Low sounds like the near-impossible dream, to be able to 1. Achieve, & 2 more importantly, and perhaps even more impossible, to be able to turn it all into a lifelong habit! With that said, though, and according to the distinct increased numbers of doctors and the various well-being experts, the message they are all very clearly saying is that going to bed to 10 p.m. could transform your energy levels, metabolism, and mood.
Of course, if you are looking at your schedule and thinking this does not conform to the usual early morning rise, this theory will vary greatly. If, however, you find yourself to be like many of us, who are working in an office or a job that requires early morning starts, with the usual eight hours at work. Then I have to say that you may actually very surprised and pleasantly pleased with the results you find by going to bed at 10 p.m. This might be the best new habit you could adopt in 2019.
So why is that?
For starters, when I look at the holistic approach of sleep, what I have discovered is by ensuring that you are going to sleep at approximately 10 p.m. “will prevent your body from getting ‘overtired.’ By avoiding this overtiredness, you prevent the situation where your body then releases cortisol. The stress hormone. It is when this happens, we get our “second wind.” What then happens is when you go to bed. You try to fall asleep. You are tossing and turning. To find your mind starts racing due to it trying to fight & overcome the cortisol levels in your body.
All this leads to is a horrendous situation. That is no fun at all. The best cure for something is prevention. So, by merely preventing this from happening by ensuring yourself is in bed at the best spot of tiredness, …and you guessed it. It is right around 10 p.m.
Bedtime schedules and routines
While what bedtime best compliments your schedule and lifestyle best, is indeed arguable and highly personalized. The improvements of a regular early bedtime have on our bodies stretch far beyond merely a ‘good night sleep.’ I know & believe that a consistent 10 p.m. Sleep routine will have profound positive effects on several areas of your life & mind & well-being. To just name a few, it impacts your stress levels, hormone balance, and your weight. More exciting and fascinating are the areas of your health. You have never thought or believed to connect to your sleep cycle.
The most exciting part of this is that should your lifestyle consists of a relatively consistent early morning rising, say a 7 a.m. Due to you, you required to be in an office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m) when what happens is your circadian rhythms naturally become adjusted to the light sequence of your day-to-day life.
This simple act of you getting exposed to bright light in the morning. Which wakens up your system — metabolism, energy, and even stress — to act of being able to wind down from all the day’s activities as the sky darkens in the evening. Ensure the lighting indoors becomes dimmer. What we then find is that within this type of routine is by around 10 – 10.30 p.m., your body naturally begins to prepare itself for sleep by sending you tiredness signals.
What happens is simple; let me explain more.
What then happens is simply we as a society has learned to ignore all these magical signals that our body is giving us. With the now constant ability to engage ourselves with screens watching programs. Where others are “living the dream” or a thriller which “plays with your mind.”
It has meant we then have a significant tendency to ignore all these tiredness signals. Which means you remain awake for several hours past this peak sleep time. The perfect window of opportunity of sleep.
Therefore causes our body to begin producing cortisol. The stress hormone, keeping us up and thus disrupting our sleep. Do you find yourself familiar with the sensation of tossing and turning while you are in your bed? It means that disrupted sleep occurs. So, while you try to battle with the rise of cortisol hormone levels in your body, you frantically try to lull yourself into the state of sleep.
The knock-on effect of this exhaustion you have & will undoubtedly suffer from. Following even just that one night of troubled, distributed, or merely short-lived sleep. Can & does make us feel hyper-emotional the following day. With the effects of this reneging from us, then craving carbs and high-fat foods. Which we all know is not the best for us.
Finding that on general daily tasks, you find yourself having a slightly askew approach to challenges and responsibilities that we usually would handle with calmness.
I know and certainly agree it can and will not be one of the natural habits you wish to implement in your life, however, as it’s a new year, I would ask you why not at least give it a try and see the results for yourself? As far as I see it and, in my mind, with genuinely have nothing to lose and everything to gain. A new lifestyle of well-being, balance, and reconnection with the natural cycles of your sleep and energy cycles.
Next step to better sleep being
If you wish more help with this on a holistic, gentle approach with the support we all need at times to help keep us on track and accountable for our actions, then I would love to work with you on this. Make this the year that sleep will become the new fashion & not before time.
If you are finding yourself longing for rest & wonder if you genuinely could do this, make the changes? I suggest you book a call with myself where I can discuss the CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) techniques I use to ensure success and help you rewrite your sleep stories guaranteeing success.