Every summer when I was growing up, my sleep pattern would change. My parents gave me a lot of flexibility and I would often stay up until 11:00 or later watching television. That might have been influenced by the fact that my mother was a school teacher and also had the opportunity to change her schedule during the summer. But once the new academic year started, disaster struck. I struggled to get out of bed for several weeks, always felt exhausted, and was in a terrible mood.
Sleep is important. It’s one of the most important aspects of our health that gets ignored from an early age. Research shows that getting enough sleep (and not oversleeping) is a major factor in managing or preventing overwhelming feelings including anxiety and depression. Below are five Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) based tips for improving your sleep.
1. Get up at the same time every day. I hear a lot of people say that they need to start going to bed earlier so they get enough sleep. And that might be true. But even more important than that is getting up at the same time every day. Having a regular wake time programs our brains in important ways. Anyone out there who has had a job that requires them to get up early every day knows the frustration of trying to “sleep in” after a late night only to be thwarted by that internal clock telling us to get up. This circadian rhythm is there for a reason and helps us to regulate our sleep. So instead of moving your bedtime, try scheduling your wake time.
2. Use the bed only for sleep (and sex). It’s easy to waste time in bed especially at night when you’re trying to “wind down.” Many people watch television, scroll through social media on their phones, or even do work on their laptops. Over time, our bed becomes associated with wakefulness in our minds. An easy fix to this situation is to do these tasks in another room before going to bed. Overall, it’s best to limit screen time an hour before bed, but if you must, do it in the living room, office, kitchen, or anywhere but in your bedroom and especially not while sitting in bed.
3. When you can’t sleep, stop trying. You lay down to go to sleep and suddenly a switch flips leaving you wide awake. A million things start going through your mind. Work, relationships, or things you wish you had done differently. You might be worried about a presentation you have at school tomorrow. Or maybe you keep reliving that time you spilled coffee on your shirt during that big meeting. Now you find yourself lying in bed “trying” to sleep. The idea of trying to sleep is a little bit upside down. Sleep should come naturally. It is our body’s natural way of resting, recharging, processing thoughts, and preparing us for the next day.
Next time you find yourself lying in bed, closing your eyes repeatedly to attempt sleep, and failing, the best thing to do is get up. Find a cozy spot to sit and do something relaxing such as reading a book or magazine (do those still exist?). Resist watching television if you can because that activates some parts of our brains and may work against you. Then when you begin to feel your eyelids drooping again, head back to bed to see if sleep comes. Repeat as many times as it takes.
4. Avoid daytime napping (unless napping for safety.) When we are experiencing a regular lack of sleep, it is easy to fall into the trap of taking naps during the day. Research shows that naps can actually disrupt our night time sleep. If you are driving down the highway or engaged in some other activity that requires your full attention to remain safe, and you absolutely cannot stay awake, then stop and take a nap. Otherwise, avoid them at all costs. Push through the tiredness and save it for nighttime.
5. Limit caffeine, alcohol, and other substances. This may be the most obvious point of all, but it is worth stating for the record. Substances such as caffeine and alcohol can have a major negative effect on our sleep. Caffeine has a half-life of 12 hours. That means that if you drink a cup of coffee at 8am, only half of that caffeine has been processed through your system by 8pm. That leaves half of it to process out of your system overnight. Now image if you drink caffeine all day long, or have a cup of coffee after dinner.
Alcohol can have a similar effect. Have you ever had a couple of drinks at 8pm or 9pm, gone to bed, and then suddenly you’ve woken up at 3am and can’t go back to sleep? Your liver has probably just finished processing the alcohol. It sends a signal to your brain saying, “Hey, we got rid of that depressant that was in our system, so you can fire back up again.” Now your brain is on but your body is still tired.
Whatever your sleep habits have been, there are ways to begin to turn your nighttime routine into a more productive sleep experience. If you have tried these tips and still find that you cannot sleep, it may be time to ask for help. The first thing you should do is see your doctor to make sure there is not medical reason for the sleep disturbance. Ask them to refer you for a sleep study if they cannot find the source of the issue. You may have a sleep apnea or other medical condition that is getting in your way.
However, you should resist the temptation to take sleeping pills right away. These can have an addictive quality and might wind up being more trouble than they are worth. They may actually further disrupt your sleep in the long run. Instead, seek out a therapist that is trained in CBT-I or another evidence based method for addressing insomnia.