Good sleep needs a bit of preparation

I just finished listening to one of my favourite podcasts, which featured an episode titled "How To Stop Waking Up Feeling Tired: 7 Tips from a Harvard Researcher." It explained why we often feel tired and shared seven science-backed tips to improve our sleep. You'd think we'd all know the right sleep routine by now, but we often don't follow it. This episode inspired me to create a series of posts about sleep, as it plays a crucial role in our health and well-being.

Our bodies are hard-wired to follow the rhythms of nature, resetting our biological clocks daily to align with the sun. These are our circadian rhythms.

Modern life, however, disrupts this cycle. The invention of the lightbulb extended our activity beyond sunset, and now, artificial light—especially blue light from phones, tablets, and TVs—affects our sleep-wake centers. Long work hours, variable sleep cycles, sensory overload, and high stress further throw us out of balance, disconnecting us from our natural rhythms. Past traumas can also keep us in a constant state of hypervigilance, making sleep even harder.

Stress caused by our fast-paced society is another culprit to sleep pattern disruptions. We live in the age of information, connected to a slew of devices that keep us tethered to an onslaught of updates 24/7. Between text messages, social media, news notifications, video calls, and work emails, we’re inundated with images, ideas, and responsibilities both day and night.

While this ever-connected world has its advantages, what’s often missing is the importance of carving out time at the end of the day to just let it all go. Lying awake in bed ruminating over past, present, or future worries can arouse the body's sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight response). Our inability—or unwillingness—to power down before bedtime can have a major impact on our sleep.

Avoid the always-on mode. This hypervigilant "fight or flight" state prevents the body from receiving rest and the healing properties of sleep. To wind down and ease into sleep, we need the help of the parasympathetic nervous system—the "rest and digest" state. Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system shifts your physiology into a mode of healing.

Stay tuned for more insights and tips on how to get the rest you need!