Juggling life can be a struggle. It seems like there's never enough time to balance peak performance at work or school with family commitments and time with loved ones. Unfortunately, most people default to sacrificing sleep when their schedules become overwhelming. The research is clear on the fact that not getting enough sleep can have detrimental effects on health and performance. The past decade of research links getting less than seven hour of sleep per night with a wide range of negative effects on the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems that include:
- Obesity
- Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance
- Cardiovascular disease and hypertension
- Anxiety symptoms and depressed mood
- Increased risk for alcohol use
- Higher risk for disease-related mortality
There's no cheating when it comes to the body's need for sleep. That means that we need to be calculated and intentional about juggling work, study, family life, and adequate sleep. These tips for better sleep below will help you make the most of your awake and sleeping hours!
1. Establish a Regular Sleep Routine
This is the single most important thing any human can do to protect their mind and body! Keeping a regular sleep schedule maintains the timing of your body's internal clock. Known as the circadian rhythm, the body's internal clock is synced with times of light and darkness. There's a delicate and innate hormonal dance that goes on in the human body that predisposes us to feel alert when light enters the sky, get sleepy when it turns dark at night, and sync our sleep-wake cycles to these natural cues. The problem is that poor sleep habits can disrupt our natural sleep rhythm. In addition to putting us outside of the normal flow of the 24-hour cycle from a societal standpoint, having an out-of-sync circadian rhythm can disrupt our body's intrinsic release of hormones. It can leave us feeling stressed, irritable, and tired. A disrupted circadian rhythm can also disrupt our appetite and eating habits outside of external stimuli.
What does a consistent sleep routine look like? In simple terms, it means going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning. Of course, factors that range from work schedules to caregiver obligations can make this complicated for some people. However, it's important to do everything possible to make a sleep routine as consistent as possible. That includes weekends! While many people take advantage of weekends off to enjoy late Friday and Saturday nights, this can actually make it harder to go back to a normal schedule on Sunday night going into Monday morning. Changing your sleeping routine on weekends could still negatively impact circadian rhythm.
One common misconception is that "sleeping in" on weekends can make up for sleep lost during the chaos of the week. There's some bad news if you've been relying on slow weekend mornings to help you get over your "sleep debt." A study from 2019 found that women who spent two or more hours catching up on sleep over the weekend were actually more likely to have poor cardiovascular health.
When researchers tested the effects of makeup sleep on metabolism using 36 healthy men and women, they found that the group given two days to "sleep in" following five nights of getting just five hours of sleep didn't benefit over a group that wasn't given nights of makeup sleep. In addition, the extra weekend sleep was actually found to disrupt body rhythms when they returned to sleep deprivation. Following the recovery sleep period, the participants given extra weekend sleep were more likely to wake up when their natural body rhythm was still promoting sleep.
2. Prioritize Sleep Hygiene
Good sleep habits go a long way! Many people spend far too long falling asleep at the end of the day. Here's how to fall asleep faster:
- Keep your bedroom
- dark, quiet, and cool. Create a relaxing bedtime routine that involves non-stimulating activities that could include listening to calming music or enjoying aromatherapy with soothing essential oils.
- Avoid screen time before bed.
- Cut off caffeine at least six hours before bed. If you believe you have caffeine sensitivity, consider stopping all caffeinated beverages by noon.
Reclaiming good sleep hygiene sometimes requires difficult conversations with the people you live with. For instance, you may have a partner or roommate who has a habit of falling asleep with the television on. Other people in your household may also simply be noisy at night because they stay up late. It's important to advocate for yourself in order to avoid the serious burnout that can come when we're juggling too much in our lives compared to the amount of sleep we're getting per night!
3. Consider That It's Not a Time Problem
We often confuse time problems for time-management problems. Are you often forced to stay up late catching up on things because you didn't take advantage of time in your schedule during the day? It takes self-reflection and honesty to consider that you're potentially not managing your time as wisely as you could be. We often "borrow" from our sleep time when we feel like we have no other choice at the end of the day because deadlines are looming. Here are some tips for maximizing your time every day:
- Utilize a calendar or planner that provides you with a good visual representation of the layout of your day. Yes, you should pencil in your bedtime!
- Break your larger tasks down into smaller tasks that can be done throughout the week to avoid staying up all night the night before a deadline.
- Consider adopting the Pomodoro technique, Flowtime technique, Eat the Frog technique, or another approach commonly used by students or workers to break down tasks to avoid burnout.
- Try to be consistent about when you do things each day. For example, study blocks and exercise blocks should be consistent throughout the week.
- Schedule your free time! By getting "relaxation" or "socializing" time on your calendar, you're reminding yourself that self-care and breaks are actually as relevant as all of the "duties" in your schedule.
If you're still struggling to fit in sleep even though you're on a carefully planned schedule, it may be time to consider that you've bitten off more than you can chew. Take time to reevaluate your priorities. For some, this may mean dropping some obligations. For others, it may mean talking to a boss or professor about making accommodations. Ultimately, you need to be realistic about what you can accomplish in each 24-hour day.
The Bottom Line on Balancing It All
When life is coming at us quickly, it can feel like we have no control. Reclaiming your sleep health ensures that you're staying in control of your physical and cognitive health. Pillow lets you track your sleep patterns nightly to see how factors like stress, diet, workload, sleep schedule, and sleep habits are actually affecting you.
