Secrets of sleeping more at night

If there’s one issue I work on with virtually every coaching client, it’s sleep (food is a close second). Sleep has gotten a lot more complicated than it used to be. Back in the early 1900’s, before everyone had electricity to keep them up at night (not to mention smartphones), people apparently got an average of 9 hours sleep a night. Can you imagine?
Anything less than 7 hours a night is considered sleep deprivation. Almost half of us get less than 6. In my dual roles as both a physician and coach, I get a unique glimpse into what’s happening in people’s lives. I know why, as a culture, we’re not sleeping.

Here are some quick, simple things you can do to sleep more, and sleep better:

1) Don’t use your phone in bed.
Activities like reading emails or texting require a level of thought and attention that wake up your brain. You should be winding down and turning your brain off. Not to mention your phone.

2) If you must have your phone in your bedroom (as a clock and alarm), put it in airplane mode AND do not disturb
I had a friend who complained of terrible sleep. When I probed, it turned out that her phone was pinging with notifications all night, continually disturbing her. People also knew they could call her in the middle of the night and she’d answer. No more. If you’re worried about missing an emergency call from a family member, you can program the Do Not Disturb function to allow calls from certain people.

3) If you must use your phone in the evening, turn the screen brightness way down
As soon as the sun goes down, so should the brightness on your phone. The iPhone has a “night shift” setting you can use, that decreases blue light after sunset. At night I always manually dim my screen. I use my phone as a clock overnight, and have the screen as low as it can go. That way, if I have to check the time, my brain doesn’t get woken by a blinding flash of screen light.

4) Black out your bedroom
Even small amounts of light at night (such as a night light) can inhibit melatonin release. Melatonin, in addition to promoting sleep and healing, is key to the production of other important hormones such as growth hormone. We recently bought a stylish, inexpensive set of blackout curtains that render our bedroom pitch black, even more so than our previous set of blackouts. I can’t believe how much better I sleep, I fall asleep faster and am able to sleep longer.

5) Read instead of watching Netflix
 I know its So much easier said than done. Screens of all kinds (phone, TV, computer, tablet) negatively impact sleep. If you’ve been struggling with sleep and tend to be on screens in the evening, do an experiment. At least one night a week, keep the screens off and read a book instead. You’ll be amazed at how much more you’re aware of drowsiness and the urge to head to bed. You’ll also probably fall asleep faster, and sleep more soundly.

6) Put off any stressful discussions until daytime
Relationship experts often advise couples to avoid having difficult or complicated conversations after 10 pm. Not only are you more likely to get upset or be unreasonable (due to fatigue), but it also will make it far harder to go to sleep. Which leads to the next point:

7) Avoid being triggered by anything stressful after 8 pm
Avoid checking your email at night, particularly if there might be a non-urgent email from work (or a relative, or whatever) that could upset you or cause stress. Don’t watch or read the news. Don’t scroll through your Facebook feed, if some of the posts bother you. Don’t call that family member who always leaves you wanting to tear your hair out or throw things. Consider this your wind-down time, and protect it vigilantly. The better rested you are, the better off (literally) the world will be.