Your sleeping habits have a significant effect on your well-being and as such you should always try as much as possible to adjust your sleep schedule to conform with your daily activities. The most difficult of the seasons to adjust is usually when summer is winding down and you are preparing for a busy and different Autumn schedule. During this period, the activity-packed evenings, school-packed days, and early morning alarms becomes a part of your daily routine and this may interfere with getting the best sleep and rest that you deserve.
It is always difficult for your body to immediately adjust to this changes in routine that affect the time you sleep and the time you wake up. Hence, you need to gradually reestablish a healthy and regular sleep routine that will suit your system such that you can get enough sleep.
Normally, the right thing to do is to maintain a consistent or regular sleep routine all year, but this can be difficult to achieve with the many activities such as traveling, camping, and other summertime activities that may alter our daily routine. However, no matter the changes in your sleep schedule, it is important to ensure that you get back your sleep regime to normal before the school year. Getting back your consistent sleep routine will go a long way in helping both kids and adults be more receptive to learning and perform at their best. Memory consolidation and muscle repair are two major significant processes that occur when we get good sleep.
Ways to fix your Sleep Schedule
If you wish to fix your sleep schedule so that you can get the most of your daily activities and stay productive, here are some of the tips that can be helpful;
- Maintain a Consistent Wake Up Time: Waking up from sleep at a specific time over a period of time can go a long way in making you healthy and also active. It creates a domino effect that will enable you to have a perfect bedtime. If you know you will have to wake up earlier once school starts, get acclimatised to this change by getting up quite ahead of time and also get everyone else to wake up during this same time. Doing this will make it easier for you to cope once school resumes and your body system wouldn’t be experiencing any drastic or sudden change.
- Maintain Same Wake up Time Even on Weekends: Maintain same wake up time over the weekends. Do not deprive yourself of sleep during work days and try catching up over the weekends, it hardly works as your mood, concentration, and effectiveness during weekdays will still be compromised. This is one important tip that can help you throughout the school year.
- Keep to a Specific Pre-Bedtime Routine: The ease with which individuals sleep off varies. There are some people who fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow, while there are other people who fall asleep a little gradually rather than as soon as they hit the bed. Give yourself time to fall or switch into sleep mode. Put in place a wind-down routine by creating a buffer zone about 35 to 45 minutes before bedtime to give your body and mind an opportunity to seamlessly transit into sleep. Avoid going to bed if you don’t feel sleepy, you can pick up a book to read and once you feel sleepy, you can easily fall asleep.
- Avoid wandering in Bed: It’s time to sleep and not time to start ruminating about how the day went and what went well and what did not go well. If you keep thinking and trying to sleep at the same time, your mind stays awake and you might find it difficult to fall asleep. Even when you fall asleep in this state, there is a possibility that your brain stays awake while you are asleep. Avoid eating, reading, or talking when it is bedtime. This will go a long way in helping you get a sound sleep.
The importance of getting a sound sleep cannot be overemphasised, good sleep helps to keep you sound and reinvigorated to achieve more the next day. Hence always ensure that whatever you do, you are still able to maintain a consistent and healthy sleep regime.
