Sleep – for something pretty straight forward, it can become quite the thorn in your side when you’re not getting enough of it.
It likely isn’t without your best efforts. Maybe you start by hastily wrapping up your tasks for the evening and try to go to bed a bit earlier than usual. You’ve brushed your teeth and washed your face, taken a melatonin supplement, and turned all the lights out. With the added help of blackout curtains and a white noise machine, you spend the last several minutes before the anticipated end of your night scrolling through social media before a much-needed sleep.
After lights out and pillows positioned just the way you like, you close your eyes and try to go to sleep.
Then it begins…
Your eyes are closed but you are awake. Maybe you’re thinking about your day, including that one conversation that didn’t go as you would have liked, the one work task you didn’t complete, and think “did I pay my cellphone bill?” While these thoughts are going through your mind, you begin to feel anxious and stressed a little bit. You notice your body is tense, you feel a bit warm, and a bit restless (even fidgeting). After an hour of tossing and turning you decide to distract yourself by reaching for your smartphone and start scrolling through social media. It works in that you’re not thinking about your day and notice calming down a little bit. After two and a half hours of passive scrolling and with heavy eyes, you lock your phone and dose off to sleep.
Perhaps this sort of scenario has resonated with you. After a long and stressful day, you looked forward to getting to sleep early and let your body recuperate only to spend a good chunk of that desired sleep time awake. You’re not alone: 1 in 3 Canadians have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, while 1 in 4 do not get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of good quality sleep (Wang et al., 2022).
It is reasonable to want to increase your chances of getting a long and restful night sleep by quickly wrapping up your evening tasks, winding down by scrolling through social media, and trying to sleep. These habits and behaviours are intended for you to reach a goal of getting to sleep earlier. Unfortunately, some of these behaviours promote wakefulness rather than sleep. For instance, rushing through last minute tasks before sleep stresses your body and thus telling it that it is not prepared for rest. The light from your smartphone as you are scrolling through social media, or any screentime for that matter, actually inhibits the release of the sleep hormone melatonin in your brain’s circadian clock, suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Lastly, laying in bed awake while reviewing the stressors of your day not only stresses your body out further, but also tells your body that your bed is not a place just for sleep. Fortunately, simple changes to your routine, particularly at night, can help improve your chances of getting to sleep.
Sleep Hygiene
You may have heard the term ‘sleep hygiene’ before – it encompasses a few behaviours and habits changes that promote sleep (Bennett, 2020; Edinger, et al., 2021). Some examples include:
- Consistent wake-up time: Set alarm and wake up at the same time every day. This helps program your circadian clock to know when to wake up every morning.
- Go to sleep when sleepy, not tired: Only go to sleep when you feel a heaviness in your eyes and could fall asleep at any moment. If you’re able to watch a TV show, scroll through your phone, do some light cleaning, or eat – you may be tired, but not ready for sleep.
- Limit your bedroom to sleep and sex: This is pretty straight forward – other than ‘doing the deed’ or to sleep, do not use your bed for any other activity. See Part II of blog post for more information.
- A nighttime routine for relaxation: Having a routine before bed helps signal to your body (and mind) it is readying for bed. Relaxing habits like brushing skin care, stretching, or simply closing the curtains and turning off lights around your home are great ways to signal to yourself that sleep is fast approaching. Having a book with just enough warm light to read is an excellent way to prepare yourself for sleep.
With these habits and behaviours in mind, think about how you might want to improve your sleep hygiene. Is there one that you think is pretty easy to change? Sometimes a small change is all that is necessary to ensure sleep serves its intended purpose, to recover and prepare you for the next day ahead.
Dr. Robbie Woods (C. Psych.) is a clinical psychologist at the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships (CFIR). He provides psychological services to adults who are seeking assessments and treatments for a variety of conditions including anxiety (e.g., generalized, social, health, panic), obsessive-compulsive (e.g., body dysmorphia, skin-picking), and depressive disorders (e.g., major depressive, persistent depressive). Moreover, Dr. Woods has a keen interest in treating sleep difficulties, namely insomnia, using a combination of evidence-based cognitive and behavioural interventions as recommended by the Canadian Sleep Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
References:
Bennett, D. (2020). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Sleep Medicine and Mental Health: A Guide for Psychiatrists and Other Healthcare Professionals, 47-66.
Edinger, J. D., Arnedt, J. T., Bertisch, S. M., Carney, C. E., Harrington, J. J., Lichstein, K. L., … & Martin, J. L. (2021). Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 17(2), 263-298.
Wang, C., Colley, R. C., Roberts, K. C., Chaput, J. P., & Thompson, W. (2022). Sleep behaviours among Canadian adults: Findings from the 2020 Canadian Community Health Survey healthy living rapid response module. Health reports, 33(3), 3-14.
