{"id":315,"date":"2019-08-07T08:49:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T08:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/?p=315"},"modified":"2019-09-18T01:16:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T01:16:44","slug":"the-power-of-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/07\/the-power-of-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Take a moment to reflect on your activities this morning.\nWalk yourself through what you did from the moment you woke up, all the way\nthrough to reaching your first destination of the day (work, school, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now think back to your other mornings this week. Did you\nfollow a similar pattern or routine? Was there anything that was different on\none of the days? Did this affect you and, if so, how? Maybe you\u2019re having\ndifficulty recalling some of the smaller details of your mornings earlier this\nweek; what you ate for breakfast or what you wore. But if you follow a similar\nroutine each day, you can be almost certain of the main points; making your\nbed, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, driving to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Routine is such an important part of our lives, but we\noften don\u2019t take the time to reflect on how it may be effecting us day to day.\nBy creating a routine; whether consciously or subconsciously, we are providing\ncertainty and structure to our daily lives; something that, as humans, we\ncrave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Routine can be found in almost any aspect of our lives;\nfrom the moment we wake up in the morning to when we fall asleep at night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider, though, what may happen if the basic structure of\nyour day were to change. How would this affect your routines? How could this\naffect you? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an Occupational Therapist, I work with many clients who\nhave been impacted by injury, time off work, and changes in their ability to\nfunction as usual. Although this is often temporary, it can have a domino\neffect on an individual, nonetheless. In a general sense, many clients\nexperience pain due to their injury which often disrupts sleep. This causes\nfatigue during the day and can lead to napping or changes in bed times. If the\ninjured person is out of work as well, due to injury, this removes the primary\nstructure of their day. This can cause feelings of social isolation, loss of\nmeaningful occupation, financial strain, and boredom. As people find things to\noccupy their day and fill some of these voids, they often, subconsciously,\nadapt their routines to suit their new priorities. This could mean waking up\nlater in the morning and going to bed later at night as they spend their\nevenings socialising with friends and family who work during the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before long, the injured person\u2019s routine may completely\nshift. They find themselves sleeping until noon, napping during the day, then\nstaying up late as they are not tired due to a later start and from napping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This lack of structure can lead to both physical and\npsychological side effects and can create unnecessary barriers to recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what can be done to help?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good health is centred around a good sleep routine and\nsleep hygiene. Some things to consider when structuring a healthy sleep routine\nare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Avoid napping.<\/strong> This\ncan prevent you from sleeping well at night. Some tips to try to avoid napping\ninclude staying out of your bed or bedroom during the day, remaining active\nwith a list of goals for each day, and eating a well-balanced diet (fatty or\nsugary foods can cause drowsiness and low energy levels).<\/li><li><strong>Use your bed for sleep only.<\/strong> This\nmaintains a strict association of your bed with sleep and can subconsciously\nprompt your body for sleep when you do climb into bed at night.<\/li><li><strong>Avoid very hot or very cold food or\nbeverages 1 hour before bed.<\/strong> This includes ice water and\ntea. Eating or drinking things that are too hot or too cold can be alerting to\nyour nervous system; making it more difficult to wind down. When cleaning your\nteeth at night, try rinsing with lukewarm water.<\/li><li><strong>Avoid caffeine in the afternoons<\/strong>; this\ncan include sodas, coffee, tea, etc as these can also be alerting to your body;\nthe effects lasting for several hours.<\/li><li><strong>Avoid blue light<\/strong> from\nphones, computer screens, or televisions 1 hour before bed. Keeping computers\nand TV\u2019s out of the bedroom can assist with this. As blue light can be\nalerting, so can movies, TV shows, online videos, or even music with lyrics.\nAll of these can alert your brain and overstimulate you, making it hard to fall\nasleep. If you do choose to listen to music, soothing music without lyrics is\nthe way to go.<\/li><li><strong>Read, colour, or do a relaxing craft.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Listen to a mindfulness recording or\nmeditate.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Stretch, practice a calming yoga routine,\nor complete any gentle physio exercises you may have been prescribed.<\/strong> This,\npaired with deep breathing (count of 3 in and 5 out), can help to calm your\nnervous system and aid in sleep.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Any combination of these recommendations will be beneficial\nin aiding a healthy sleep routine. Most importantly, however, is CONSISTENCY.\nConsistency in the time you begin your bedtime routine, in the things you do\nbefore bed and the order you do them in, and consistency in the time you fall\nasleep each night and wake up each morning. Maintain this routine for both weekdays\nand weekends for ultimate benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although sleep is not the be-all-end-all of health, it\ncertainly has its benefits and is a strong starting point when discussing\nroutine intervention with individuals who are dealing with uncertainty or\nseeking stability. Sleep is only one aspect of our lives, but a healthy sleep\nroutine will influence better overall health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It takes approximately 21 days to create a new routine, so\nI challenge you to adopt a structured sleep routine over the next month. How\ndoes it effect your sleep at night? Your energy levels and productivity during\nthe day? Your mood? Your overall health?&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By establishing, and maintaining, a sleep routine you will\nprovide needed structure to your day, feel better throughout the day, and\nsupport your body\u2019s healing process and overall health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentrehab.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}