People have all different types of sleep habits. Some stay out late and others wake up early. The number one thing you can do is find a schedule that works for you and keep it. The more our bodies keep a rhythm, the better they will be at rewarding us with better sleep and more energy during the day. I’m not saying that keeping your sleep schedule should be your number one priority, but if it is within our control, which is most of the time, sticking to it is going to give us more benefits in both the short term and across our whole life.

Many of the following can hurt our sleep/wake cycle:

• Working early in the morning or late at night

• Not having a pre-sleep routine

• Night shift work

• Eating too late

• Family stressors (including newborns)

• Video games

• Using your phone in bed

• Late night screen time

• Working on hard mental problems right before bed

• Exercising too late

It is good to figure out what you are in control of and what your are not in control of, then change the things you can and work around the things you can’t. Many times we exchange the good right now for the greater later. For example: We would rather say up late and watch a TV show (which is good entertainment) when what we really want is to perform well at our job in the next couple days (which has a great impact in our life). Having delayed gratification for the better thing is an important skill to learn.

One of the sleep deficiencies later in life is the inability to regulate neurochemicals that stabilize our sleep and help us transition from sleep to waking states. These neurochemicals helps promote sleep times and wake times. A disruption to the sleep-wake rhythm commonly leaves the elderly tired. It’s important to not only get 7-8 hours every night but also to get consistent sleep. Consistency in the time you go to bed and the time you get out of bed, whether you actually fall asleep or not it still helps the rhythm of our body. Chemicals and hormones will be optimised for each time of the day and we will experience deeper, better sleep at night and more energy during the day.

Good sleep is made up of:

1. Non-Rapid Eye Movement:

   1. Stage 1:  Transitional sleep

   2. Stage 2:  Light sleep

   3. Stage 3 and 4:  Deep sleep

      1. release from brain of growth hormone to repair body

      2. release from brain of prolactin (which sets up body’s anti-inflammatory chemicals)

      3. relaxing of muscles and vascular system, decreased blood pressure and heart rate

2. Rapid Eye Movement:

   1. Comes after the deep sleep stage

   2. Associated with dreaming

   3. Storage of information

In short we sleep to replenish the brain and body’s energy needs, process information and turn recently learned knowledge into long term memory. During sleep our body releases chemicals and hormones to repair the cells of our body and strengthen them for the stresses of the next day.

1. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule

   1. Go to bed and wake up and the same time every day

2. Establish a regular relaxing bedtime routine

   1. Keep it simple

   2. Incorporate breathing slowly

3. Keep the room dark, quiet and cool

   1. 68 degrees if you can

   2. If you can’t go quiet, get a sound machine

4. Exercise at least 3 time per week

   1. Work hard

   2. Find something you enjoy

5. Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night