As most people, my sleep journey has been a long one. Even now, I still feel like I have so much to learn and achieve in terms of getting better quality sleep. It is a never ending journey and an important one at that, as it is something we need to do every single day. Personally, I think sleep is one of the most fundamental areas of our life. Our quality of sleep directly impacts almost every other area of your life. However, in today’s society of the ‘hustle’ and ‘grind’, we overlook sleep the most.

As a teenager I struggled to fall asleep. Looking back now I can reflect and am aware that my problems sleeping were probably caused by stress. I would work until 9:00 PM, eat food, watch TV and expect to fall asleep instantly. When I did fall to sleep I would have nightmares most nights that would make me terrified to fall asleep again, in fear that it would come back again. As I got older I found that smoking would calm me down enough to knock me out, which was how I managed to fall asleep for many years. I also had a bad habit of needing the TV on to help me fall asleep. Looking back at this, having the noise and light on the television probably made my quality of sleep worse than it already was.

I know that a lot of people use alcohol to help them fall asleep. Unfortunately using alcohol to help sleep is not good for your quality of sleep. Passing out from alcohol results in an unconscious state that is not the same as sleeping. There are many different sleep disorders that effect a small amount of the population. However, most common sleep problems in the general population are due to our lifestyle habits.

Personally, before I had my fitbit I thought I was getting enough sleep but I was tired all the time. I never had any energy and I was always hungry. Once I bought my fitbit I was able to see my quality of sleep and it was quite frightening. Each night I was getting far too much REM sleep and barely any deep sleep. I had so little deep sleep that wouldn’t even give me a percentage on the screen. From then on I knew I needed to make more of an effort to fix my sleep. After a few months of changing some things in my life I was sleeping better, my mood had improved and my hunger levels had changed dramatically.

In the next few paragraphs I am going to give you some information on how to improve your sleep hygiene and ultimately change your life. The information I am providing I have studied at university as well as from personal experience. The information is in no particular order.

1. You need to make your bedroom and your bed a place for sleeping only. If you are a person who hangs out in bed, chills out in bed, eats in bed, etc. you may have trouble falling asleep at night. If possible, I would suggest staying out of your bedroom until you are ready to go to sleep. It is important to condition your mind to relate your bed with sleeping. The more you do this, the easier it will be for you to fall asleep or even just feel tired when you get into bed at night.
   
2. To ensure you are tired when you get to bed, it is suggested to limit the caffeine you are drinking about 4-8 hours before bed. Personally I am sensitive to caffeine so if I have a coffee after 12 PM I have trouble sleeping. I know that some people may say that they are not sensitive to caffeine and they sleep fine but really the quality of sleep may be lacking. It is definitely something to think about. If you’re someone who has a habit of having caffeinated drinks in the afternoon or night you are lucky we live in a beautiful society that has plenty of options for you! Decaf for coffee, caffeine free for soft drink and even non-stimulant pre workout supplements.
   
3. You already know the next one, its the dreaded one that no one wants to do. It is so important to get off of your electronics before bed. It is suggested an hour before bed but honestly, I would start slow! I personally try to do about 30 minutes before bed. So during the last 30 minutes of my night I take my supplements, journal, clean my teeth and face and do some breathing exercises. Usually the TV is on in the background but I try not to focus on it. The light of the electronics stop the release of melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy. In simple terms, when we see light, our brains assume it is day time and time to be alert, when it is dark it is time to go to sleep. Maybe you’re the type of person who can still fall asleep easy despite your phone or TV. I don’t know the exact science, but I’m willing to bet that your quality of sleep will not be as good due to the stress and alertness that a phone causes.
   
4. Start a bed time routine. As mentioned above, I have a few things that I do before bed. By creating this habit, you will find that you fall asleep easier. Just like leaving the bed for sleeping, creating a night time habit will reinforce your body to get tired and ready for sleeping. I highly suggest you start creating some habits to condition to sleeping. For example, journalling, reading a book, using essential oils or meditating. Try to only do these new behaviours at night time to reinforce the idea that is it only for bed time.
   
5. Strengthen your circadian rhythm. This kind of involves all of the things I’ve already mentioned, but it’s worth explaining why these things work. Your body has an internal clock. This clock is based on your normal behaviours. If you wake up every day at 8 AM, chances are that on your day off you might naturally wake up at 8 AM. This is due to your circadian rhythm. This is the same cause of jet lag. There are some things we can do to help strengthen our rhythm and get a good schedule going. Try to get more natural light in during the day, this will help tell your brain and body that it is day time, then later when you are in the dark your body will know its night time. Try not to eat close to bed time. Eating tells your body that its time to be awake, this is not what we want close to bed time! A great example of this is how we can help limit jet lag. Change over to your new timezone while you are at the airport, from then on, try to sleep and eat only at the new times. This will help your body adjust more quickly to the new time zone.
   
6. Make sure your environment is ideal for sleeping. This one might be a little hard for some, especially those who do not have an air con during an Australian Summer! To help fall asleep and stay asleep try to make sure your room has an ideal temperature so that you are neither too hot or too cold, no light, no noise and hopefully the person next to you does not move too much (sorry goes to Stefan for this one, as I am the person in the bed that moves too much, haha).
   
7. Finally, make sleep a priority. Try to stop being that person that says, “Oh I am going to try and go to sleep earlier!” and yet does absolutely nothing to help their situation. If you’re trying to lose weight, sleep is hugely important for you. I’ve seen study results that show that those who do not get enough sleep have a harder time losing fat… Really let that sink in. Why are you making this harder for yourself? The more tired you are, the worse your mood will be, so if you’re in a bad mood and a calorie deficit I highly doubt you’re going to be enjoying life and probably going to be questioning why you’re even on a diet. You are probably hungrier than normal too, also making your calorie deficit harder to stick to. You’re really making it worse for yourself.

You need to prioritize sleep. We live in a world where the less sleep you get the harder you work… this is not the case. This is stupid and we need to move past this mentality. Our health should be our main priority and for a lot of people it is, we eat the right thing, do the right exercises and come home and forget about the importance of sleep! Honestly, the pro’s are not going to be obvious straight away. Personally, the only thing I have noticed is that I am less hungry, which is a huge win for me. Just like most things to do with health, it is only noticeable when the good thing is taken away. When you get 7-9 hours of a sleep a night you feel pretty normal, but then you have a bad sleep one night and you feel like crap and you will be so eager to get back to your normal 7-9! Just like when you eat healthy and then have one bad meal, feel like crap and realise that you want the healthy food back!

I urge you, if you are on a mission to get healthy, just start with your sleep. It is going to make such a big difference to your life, like it did to mine. I will do a quick summary of some things you should try straight away.

Good Sleep Hygiene

• Aim for 7-9 hours every single night (no catch ups)
• Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day
• Make sure your bed is only for sleeping
• No caffeine or food before bed
• No exercise or electronics close to bedtime
• Make a bed time routine
• Make your bedroom comfy for sleeping
• Get some natural light in the day time

All the best on your journey to a better nights sleep. I swear it will change your life.

Love, Caitlin xxx