Getting Better Sleep: Part One

During busy seasons in our lives, sometimes sleep gets pushed to the side. Logically, it makes a lot of sense: rather than sleep 8 hours, let’s take 2-4 and get stuff done! Or use the time to mentally unwind from stress by browsing social media, watching YouTube or Netflix, or to catch up with someone important to you. It might feel more helpful in the short term, and sometimes it is. In the long run, though, it can be detrimental to your physical and mental health.

There are numerous studies that discuss the link between a lack of sleep and serious physical ailments like heart disease, respiratory diseases, immune suppression, high blood pressure, and inflammation control problems. That doesn’t even touch on how it effects your mental health! Recent studies have been addressing sleep problems with actually being part of the root causes of depression and anxiety, not just a symptom. What does that mean? That by addressing problems with sleeping, struggles you may have with depression and anxiety could be reduced or even resolved! That is no small feat!

Let’s explore some ways that you can work on increasing the amount that you sleep as well as ways to support yourself in getting better rest when you get there. In this six part blog series, I’m going to share the most recommended ways for you to increase your sleep as well as discuss the most common obstacles in your way and how to overcome them.

Step One: Set your sleeping goal

Before we get into the first most common obstacle, let’s take some time to identify what your goal for sleep is. Let’s start with duration: how much you would like to sleep, ideally? Base this on whatever factors makes the most sense to you. Here are a few examples of things to consider:

· the most common recommendation for an adult is to get 7-9 hours of sleep

· when you feel your best waking up in the morning, how many hours of sleep did you get the night before?

· on days you notice you are particularly dragging, how much sleep did you get last night?

If you’re not sure, it’s really as simple as paying attention. Do something easy like track how many hours of sleep you’ve gotten in the past few days, week, or even a few weeks. Then think about how you did each of those days and notice any patterns: are you over sleeping? Under sleeping? Both? Are you groggy after sleeping too much or more irritable or prone to stress when you didn’t get enough sleep? This is all information that can support you in setting your initial goal. And don’t worry, as you start this sleeping journey, you’ll be able to modify your goal as needed.

If your goal is “better” sleep, expand on that. What does “better” mean? Deeper? Less interruptions? Longer? Waking to feel more rested? Something else? By getting clear with just what you mean to achieve with this goal, you’ll more easily be able to make changes that support it and achieve your goal faster.

When you have your goal in mind, your task for this week is just to write it down. Make it real. Whether that means to write a note on your phone, computer, on a sticky note that you hang on the bathroom mirror, or some pretty art that you put next to your bed, just write it out! Here are the most common sleep related goals that clients have created with me:

· I want to sleep more, from 4-5 hours to 5-6.

· I want a better space to sleep in: I want to get new bedding and paint my room.

· I want more sleep: I’m going to ask my partner to get up with the (child/children) at night.

· I want to feel more rested when I wake up and not feel like I need that cup of coffee to get going.

· I want to get to bed earlier and get up earlier, too: I want to start trying to go to bed by 10 and start my day by 7.

Use whatever words make the most sense to you, and make the goal as short and simple as possible. I also recommend not making a goal to big: let’s start with what I call “bite sized” goals. Rather than overhaul your whole sleeping world and shoot for a huge change, let’s start by just taking the first step. Example: rather than try to increase sleep from 4 hours to 8.5, work on increasing it one or two hours at a time. Rather than spend $3,000 on new furniture, bedding, paint, and decorations for your room, pick a few items that you think would be most helpful and start with those. Introducing too many variables at once makes it hard to know just what is most effective for you and makes it more likely for you to get overwhelmed and do nothing or put it off longer. Let’s not do that!

Once you have your goal written down where you want it, you’ve officially gotten started! You are already on your way to a deeper, more restful nights sleep. Your next step is to move on to Part Two of this blog series and begin addressing barriers between you and your best sleep. I’ll see you there!