Category: Sleep

7 Tips For Dealing With Daylight Savings & Falling Back

We fall backwards an hour on Sunday November 1. Here are some actionable tips that will help smooth the transition.

Be proactive with your clock. Reset your clock the night before to set yourself up for success and make sure you are on time for your events.
Set your clock ahead. While you’re at it, if you’re always running late, this will help you to be more on time. I often recommend 5 minutes, but you may want to do more or less depending on your needs. Beware: people are often very unrealistic about time, so be honest with yourself about what will work for you. If you don’t know, it’s probably better to overdo it to be safe.
Move the alarm clock. Place it across the room so that you must get out of bed to turn it off. Since you have to get up and move, it helps you to wake up more easily.
Vitamin D. As the days get shorter and we have less exposure to sunlight, we are in greater need of Vitamin D. Also, considering how many people are Vitamin D deficient, this becomes especially important to consider.
Turn the lights down as bedtime approaches. Our bodies are wise, and if we listen carefully, they tell us exactly what we need. The problem is that our modern lifestyles cause a lot of “interference” and we can’t hear our body’s signals very well. Light is a great example. It gets darker earlier, but many of us have bright lights on at night, which can interfere with our circadian rhythms. Use softer lights once it becomes dark. Turn the light on devices waaay down. In fact, turn them off as much as possible because the blue light emitted from electronic screens replicates daylight! This is horribly disruptive to the brain’s ability to know what time it is and to know what the body needs. This happens to be a major contributor to sleep problems for adolescents.
Go to bed early. Seriously. If it’s dark, and you’re tired, it’s ok to go to bed really early sometimes! Listen to your body.
Make sure you have a sleep friendly environment. Remove distractions from the bedroom (pets, electronics, etc.), have a good routine, make sure it’s quiet, dark, cool and comfortable.

Do you have any tips? Feel free to comment below. If this helped you, please share

24 Tips for better sleep

Far too many of my students have sleep problems, yet good sleep is one of the foundations for optimizing brain function and learning. Fortunately, after talking with countless students about this issue, it’s good to know that they often value the relationship between sleep and how they function emotionally, cognitively and physically. They understand that the price to pay for poor sleep is huge. But taking action is another story. What can we do to help them take action that works?

First, get perspective about sleep

Remember, we sleep for 1/3 of our lives. It is that important.
We need a simple definition of good sleep. To me, good sleep is simply restful sleep. So the question to ask is, “how restful is your sleep?“
Our modern world has thrown our circadian rhythms out of whack! For the first time in human history, we can have bright artificial light, after dark. Practical use of light bulbs didn’t even begin until the early 1900s. Before that we would have only had dim fire light at night, and this change has had a tremendous effect on humans. And the light emitted from electronic devices after dark is especially disruptive since it signals the brain that it is still daytime.
The pineal gland makes melatonin, critical to falling asleep. Darkness signals this gland to produce melatonin so we can sleep, light signals it to stop so we can wake up. This regulates the circadian rhythm, which is designed to help our bodies sustain healthy patterns. Our brains are confused!
Some people have problems with onset insomnia, where it takes too long to fall asleep. Some have middle insomnia, where they wake too many times during the night. Some have terminal insomnia, where they wake up too early (this has been my biggest problem). Knowing which one you struggle with will help you personalize the solutions below.

24 Tips to better sleep

For me, the solution has been a combination of many small things that add up to a better night’s sleep. Here are some easy things you can try to see what works for you:

Make sure the temperature in the bedroom is right. It should be a bit cool, about 68 degrees.
Find ways to get the room to be pitch dark at night.
Keep pets out of the room if they interrupt sleep.
If there are sounds that wake you up, figure out how to get rid of the noise or consider white noise (a fan for example).
Figure out how to make the bed more comfortable.
Pick a consistent bed time and wake time. Post your routine until it becomes habit.
Put the alarm clock as far from you as possible so you have to get up to turn it off. This will help you wake up more fully.
Cover all light sources (even the clock if possible).
One of the best tips I can give you is to just make a rule to keep all electronics out of the bedroom, always. At the very least, do not use a tv, cell phone or computer 1 hour after sunset. The blue light emitted from these tell the brain to stay awake.
Do not ingest anything with caffeine.
Do less stuff! If your schedule is packed, it’s ok to let things go, especially if it affects your health.
Think too much? Journal for 5 minutes every night before bedtime.
Keep a notepad by the bed to list any important to do items that are spinning around in your head.
Don’t go to bed hungry or stuffed.
No drinking before bed or you may have to wake up to use the bathroom.
Use a consistent wind-down routine to get yourself ready for bed.
Some people sleep better after eating a tablespoon of almond butter, taking magnesium at bedtime or taking melatonin (I am not a big fan of melatonin because I want my body to produce it more naturally).
Get plenty of exercise during the day. This is critical.
Try 4-7-8 breathing. This works well for me. Breathe in for 4 seconds, pause for 7, exhale for 8.
Meditate regularly. This helps regulate every system in the body.
Try different sleep positions and take note of how you sleep best.
Use tools to quiet the senses. Try a sleep mask, ear plugs, a weighted blanket, etc..
Short naps can help some people sleep better.
Make the bed and clean the bedroom. Clutter makes it harder to sleep.

Note: Always keep in mind that there may be serious issues going on behind the scenes that may be affecting sleep. If you think something may be going on, do not hesitate to see a professional so you cna get the right help.

Now go take action!

Implement a ew of the suggestions right now! You’ll sleep better tonight and feel better tomorrow. Feel free to print this and use it as a guide. And if this helped you, please share it (try a share button below). What works for you? Share in the comments below.

"Our Natural Sleep Cycle"

Here’s a short post which links to a 4 minute TED video about sleep by Jessa Gambale. As I work with families, I try to figure out how well a student is sleeping because of it’s effect on his/her daily life. In this clip, Jessa refers to sleep and our internal clock as, “the most underrated force on our behavior.” It certainly has a tremendous impact on a student’s learning and concentration. In order to keep it simple, I usually start the sleep discussion with a question that gives me enough insight to see if we can help a student sleep better. The question is basically, “how rested do you feel after your typical night of sleep?” This leads into finding practical ways of improving sleep habits since our modern lifestyles often interfere with our natural rhythms. So, how rested are you or how rested are the students in your life??? Jessa mentions how our “natural sleep cycle” would follow this general pattern: About 8pm- 12am: Sleep About 12am – 2am: Meditative quiet time in bed About 2am – Sunrise: Sleep She states that when the people in these studies get the sleep their bodies naturally want, they report “experiencing true wakefulness for the first time in their lives.” Now that’s a powerful statement. Here’s the clip: Jessa Gamble: Our natural sleep cycle