Sorry this one comes a day late and a dollar short, but here it is anyways.
We just did the annual spring forward (wheee!) and lost an hour of sleep last night (boo!). Is there a way to reset our internal rhythms so that we can naturally go to sleep earlier? Of course!
First of all, you don’t have to do it all at once. There’s no reason why you can’t wake up 15 minutes earlier each day starting 3 weeks ago, then gradually work up to the full hour. But, no, we would rather have the consequences of our actions than plan ahead, so okay let’s scrap that idea.
Why can’t we simply wake up 15 minutes earlier? Because we are SO DARN SLEEP DEPRIVED!!!!!!!!!!! So first and foremost, maybe make a 12 month goal to get more sleep on a regular basis so that this time next year we’re not all in the same boat.
Mindset and reality check! I think this is the biggest one. You often lose an hour of sleep on the weekend in favour of something more fun, right? Or maybe you travel across time zones. Or perhaps, for the ambitious folks among us, you’re a weekend warrior maxing out your personal best every Saturday at 8am while the rest of us are snoozing (shudder!). I think a huge part of the struggle with daylight savings time is the season of transition that leaves us tired. We’re burned out from winter, perhaps our immune systems are running low, it has been a long time since Christmas vacation, and we may be putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to get out and enjoy the warmer weather. So let’s all take a chill pill and be good to ourselves.
HACKS
Okay here’s the best part. We can actually signal our bodies to feel the drive to sleep earlier.
- Food: Eat breakfast earlier than usual. If you’re not generally hungry until later in the day, try to have a small snack within an hour of rising. Literally anything will tell the body to get going because it’s morning.
- Let there be light! Getting bright light on your eyes when you first wake up sets a 16 hour countdown timer for sleep. Resist the urge to curl in to a ball and pull the blankets over your head.
- Movement: Get moving within the first hour or so of waking up. It doesn’t have to be standard exercise, but you definitely need to be moving around for a few minutes. If you prefer to feel like you’re at a spa, dry brushing and oil massage will do.
- 2 hours before bed, dim the lights. Avoid overhead lighting and favour lamps or floor lighting instead. If you’re trying to choose between TV and TikTok, stay off your phone. Ideally, stay off of screens altogether. Screens can be stressful for our brains in a way that will keep us awake or degrade sleep quality. Keep evening entertainment lighthearted and stress-relieving.
ZenwithGwen 