 If you have something constantly niggling in the back of your mind you will most likely find it very hard to settle down to rest for the night. Anxious thoughts can activate your sympathetic nervous system and can intensify leading to insomnia. A little trick that I learnt quite early on. Jot it down on a notepad, fold the paper up and put on the side- I embrace the feeing that I can rid it from my brain for the night and pick it back up and sort it out in the morning. It’s a similar trick to the Thai Worry dolls that I had when I was a child- I found them incredibly useful!

These are just a few of the things that can stop you from getting a good quality sleep.

Routines aren’t for everyone but if you are like me and like to have a set plan ahead of you, it can be a massively helpful tool in your everyday life. Having a good sleep plan is great start! 

Check out my next newsletter which I will be talking about how morning routines can affect our productivity. 

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 Beth Thomas | Creator of Planner Addict- Wellness & Productivity Coaching- Breaking down busy lifestyles into smaller stress free, manageable pieces | Master Your Productivity! online workshops and more!