Sleep Saboteurs (and how to defeat them)
If you have problems sleeping, you may wonder why. One of the biggest factors is what I call sleep saboteurs. Four of the most common I see amongst my clients are:
Different sleep schedules on the weekend compared to weekdays
Going to bed earlier one night after a crappy nights sleep to get ahead of the sleep debt
Pressing the snooze button the following morning after a bad night's sleep
Trying really hard to to sleep
While there is nothing inherently wrong with these types of behaviours (if you have restful sleep), if your sleep is not restorative and you have problems getting and staying asleep let me tell you why these could be sabotaging your sleep.
Circadian Rhythms
It all starts with biology. There are two main biological processes in our bodies that determine when and how we sleep. The first is our circadian rhythm, also known as our body's master clock. Our circadian clock, following a 24-hour rhythm, not only impacts when we sleep but also our appetite, digestion, core temperature and hormone production (to name a few!). It responds to cues in our environment, specifically light.
Humans are diurnal, which means we sleep at night when light is restricted, and are awake when there is more light around. If we sleep in and restrict light by pressing snooze or laying in on the weekend in darkened rooms, our bodies are not getting the natural cues which start the production of cortisol that gives us that get-up-and-go feeling. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to people who are sleepy first thing: avoid the snooze button and instead get a 20 minute blast of sunshine in the first few hours of being awake. Do this, and you’ll easily be able to shake off your slumber.
Sleep Pressure / Sleep Drive
The second biological process is called sleep pressure. This is linked to our sleep/wake homeostasis, the balance between being awake and being a sleep that our bodies need. From the moment you wake up in the morning, your sleep drive (aka sleep pressure) begins to rise and will steadily increase throughout the day by releasing a chemical called adenosine into your body. This explains why we typically feel sleepy after about 15-17 hours of being awake, when adenosine is at its highest. If, after a crappy night's sleep, we decide to go to bed earlier the following evening, biologically speaking our bodies are not ready for it because we have not been awake for long enough and our sleep drive is not at its highest. This inevitably leads to restlessness, frustration, release of cortisol and an inability to sleep.
The same applies when you lie in (by hitting snooze or at weekends). As you get up later, the release of adenosine does not kick in until later and that sleep pressure does not begin to rise until later. So when you try to go to bed at a sensible time on Sunday evening you are not yet able to sleep and this, coupled with Sunday evening anxieties related to the working week ahead, can sabotage your sleep. The best advice I can give here is to try to maintain more or less the same sleep and wake time each day, including on the weekends. And if this is not possible because we also need a life, at the very least wake up within a 30-minute window each day.
Effort is your Enemy
The final sleep saboteur I want to address is effort. Sleep is pretty much the only activity that is NOT rewarded by putting in more effort. Trying to sleep is guaranteed to push sleep further away; believe me your efforts will never be rewarded. If you find you cannot fall asleep, or maintain sleep during the night, after about 20 minutes get up and do a relaxing activity like reading. Try to avoid social media scrolling, bills, work or anything that will trigger a stress response. Return to bed only when you are droopy eyed and sleepy. Alternatively, focus less on sleep and enjoy the rest you are getting by lying in a comfortable, warm bed.
It is important to understand how our behaviours are impacting our body's natural ability and drive to sleep. This is an important part of my sleep consultations, and empowers my clients with knowledge and insights to make small changes that can have a big impact.
