Sleep Performance - Pre-Sleep Routine

The following are some changes that I have made, over a period of months, to find the most effective sleep routine, combined with some suggestions I have heard throughout conversations with people over the last year. What I have found, is that I still don’t have the perfect routine; however, more than 90% of my nights are met with a great sleep performance, and therefore an ability to be highly engaged in my life and all it brings. I am a work in progress, and will continue to experiment with different methods, especially as different life events occur and the plane of life shifts to different responsibilities.

In sport we have pre-performance routines, where the mind can subconsciously process and prepare for competition, rather than consciously thinking about what is coming next. The body and the mind love routines, begin thinking of your sleep routine today.

• Set a sleep schedule – go to bed within a 30-minute window whenever you can. Life happens and opportunities arise, but when possible, settle yourself in that window and you will be able to fall asleep a lot more easily
• Pre-sleep routine – whatever this means for you, some drink hot tea, some stretch, some meditate, find the most effective way for you. Mine consists of the following:Thinking of my tasks for the next day and putting them on the to-do list I keep on my laptop case

-Packing my bag/workout clothes ready for the next day

-"Bathroom stuff"

-Reading in bed for a bit (usually not as long as I may like to be engaged in the book – but because I am falling asleep already!)

…Then its lights off, arrange the pillows how I sleep and I am out – this works for me, find what works the best for you.

• Warmth – Coming out of a hot shower, or drinking some hot tea (minimal caffeine!), and then entering your cool bedroom, will cause a small drop in your body temperature. This promotes a tranquil feeling over your body, helping to prepare your body and mind to slow down into sleep mode.
• Journal – I found this to be very powerful. Taking 5 minutes to write down some things you are grateful for in your day, in your life, opportunities you may have coming up, or things that made you smile/laugh that day, can have a profound effect on your mental happiness and calm you before bed.
• Exercise – You know those things that are released during exercise that relieves stress and makes you feel good, endorphins, well, exercising will improve your sleep performance on many levels. Clearly there is the physical exertion, but the emotional, mental and spiritual renewal from exercise leads to a clearer mind when bed time comes around.
• Room Environment – A cool temperature, with either no sound or a constant noise, and minimal light, lead to the best environment for sleep performance. The body enjoys being warm going into a cool bed to fall asleep.Some people prefer no sound, absolute silence (that’s me!), and others prefer noise, whether that is white noise, ocean waves, try different sounds and see what works for you. The idea of falling asleep with the TV on is more common than it should be, it may help you fall asleep, but it’s inconsistency of the noise and the flashing light that will disrupt your sleep quality and not allow your body to phase through the cycles into REM sleep.
• External light will affect your sleep performance, and thus it is an advantage to set your room up as dark as possible, perhaps just with a night light.
• Limit caffeine intake – Caffeine is a stimulant; it attaches onto adenosine receptors and stimulates an alert response. Throughout the day limit your caffeine, but especially after 2pm, as this could still influence your ability to fall asleep, and ability to fall into REM sleep.
• Limit alcohol sleep – Alcohol also restricts your ability for your body to regenerate in REM sleep. That one glass of wine that helps you fall asleep, that same glass of wine is limiting your sleep performance. I was regularly having a glass of wine before bed towards the end of 2016, and not forging the connection between it and tossing and turning some nights. Opportunities arise to socialise with friends, but where possible, it may be in your best interests not to have the glass of wine to send you to sleep, but to find other techniques that will work even better.
• Limit device use close to bed time -– That pesky blue light that is widely talked about, tricks the brain into believing it is still daytime, and therefore restricts the release of melatonin (the sleep hormone is the most basic sense). Put down the device, turn off the TV, the earlier the better.

What pre-sleep techniques will you try this week? Commit to one or two this week, and see how they go. Record your techniques and findings in the Commit2Better Sleep Diary, and see the improvements related to the techniques.

This is Part 5 in our SLEEP PERFORMANCE routine. Read the previous parts, and others at www.commit2better.com. Next week we will discuss some waking routine techniques.