I've been thinking about sleep, talking about sleep, working on my sleep....all the SLEEP focus..for a while now, and here's what I see most regularly amongst my clients, community, friends and family.
Four types of sleepers.
Group 1. Zero sleep issues. Healthy evening habits (not too much screen time, wind down before bed, go to bed early/ish). Head hits the pillow and out like a light.
Total sleep: enough
Group 2. Some evening habits that could be refined...maybe a bit too much late night scrolling, eating after 9pm, watching 'just one more' episode of that latest Netflix thriller...but when Group 2s get into bed, zzzzzzz. They sleep.
Total sleep: often a bit less than ideal, sometimes just enough.
Group 3: Doing all the right things in the evening, minimal screens, low cortisone activities to help wind down, no caffeine after midday. This group, however, struggles to actually fall asleep. In bed between 9.30-10.30pm, but not falling asleep until much later.
Total sleep: a bit less than ideal
Group 4: A combo of group 2 and 3. Definitely room for improvement on the evening habits, but this group has trouble dropping off too. No doubt, the evening habits (we've all heard about blue light issues!) contribute to this, but there's an even bigger mental block in going to bed at play for this group. Going to bed feels stressful if you have a history of poor sleep. Will this be one of those nights where I'm up till dawn?
Total sleep: Consistently less than ideal, built up to be in an almost constant sleep deficit.
BONUS SLEEP STRUGGLE: Wakeful in the night and trouble falling back to sleep. (Groups 2, 3, 4)
So, which camp are you in? Did you get the bonus?
I fall into Group 4.
Oh, one more factor. It may be that you are in a season of life where you are interrupted in the night.
Babies, young children, a new puppy!
But I would argue that if you were in Group 1- one of those rare unicorns- you would just go to bed much earlier to account for that.
I have plenty of friends who used to go to bed when their baby did around 7 or 8pm. Me? I never managed it.
"How dull! I couldn't bare it!" I'd think, as I stared bleary eyed into my second coffee of the day.
I wish I was one of those sensible folk.
Today, for instance, I'm tired.
My son woke me up very tearful in the night, and last night I had a group 3 situation- I did all the right things and I couldn't drop off.
But, in fact, if I'm really honest with myself-and you- I'll acknowledge that it wasn't a group 3 kind of night.
That I had a can of diet coke at 5pm and was still watching RuPaul's Drag Race in bed at 10.30. Or maybe 10.45.
Damn it.
But listen, I could get the kids down and head straight into bed at 8.30 tonight.
My husband is away, so there's no excuse of needing to spend time with him.
But the thing is....I'm almost certain I won't do that. I simply don't want to.
I'm aiming for 9.30 in bed and that feels like the best of both worlds for me.
| 