My goals right now are to have better energy, maintain body composition, and improve productivity. Prioritizing quality sleep is an integral peace of the puzzle to improve these areas. Recently however, I have been really fatigued and waking up at 1am, unable to get back to sleep. In an attempt to remedy this sleep disturbance, I have tried tweaking my diet, making sure I wasn’t drinking too many fluids close to bed time, and meditation with no resolution of the insomnia. When I run into a problem like this, I take to researching experts in the respective field.
I came across a great article from Nick Wignall, and brought to my attention that I may be going to bed too early! According to Nick, “Tired is a broad umbrella term for fatigue or exhaustion. Sleepy is the very specific term for when your body is ready to fall asleep. When people cross the finish line of a marathon they’re often quite tired, but I’ve never heard of anyone falling asleep at the finish line. Similarly, after a long day at work with multiple physical, mental, and emotional stressors, you may feel extremely tired, but that fact is often independent of sleepiness. The foolproof way to know when you’re truly sleepy and not just tired is droopy eyelids. During the evenings, try to notice the difference between tiredness and sleepiness, so that you can more effectively refrain from getting into bed too early.”
When I read Nick’s article, it hit me that a few weeks ago I had pushed my bedtime to an hour earlier because our newborn Elliot had been waking up at 5:30am (as opposed to his normal time of 7am). So in trying to regain some hours of sleep, I moved my bedtime earlier. There was an issue with this as Nick explains, “We make the old mistake of believing that quantity rather than quality of sleep is what’s most important. Remember: 6 hours of quality sleep beats 8 hours of crummy sleep every time. If you’re worried about performing well tomorrow, remind yourself that the quality of your sleep is the most important thing to prioritize. If anything, you should try to go to bed slightly later than usual before a big day since this will allow your sleep drive to build up even further, increasing the odds of falling asleep quickly and staying asleep.”
Having a set bedtime is a good thing, however you need to be sleepy at bedtime, not just tired. Nick writes, “Tired is a broad umbrella term for fatigue or exhaustion. Sleepy is the very specific term for when your body is ready to fall asleep. When people cross the finish line of a marathon they’re often quite tired, but I’ve never heard of anyone falling asleep at the finish line. Similarly, after a long day at work with multiple physical, mental, and emotional stressors, you may feel extremely tired, but that fact is often independent of sleepiness. The foolproof way to know when you’re truly sleepy and not just tired is droopy eyelids. During the evenings, try to notice the difference between tiredness and sleepiness, so that you can more effectively refrain from getting into bed too early.
TAKEAWAY: Only get into bet when you are truly sleepy, not just tired.”
With these concepts in mind, I started waiting until I felt sleepy before getting into bed at night (that being said, you have to give yourself an opportunity to get sleepy by winding down, which I’ll discuss in depth in a future article). Not only was I able to fall asleep faster, I had better quality sleep despite not being in bed as long. I will see where the next few weeks take me (and their are some other hurdles around sleep that I have to address) but the results look promising. I’ll keep you posted!
Self assessing is challenging as you can’t read the label from inside the bottle. It takes experience and knowhow to create change. If there are areas of your own health and wellness that need work, I’m here to help! Book a free assessment today and let’s get you going toward the best version of you!