5 min read
Messy bed and closed blinds – Quin Stevenson (unsplash.com)
Introduction
In the summer, at least for me, sleeping randomly became so much harder. School had ended, I practically stayed indoors for a majority of the day, and spent my day doing whatever I felt was productive or enjoyable. I would go to sleep at a normal weekend time, and not a super late hour.
Unlike many other of my friends, who usually all went to bed at 2 AM or 3 AM (which I completely understand), while I didn’t. I found it to be much better if I went to bed at my usual weekend time. I did this so that I didn’t feel terrible once I woke up. Turns out that you actually feel a million times better if you give your brain proper rest. Who knew?
I don’t know if it was just me, but I never realized how hard it was to fall asleep until the summer of freshman year in high school. Up until then, I guess I never consciously thought about it. And ever since then, I’ve always had to worry about going to sleep.
In today’s post, I’m going to show you the brief but informative guide to falling asleep. And no, it’s not going to the gym and doing hard exercise for an hour. There’s plenty of other secrets behind the curtain.
Why Falling Asleep Was Hard (my experience, no science)
My daily routine consisted of waking up, morning routine (wash face, brush teeth), and then immediately hopping on the computer to get work done for the day. I did this until I went to bed on a lot of occasions. However I would also sprinkle in some walks, going out with family, eating, playing football, and that’s about it.
I know there’s plenty of people that believe that you need to be physically and mentally exhausted, and that is true. However, I believed it so much that I would exhaust myself physically and mentally as much as possible – and to a point where it was too much.
I wasted too much time worrying about being exhausted than getting good work done. Instead of thinking “ok I need to do this, by doing XYZ in that order”, I thought “ok, what things will make me the most tired?”. Not a good thought because it wastes valuable space.
What I learned is that you don’t need to be THAT physically exhausted. More than anything, you need to be mentally exhausted and just tired in general. Your body and mind need a reason to rest; not meaning you need to go out and give it your all.
Look At Your School-Year Routine
A good question to ask yourself is what you did during the school year. How did you spend every day? And don’t act special, I know you did the same thing every day. Whether you watched TV immediately as you got home, finished the night with a light snack, or called friends in your free time at home, what did you do?
I won’t make a general assumption about most people. I don’t know what you think, but I know what I did.
When I went to sleep on a school night, I was always usually tired. Therefore, sleeping immediately was always easy. Even if I didn’t try sleeping, I always did and woke up a couple hours later. This was especially apparent on the days I went to sleep later than I should’ve went to sleep, and when I woke up earlier than I should’ve. There was a period of my high school years where I would, on average, get 6 hours of sleep on a good day. Of course I was always exhausted on those days.
However, before that happened, I went to bed at around 11 PM and woke up at 6:30 AM or even 6:45 AM. I don’t remember exactly. It sucks having to drive so far to school and therefore wake up earlier just to get ready and gain consciousness. (because I never woke up before my alarm)
POINT IS: Despite what I did, I went to school everyday. I would have to walk long distances between classes, and usually averaged about 2000-3000 steps in just a few hours. I would have to use brainpower early in the morning on some insignificant task, and repeat that for the next few classes. Luckily, not all classes required an IQ above 5.
Compare Then And Now
Look at your life now and compare it to how it was before. What do you do everyday and what did you differently then?
I know people that still go to bed at about the same hour, but get far better sleep now than then. Of course, you know why.
By no means am I telling you to appreciate the time you spent in school doing whatever. Instead I’m telling you to just look at what you could do differently to exhaust yourself. Maybe you need to walk more. Maybe you need to start giving your brain a real challenge besides just consume. I used to consider doing the same thing everyday as a valuable reason, but it’s not.
Repetitive Actions != Higher Energy
(note: != means “not equal to”; couldn’t find anything else to signify that)
If you repeat the same daily routine, your brain will start forgetting days and everyday will just blend in with the next. However, it doesn’t mean that you will be more or less tired. I don’t believe that is impacted.
During my school life, I did the same exact thing everyday. I woke up, followed my morning routine, went to school, came home, and followed an organized activity list that I followed everyday. I never actually listed it, it was just carved in my memory.
Yet, every time I went to bed I was always tired. Always tired. It never changed.
The truth is that you go to school everyday, are forced to wake up early, wake up way before your body is prepared to, and just take forever to get down. Even on days that I did get good sleep, I still had to take a good few minutes to contemplate my life decisions. “How did I end up here?”, even though life hasn’t even technically started yet. We’re still in the tutorial.
That alone absorbs a lot of your energy already. You don’t experience that on weekends or over summer break because you chose to wake up early. On the other hand, waking up early during the school year feels like it goes against my free will.
Final Conclusion
If you don’t feel that same level of tired now than you used to, it’s a fixable problem. You either a) need more physical activity, basic activity, or b) need more mentally straining activity. This means walking outside, going for a run, reading a book (just kidding, don’t do that).
