How to Stick to a Sleeping Schedule

Sticking to a sleep schedule is easy once you make your body accustomed to it. When you stick to a regular sleep schedule, your “circadian rhythm,” or internal biological clock, works at its best.

Your internal clock needs to function correctly for the rest of your body to function correctly. Irregular sleep patterns disrupt your internal clock and are accompanied by high cholesterol levels and greater insulin resistance.

Regular sleep patterns allow your internal clock to function properly and give you a better night’s rest. A proper night of sleep also restores the body, helps the growth of muscle tissue, and reinforces connections in your brain.

It’ll help your body heal itself and give you more focus during the day. A good night of sleep is pertinent to be prosperous and healthy. Create your sleep schedule and stick to it—even on weekends. Your body will thank you for it!

Guide to Keeping a Sleep Schedule

Calculate your sleep times

The first step to sticking to a sleeping schedule is to decide exactly what schedule you need. To do so, determine what time you need to wake up in the morning.

sleep-hours

Then subtract 8 hours to calculate what time you’ll need to be asleep to ensure a full 8-hour night. Try to lay down at least 15 minutes before the time you’ll need to be asleep unless you know it takes you less time.

Ease into it

If you’ve been waking up later in the morning and need to start waking up sooner, ease your body into the new wake up time. If your new wake up time is more than 2 hours earlier than your old wake up time, you’ll need to give yourself a week to get used to the earlier time.

Start setting your alarm for only 1-2 hours earlier at a time until you reach your desired wake time.

Separate the day and night

During the day, train your body to stay awake by staying in as much bright natural light as possible. As soon as you wake up, open the windows and turn on the lights in your home.

Try to get outside or near windows as much as you can throughout the day. At night, keep the lights low. Your body will naturally want to be awake during the day and asleep during the night.

Avoid technology at night

The blue light from electronic screens has been found to keep people up at night. At least an hour before bed, avoid the TV, computer, tablet, and cellphone. Instead, do some light housework, read a book, or meditate.

Try not to do any strenuous activities that get your heart rate up because this could keep you up at night, too. Find something that relaxes you that does not involve screens.

Keep a routine

Keeping a daily schedule will help you stick to your nighttime and wakeup schedule. Our bodies like to stick to routines and habits, so they will be more likely to stick to a sleep schedule when the rest of our day is on a routine as well. It is especially important to have a nighttime routine.

Change into pyjamas, wash your face, brush your teeth, and get into bed. Whatever you do at night to prepare for bed, try to do it the same way and at the same time each night. Make it a habit and stick to it.

snooze-button

Stop hitting the snooze button

It’s so tempting to hit the snooze button, especially when you’re just starting to get used to your new sleep schedule. Some people purposefully set extra alarms to hit snooze before their actual wakeup time in hopes that it will help them wake up better.

This interrupts the rhythm of your sleep and doesn’t give you any benefits. It does more harm than good. Set one alarm and force yourself out of bed. It may help to set your alarm clock a distance from your bed so that you need to get out of bed to turn it off.

Using only one alarm in the morning may be difficult at first, but stick to it. Eventually, your body will get used to waking up at that time and start to wake up on its own.

Many people who stick to a sleep schedule for an extended period do not even need an alarm clock to wake up. Their bodies release cortisol and adrenaline naturally an hour before they wake up, which prepares the body for the morning and their regular wake-up time.

Prep your head

Each night, picture your morning. Imagine yourself waking up on time, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, and getting ready for your day.

Tell yourself that you will wake up on time and you will have energy in the morning. Doing so has been shown to prepare your mind for the wakeup, giving you more motivation to wake up on time.

Eat carefully

Don’t go to bed starving, but don’t go to bed after a large meal. Many people like to go to bed on an empty stomach, but this may be keeping you up at night.

It’s a myth that eating at night causes weight gain, but your metabolic rate does slow a bit while you sleep. This is why large meals should still be avoided before bed.

They should also be avoided because large meals make your body work harder to digest, which could keep you up later. But if you’re hungry at night, don’t starve yourself.

That will keep you awake as well. Have a small, sugarless snack. Some excellent night time snacks are a banana, peanut butter, or a hard-boiled egg. Avoid anything that is deep-fried, spicy, caffeinated, or filled with sugar.

Set an alarm during naps

If you’re tired during the day and need that mid-afternoon nap, set the alarm to make sure it doesn’t go too long. Long afternoon naps make it difficult for you to fall asleep at night.

Try to time your naps for no longer than 20 minutes. These short naps give your body just enough of the restoration that it needs, but don’t allow you to get through all the sleep cycles.

When you don’t allow yourself to go into a deep sleep, you won’t wake up in a haze, and you’ll fall asleep better at bedtime. If you let yourself to go into REM sleep during a nap, you’ll wake up in the middle of your REM cycle, which makes you feel even more tired.

Save the deep sleep for bedtime, when you can have the right amount of quality REM-cycle sleep.

You should also try to ensure that your nap is at least 4 hours before bedtime. Naps too close to bedtime may keep you awake at night.

Limit caffeine

Stop drinking caffeine at least 6 hours before bedtime. Soda, coffee, and caffeinated tea will keep you awake at night, making you miss your desired sleep time and wake up tired the next day.

It’s best if you can quit caffeine altogether, but if not, calculate the latest you can drink caffeine and don’t touch it after that time. Instead of caffeinated beverages, drink water to stay hydrated. Dehydration can make you tired during the day, so it’s important to drink plenty of water.

Limit sleep aids

Sleep aids are great at helping you fall asleep and stay asleep, but they don’t allow your brain to learn how to sleep on its own. You’ll rest unnaturally and often wake up tired.

They’re okay to take every once in a great while, but try to limit them. Long-term use of sleep aids often makes you rely on them to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Request regular shifts

If possible, request regular shifts at work. It’s not healthy for your body to switch back and forth between daytime and nighttime shifts. Doing so makes it extremely difficult to stick to a sleeping schedule.

Set a bedtime alarm

Finally, one of the most essential parts of a sleep schedule is ensuring that you’re getting to bed on time and falling asleep early enough to obtain 7-8 hours of sleep.

Setting the alarm each night to remind yourself when to start getting ready for bed is a great way to stay on schedule. Set your alarm to give yourself plenty of time to get ready for bed and fall asleep. This will vary depending on your nighttime routine.

Conclusion

Having a strong sleep schedule improves your sleep quality and efficiency, which enhances your functions during the day. A well-rested mind and body have more energy, focus, and strength.

Furthermore, certain illnesses and disorders can be combatted and prevented with better sleep. Creating and sticking to a sleeping schedule may be difficult at first, but the body quickly adapts.

Once you make it a habit, sticking to a sleep schedule becomes easy, and your body will reap the benefits.

Leave a Comment