Sponsored by Lull
I almost feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to write about sleep right now because…what’s that?! My husband is an Emergency Medicine Intern, I am a full time Physician, we have a 2.5 year old who has decided he thrives on only 6 hours of sleep a day and a sweet and sassy little 10 month old.
Yep, it’s hard.
I can’t remember the last time I got to ‘sleep in’. The kiddos like to wake up around 6. In my heyday, I could snooze until noon with the best of them.
But that isn’t our reality in this season of life. So we try to make the best of it. When we are sleeping, we do everything we can to make it a deeeeeeeep sleep.
Poor sleep quality can lead to increased rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression. It also impacts your daily functioning, and safety. (Once after a very busy 24-hour shift in medical school, I crashed my car into my own garage!)
I’m going to let you in on a secret: there’s usually one main thing people don’t think about when they wonder why they aren’t getting good sleep. And that thing is your old mattress. It’s probably time for an upgrade, so I’m going to tell you all about mine.
I’ve put together some of my favorite tips for optimizing the time that you do have for snoozing.
1. Invest in a Quality Mattress and Pillow
You spend 1/3 of your life asleep. It’s so important to optimize your sleep space and create a little oasis for rest. You deserve it! Tyler and I slept on a hand-me-down spring mattress for the past four years. That bed took us through two pregnancies, two kids, medical school, intern year and a move half-way across the country. It was time for an upgrade.
We decided to partner with Lull for our overdue mattress upgrade for a few reasons. First of all, they have over 34,000 reviews at 4.7 stars – all of those people couldn’t be wrong! I knew I wanted a memory foam mattress – Tyler tosses and turns a lot and is up at all crazy hours of the night because of his schedule. Memory foam limits the transmission of movement so I can sleep without being disturbed. Tyler also runs pretty hot, so we love that our Lull Mattress has a breathable gel top layer to help transfer heat away from the body. Lull Mattresses are CertiPUR-US®-Certified, meaning all materials are non-toxic and non-carcinogenic. With their 10 year warranty and a 100 night trial – we knew we couldn’t go wrong.
We have been sleeping on it for two weeks (and using the Lull Pillows as well!) and I am so grateful. It has been a rough patch of sleep for our little ones, so every minute of restful sleep is a gift. I used to wake up achy, but now I wake up ready to take on whatever the day throws my way. Which unfortunately, has been a lot recently!
2. Go to Sleep and Wake up at the Same Time Every Day
By keeping a consistent routine, we reinforce our bodies natural circadian rhythm. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (including weekends!) helps our bodies know when it is time for sleep and when it is time to wake up. I recommend setting an alarm for one hour before your bedtime so you are reminded to start winding down with your night time routine. Otherwise, it’s easy to get caught up in watching ‘just’ one more episode of your favorite show.
3. Keep it Dark
The darker the better. We have black out blinds, and don’t keep any electronics on in our bedroom. Some people go as far as putting electrical tape over their cable box lights etc. but we haven’t gotten that wild yet.
Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed suppresses the release of melatonin and makes it harder to fall asleep. Blue light has a wavelength of 380nm to 500nm and is one of the shortest, highest-energy wavelengths. This light is emitted by smartphones, computers, tablets, and LEDs and CFLs. If you have to use your devices , you may want to invest in blue light reducing glasses or use a blue light reducing setting on your device.
4. Set the Right Temperature
The ideal room temperature for sleep is 60-67 degrees. Your body temperature is tied to your circadian rhythm and increases and decreases slightly over the course of a day. Your body decreases in temperature in preparation for sleep and keeping your room on the cooler side can help this transition take place more efficiently. If you have a toddler or an infant, you may want to keep the temperature closer to 65-70 degrees and make sure they are dressed appropriately.
5. Get Some Light During the Day
Light helps your body set its internal clock. When you get up in the morning, try and get some exposure to sunlight. Open your blinds and take a short walk around the block with your morning coffee. These days, we spend a lot of time indoors. Try eating your lunch outside if the weather permits or take another little stroll. If you wake up before the sun rises, you might want to try a dawn simulating alarm, which gradually gets brighter as your wake-up time approaches.
6. Limit your Alcohol Intake
As nice and relaxing as a glass of wine sounds at the end of a long day, it can lead to poor quality sleep. Alcohol can increase the production of adenosine which leads you to fall asleep quickly, but then it subsides just as suddenly – causing you to wake up before you are truly ready. Alcohol blocks REM sleep – the most restorative form of sleep. It is also a diuretic and can cause extra trips to the bathroom overnight.
7. Only Use Your Bed for Sleep and…
It’s important that we train our bodies and minds to recognize that the bedroom is for sleep and intimacy. As tempting as it is, try not to watch TV, spend hours browsing the internet, or do work in bed. If you are struggling to fall asleep, get up and move to the couch and read for a little while and then return to bed when you are sleepy. Building a positive sleep association with your bed will help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep.
8. Rethink your Afternoon Coffee Break
The half-life of caffeine is 4-6 hours. This means that half of the caffeine is still in your body 4 hours later! Caffeine can make it harder to fall asleep and can also cause you to wake up multiple times throughout the night (and you may not even know it!) It can decrease the amount of time you spend in slow wave sleep leading you to feel less restored in the morning. A good guideline is to stop drinking coffee after lunch. Just a warning though – if you are going to decrease your caffeine consumption, do it gradually. Otherwise, you can end up with withdrawal symptoms such as a headache or irritability.
9. Use a Sound Machine
Whenever there is a sudden change in the environment, whether it is a sound, flicker of light, or fluctuation in temperature, we are apt to wake up to see what is going on. It’s a survival mechanism! A sound machine can be used to mask any little noises that can disrupt our sleep, whether it is a dog barking at a neighbor’s house or a little ‘click’ each time your air conditioner turns on or off. White noise is a consistent noise across all the frequencies that a human being can hear, from high to low. A sound machine, which emits white noise, can be used to mask those little sounds so we can sleep more peacefully and with less disruption.
10. Create a Bedtime Routine
Sleep is a behavior that can be learned. A bedtime routine is something that we are consistently reminded of to do with our kids, but somehow routine seems to go out the window when it comes to adults. Routines allow our bodies and our minds to predict and prepare for what is going to come next. Creating 30-60 minutes of sleep rituals can help you drift off to la la land quickly. Some ideas of things to incorporate into your evening routine are taking a bath, meditation, reading, listening to relaxing music, or writing in a gratitude journal.
I hope these ideas (and a new Lull Mattress) help you to find the perfect slumber – feel free to comment with any tips of your own!
