Habits of Sleep
5 Methods I Used For CRISP Sleep After College
There I was again.
2 AM.
Pancakes in hand,
Xbox on,
Dying Light loading…
It took a while to change my poor sleep habits when I left college as I didn’t have as much of a routine.
I tended to go to sleep in the early hours of the morning and wake up towards the afternoon.
If I had work, it wouldn’t be the activities in the evening that got neglected; it would be my sleep. After doing this for weeks, I found the quality of my life deteriorating.
I was sluggish in my day-to-day movements. My sleep quality was poor. My discipline to do ANYTHING of substance was out of the window…
I was wasting my life.
Something had to change.
And finally realising that I was accomplishing nothing was enough of a motivator to do this.
1. Mattress
The first thing I did was I brought a new mattress. This was to improve the quality and comfort of my sleep.
If the sleep felt better, I would want to do more of it. (I brought a Simba Hybrid. Not a promo. I’m not that big yet, just a recommendation).
I found that with this change, I was falling asleep more quickly and I recovered better in my sleep too. If I went to the gym and did a particularly hard exercise (from which I would normally ache the next day). I found that those aches reduced, and sometimes didn’t even happen at all.
2. Natural Light
The second thing I started doing was sleeping with the curtains open.
This felt alien at first. Because who does that, right?
I was advertising to the feral psychopaths of the night that I was an easy target. My life just lay there for the taking…
I couldn’t fall asleep too quickly the first few nights as the eerily feeling that someone would be watching me lingered.
It was, to put it short, UNCOMFORTABLE.
However, a friend suggested it, so I persisted.
After about three nights I was fine, and to my surprise, I felt so much better getting up in the morning.
You know that feeling when you get up and switch on the lights and your eyes sting?
Well, I’m happy to say, that all went away. Due to the natural light already being there as I woke up, that all stopped (and it hasn’t happened for the past three years).
It’s the no.1 thing I recommend the most around sleep. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this (I know I didn’t), maybe you live in an apartment building or sleep on the first floor? Then buy some white netting for your window to stop others from seeing in but still allow you to see out and get that natural light.
3. Blue Light
I also started avoiding blue lights around this time (Phone screens, Computers, TVs etc.).
About 1 hour before bed, I would set my alarm and leave my phone alone.
Now, while this may sound daunting to the Insta addicts of you out there, there are better things to do.
Instead of scrolling or going on YouTube, I’d read, talk with my parents, or stretch.
Something a lot more productive than sitting stationary and watching what was happening in OTHER people’s lives.
This links in with my next step, prepping for bed.
4. Prep
In the last 30–60 minutes before bed, I started brushing my teeth, changing the bedding, putting things away or making a to-do list for the next day.
I gave myself enough time so I didn’t have to rush and feel flustered before bed. It gave me the necessary time to wind down from the day.
Give yourself that time too. You deserve it.
Sleep Cycles & REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep
The final point which this has all been building up to is the time that we should all go to sleep (and the amount of time required).
However, before we get onto that, just bear something in mind; 1 sleep cycle is 1.5 hours. The first sleep cycle you have is non-REM sleep and the second is REM sleep.
You need these two cycles back-to-back to feel good when sleeping. The longer you sleep, every time you hit the REM Sleep cycle, you go into deeper REM sleep which means you feel even better after sleeping.
That’s why you may feel good after 6 hours of sleep, but if you have 6 hours and 30 minutes of sleep, you feel like crap (because you woke up mid-sleep cycle). For more information, try reading Matthew Walker’s book ‘Why We Sleep’ or research online.
Now back to the Story.
5. Sleep Time
So, after a bit of experimenting with falling asleep at different times and finding what was most convenient, I found that the best time for me to fall asleep is around 10 PM (sometimes a little earlier if I can make it).
Everyone has a different routine which I why I would recommend doing a bit of experimenting yourself and finding out what is most convenient for you.
I would also like to add that if you are used to sleeping at 1 AM every night, don’t just jump to 10 PM. You won’t be able to fall asleep and you’ll just get frustrated.
Get to where you want to be by gradually sleeping 15–30 minutes earlier each night. Don’t stress. You’ll be there within a week.
When it came down to the amount of sleep required, I found that on the odd night, I could do 6 hours (The four sleep cycles), but if this was a regular occurrence, I found that it affected the quality of my day and my work negatively.
7.5–8 hours is the ballpark (Around five cycles). I can cope with this and still maintain a good quality of life.
But if I’ve had an exhausting day, I would sometimes need to stretch up to 9 hours (6 cycles, The Prime Sleep) if I was burnt out.
Over to You
The best thing I can recommend is to try different things. Some of these methods may not work for you, but some will.
The key is to experiment and keep what helps you.
Take a couple of weeks. Don’t fall into peer pressure or social norms of going to sleep at 3 AM. (P.S. It’s not worth it for your health).
Also, lack of good quality sleep may cause cancer; think about that next time you go on an all-nighter to play video games…
Once you get a routine, do your body a favour and stick with it, you’ll appreciate it in the future.
Tip:
Another tip to help with sleep quality is to reduce the amount of caffeine before bed. It still affects your body 6 hours after consuming it.
I don’t consume caffeine so this isn’t a big step for me, however, it will affect those of you who are coffee addicts out there.
(Also, that uncomfortable feeling did go… Eventually)
Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you found it helpful and think someone else could find it helpful too, please share it and 👏🏽👏🏽.
A writer mainly on self-development. I occasionally write on personal experiences, interest and other topics too. If you are interested in self-development, then please read some of my other articles (linked below). Enjoy.
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