Physical activity is an easy fix for a majority of people (hopefully, if not I provide tips below). However, mental not so much. For that I recommend doing something that you naturally find challenging but don’t mind doing. This might be puzzles, passcodes, or other gamified learning/escape room style games. Man, escape rooms used to be so much fun back in the day. I really should start doing them again.
However, if you usually found yourself not feeling tired on school days anyways, I recommend finding a better time to sleep. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone with this problem unless they deliberately ruined their sleep with caffeine or taking way too long of a nap. Either way, chances are you usually are tired and already have a viable solution. Just think.
Why Falling Asleep Might Be Hard For You (Science-Based)
I’ve found some really interesting stuff that I wanted to share. Just listen.
1. Longer Daytime Hours & Sunlight Exposure
You might’ve heard of the circadian rhythm, which is the body’s sleep-wake cycle. During the summer time, because daytime hours are longer, and therefore the sun sets earlier, your body produces reduced levels of melatonin. This makes it harder to fall asleep.
Additionally, if you’re someone who finds yourself using electronics that emit consistent blue light at later hours than usual, you’re bound to expect more difficulties when going to bed. This is because your brain still perceives is to be daytime; and because of lower melatonin production.
2. Heat
The high temperatures recently where I live has probably been the worst its ever been. Seriously. I don’t ever remember it being this intense. Getting work done now factors in how hot it is, because some days I just can’t think clearly.
Research-wise, before we fall asleep, our body naturally cools down. Higher temperatures in the summer time disrupts this natural process and therefore make it harder for the body to drop to its core temperature. (and to fall asleep)
Additionally, higher temperatures and humidity are found to increase nighttime wakefulness, reduce deep sleep, and lead to more restless nights.
3. Unpredictability
As I mentioned before, during the school year, we live very predictable lives. Most of us do the same thing everyday, with almost exception. We live ordinary and day-to-day lives. We also talked about how this does not negatively impact your sleep. Repetitive behavior only makes your life boring and grey, not hard to sleep through.
Turns out that it’s actually the opposite. The school year forces us to choose a consistent schedule, and hence a bedtime to follow. This consistent routine, alongside an early waketime and structured schedule makes it easier for our brain to adjust and fall asleep. In other words, it lets your brain anticipate falling asleep.
But when it’s summer season, most people find themselves eating at later hours, watching screens at later hours (and for longer), and choosing seemingly unpredictable times to choose to sleep. In this case, by “unpredictable”, I mean unpredictable for your body’s circadian rhythm. I usually know what time I’ll go to bed everyday, but my body doesn’t. On top of that, if you snack and eat later, your body has to dedicate its focus to breaking down food rather than sleeping. It cannot multi-task at that level.
4. School
It also turns out that because of your rigid school schedule that you’re forced to sleep earlier. Although no one likes going everyday, our body actually appreciates it. It allows (again) for seamless anticipation, as well as a need to sleep earlier.
If you’re not ever leaving the house in summer, and consistently stay at home doing nothing, your body won’t thank you. Instead, it’ll choose to punish you by making it so unbearably hard to fall asleep. School essentially counteracts this decision.
My Strategy For Falling Asleep Easily
Of course, you need to physically act in order to expect to be tired, but it’s more focused on the mental side.
Here’s what works for me:
- Waking up early, at the same time everyday
- Do not switch this time no matter what. If you change this, it could negatively impact your sleep and destroy all possibility to wake up refreshed the next day. Embrace consistency because if not, your sleep will not improve.
- Eat decently healthy.
- I do this on a normal basis regardless of sleep, and have been doing it for about a year now. I don’t know if it has any real impact, but I’m listing it here anyways. I’m also not telling you to eat vegetables and stuff. I don’t even really eat that either. I just recommend eating less of the “bad stuff”. This includes processed foods, fried foods, greasy foods, and high sugar content foods. Avoid these and you will be on track.
- Never sleep too late. Set a limit, and go to bed at least 15-30 minutes before it. If you go to bed at that exact time, then it’s fine. Just don’t repeat it everyday. Additionally, only surpass this limit on special occasions. Once per week should be the limit.
- Move around.
- This doesn’t mean go for a run or anything like that, just move. That’s it. Walk around the house, go outside for some sunlight, stretch, whatever. Just move.
- Stress your brain. (not in the way you think)
- I prefer more the mental than the physical side. This is easier for me since I naturally do a lot of work during the day. One of my favorite things to do however is duolingo. I’ve recently been practicing Japanese, and doing 30 minutes of it everyday trains my brain to an extent that I’m exhausted after all those lessons. I prefer doing it a little later in the day. Around 7 PM is a good time for me.
That’s it.
Conclusion
Sleep shouldn’t be this thing that we struggle with every night. It should be easy to get every night, and supplement us for the day everyday. If you follow these essential steps, you’ll be able to guarantee good sleep every night no matter what.
