I’m Pretty Good At Being Bad At Sleep
I believe it all started when I was 13 and got my first TV in my room. I started watching all of my favorite shows in bed, and 15 years later, not much has changed. I still enjoy lying in bed watching all of the episodes; the only difference today is that I’m unsupervised (who thought that was a good idea?) and have streaming services like Netflix that encourage binging. Why should I sleep when I can spend a week watching six seasons of How to Get Away With Murder?
So much of my electronic use occurs in the evenings when I am in bed. The phone is out, the light is turned down, and the scrolling and binge-watching can commence, and before I know it, it’s 2 a.m….so much for starting the day productively. Since then, my bed has become synonymous with electronics use.
Nighttime + Bed + Gadgets = Groggy mornings
I come to regret all of my bad decisions the next morning when I rush out of bed, eat poorly, and heavily rely on coffee to get through the day. A daily cycle of regret and awareness that my sleep is suffering and so is my health.
Yup, something has to change and most importantly I WANT it to change.
The truth is that poor sleep leads to a series of problems.
- Poor sleep leads to poor habits.
- Poor sleep leads to a decline in cognition.
- Poor sleep leads to food cravings.
- Poor sleep exacerbates symptoms of mental illness.
- Poor sleep dysregulates your hormones.
Simply put, getting too little sleep is BAD for your health.
But did you know that not all sleep is created equal? According to experts, there are three forms of sleep: light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. Experts say that all three forms of sleep listed above are required for us to feel refreshed; else, we may experience the dreadful Groggy feeling the next day.
Deep sleep is considered restorative sleep for the body, and REM sleep is restorative sleep for the mind. Personally, I need more REM sleep. My mind is exhausted.
It is estimated that we require roughly 7–9 hours of sleep to feel rested, and function at high levels throughout our day. As previously noted, my poor sleep hygiene was not helping.
After learning all of this information, I am now committed to increasing my REM and deep sleep. As a result, I came up with a plan for good sleep hygiene to assist both myself and those who want to do the same. This simple yet focused strategy helps bring awareness to your “why,” your association with your bed, any anxiety that may be present, generating excitement for the next day, and finally, full acceptance of what sleep truly is. Click the link to get the free sleep hygiene guide and start improving your relationship with sleep.
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