Take a moment to reflect on your activities this morning. Walk yourself through what you did from the moment you woke up, all the way through to reaching your first destination of the day (work, school, etc).
Now think back to your other mornings this week. Did you follow a similar pattern or routine? Was there anything that was different on one of the days? Did this affect you and, if so, how? Maybe you’re having difficulty recalling some of the smaller details of your mornings earlier this week; what you ate for breakfast or what you wore. But if you follow a similar routine each day, you can be almost certain of the main points; making your bed, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, driving to work.
Routine is such an important part of our lives, but we often don’t take the time to reflect on how it may be effecting us day to day. By creating a routine; whether consciously or subconsciously, we are providing certainty and structure to our daily lives; something that, as humans, we crave.
Routine can be found in almost any aspect of our lives; from the moment we wake up in the morning to when we fall asleep at night.
Consider, though, what may happen if the basic structure of your day were to change. How would this affect your routines? How could this affect you?
As an Occupational Therapist, I work with many clients who have been impacted by injury, time off work, and changes in their ability to function as usual. Although this is often temporary, it can have a domino effect on an individual, nonetheless. In a general sense, many clients experience pain due to their injury which often disrupts sleep. This causes fatigue during the day and can lead to napping or changes in bed times. If the injured person is out of work as well, due to injury, this removes the primary structure of their day. This can cause feelings of social isolation, loss of meaningful occupation, financial strain, and boredom. As people find things to occupy their day and fill some of these voids, they often, subconsciously, adapt their routines to suit their new priorities. This could mean waking up later in the morning and going to bed later at night as they spend their evenings socialising with friends and family who work during the day.
Before long, the injured person’s routine may completely shift. They find themselves sleeping until noon, napping during the day, then staying up late as they are not tired due to a later start and from napping.
This lack of structure can lead to both physical and psychological side effects and can create unnecessary barriers to recovery.
So, what can be done to help?
Good health is centred around a good sleep routine and sleep hygiene. Some things to consider when structuring a healthy sleep routine are:
- Avoid napping. This can prevent you from sleeping well at night. Some tips to try to avoid napping include staying out of your bed or bedroom during the day, remaining active with a list of goals for each day, and eating a well-balanced diet (fatty or sugary foods can cause drowsiness and low energy levels).
- Use your bed for sleep only. This maintains a strict association of your bed with sleep and can subconsciously prompt your body for sleep when you do climb into bed at night.
- Avoid very hot or very cold food or beverages 1 hour before bed. This includes ice water and tea. Eating or drinking things that are too hot or too cold can be alerting to your nervous system; making it more difficult to wind down. When cleaning your teeth at night, try rinsing with lukewarm water.
- Avoid caffeine in the afternoons; this can include sodas, coffee, tea, etc as these can also be alerting to your body; the effects lasting for several hours.
- Avoid blue light from phones, computer screens, or televisions 1 hour before bed. Keeping computers and TV’s out of the bedroom can assist with this. As blue light can be alerting, so can movies, TV shows, online videos, or even music with lyrics. All of these can alert your brain and overstimulate you, making it hard to fall asleep. If you do choose to listen to music, soothing music without lyrics is the way to go.
- Read, colour, or do a relaxing craft.
- Listen to a mindfulness recording or meditate.
- Stretch, practice a calming yoga routine, or complete any gentle physio exercises you may have been prescribed. This, paired with deep breathing (count of 3 in and 5 out), can help to calm your nervous system and aid in sleep.
Any combination of these recommendations will be beneficial in aiding a healthy sleep routine. Most importantly, however, is CONSISTENCY. Consistency in the time you begin your bedtime routine, in the things you do before bed and the order you do them in, and consistency in the time you fall asleep each night and wake up each morning. Maintain this routine for both weekdays and weekends for ultimate benefit.
Although sleep is not the be-all-end-all of health, it certainly has its benefits and is a strong starting point when discussing routine intervention with individuals who are dealing with uncertainty or seeking stability. Sleep is only one aspect of our lives, but a healthy sleep routine will influence better overall health.
It takes approximately 21 days to create a new routine, so I challenge you to adopt a structured sleep routine over the next month. How does it effect your sleep at night? Your energy levels and productivity during the day? Your mood? Your overall health?
By establishing, and maintaining, a sleep routine you will provide needed structure to your day, feel better throughout the day, and support your body’s healing process and overall health.