It’s no secret that sleep plays a vital role in our day-to-day life, with poor sleep having detrimental effects on our physical and mental health. Sleep allows our body time to recover from the day, a chance to rest our mind from the challenges life presents.
With World Sleep Day falling on Friday 17th March 2023, and this year’s theme focusing on how sleep is essential for health, we asked one of our team to monitor their sleep over the course of a working week.
Here’s how it went:
When I was growing up, I always remembered going to bed before my parents and waking up, always finding them downstairs going about their days and thinking I would never be that person. Fast forward 30+ years and here I am with insomnia.
I have tried a wealth of different things to encourage a healthy sleep pattern as I am aware that sleep is such an important function to ensure both physical and psychological wellness. I am the worst person at taking medication and try to avoid it at all costs, so I try and take a more holistic approach to remedy when I am going through a bad sleep pattern.
This last week I have kept a brief log of my sleep and the effects it has had on me throughout the day. I have also added in some of the things I have tried to balance myself to try and encourage a more healthy sleep pattern.
Monday
Ensured that I limited screen time before bed by reading. Went to bed at 10pm and played a meditation video on YouTube with the screen turned to the table so no light was omitted. Woke up 3 times in the night but luckily only briefly. 6 hours 11 minutes sleep in total which is good going and felt fairly refreshed on waking. Exercised, ate then attended an appointment. Had some bad news, so took my dog for a walk in the local park. Started work at lunchtime and felt quite anxious and tearful. Spent the evening talking to family and reading.
Tuesday
Had gone to be and tried my usual meditation on YouTube – had to keep restarting this as could not settle. After a couple of hours I changed this to various ‘sleep’ background sounds eg; white noise, rain showers etc. Managed to get 2 hours 47 mins sleep. Woke up and read for a short while before starting my day. Again felt anxious and stressed through the day but ensured that I took regular breaks from the screen. Had to rely on coffee more today to stop the dragging drowsiness. Booked a last minute ‘relaxation’ massage on an app called ‘Treatwell’. This app offers last minute appointments for beauty/massage at a reduced cost. Returned home and settled in my comfy chair with a book to try and remain as relaxed as I could before bedtime.
Wednesday
Listened to my YouTube meditation, woke up several times and restarted this every time I woke. Got a total of 4 hours 23 mins sleep. Woke up feeling sluggish and achy, did my exercise session, walked the dog and read before starting my working day. Played a meditation video in the background while at my desk and ensured that I kept my fluid intake up to try and counteract the tiredness. Discussed with my manager ways to manage my day to ensure that I was mindful of how I felt, and also took regular breaks from my screen. Spent the evening reading and did some mindfulness routines.
Thursday
Managed 6 hours and 47 mins sleep with just one disturbance where I woke and clicked my meditation session off. Felt much more refreshed and together today, less jittery and anxious. Followed my normal routine and started work feeling much more positive. Half way through the day, noticed my email pings whilst working were making me feel heightened, so muted this and played mindfulness music via my iPad whilst I worked – this helped massively. Ensured that I did not drink coffee after lunchtime and had a large evening meal before spending the evening with family and a friend. Before going to bed tonight, I changed my bedding and liberally sprayed it with The Body Shop lavender mist spray which was given to me by a friend. Also set up a new meditation video to see if this would work more effectively.
Friday
7 hours and 11 minutes sleep, with a very brief disturbance at 12.40am – my record this week. Woke up feeling sluggish and took a while to jolt myself awake. Had a coffee and this helped get me ready for my morning routine and working day. Felt far more able to get through without the need for background mindfulness noise and didn’t need to mute my notifications. Made me reflect more on the fact that sleep quality/quantity certainly does have an affect on wellbeing and the ability to cope with day to day life. Also made me more mindful of the use of coffee to get me through the day and the impact this may have on my ability to sleep at night, so am going to try and limit drinking this after lunchtime going forward.
Here’s what I learnt:
As I exercise virtually every day, I tend to eat more in the morning and then a little less at lunch and dinner. But, I noticed that after a larger evening meal, I seemed to sleep better, so I’m going to try this again to see if this played a part in helping me sleep longer. I felt my anxiety was worse throughout the day if I slept less too. I realised that my sleep is certainly affected by my stress levels and not one bit related to my activity levels; even if I exercised more, my sleep did not improve. Whereas, if I took a little more time out and grounded myself and ate a bigger meal, I slept better.
