Sufficient sleep is critical to our physical and mental health. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a sleep deficit can lead to trouble with learning, decision making, problem-solving and controlling emotions. Lack of sleep also increases your risk of heart disease and obesity, and may weaken your immune system. To protect your health, you must commit to following a healthy sleep schedule. Here are four common, problematic sleep situations and their solutions:
1. If procrastination is causing frequent all-nighters, set an end time to your work day.
Managing your time with a little pressure is a great way to fight procrastination. Create a reasonable to-do list every day, and set a time that you must be finished by (I use 10 p.m.). If you need, ask a friend to hold you accountable! You’ll get more quality sleep by having time to wind down at the end of the night — your body will thank you for it.
2. If your sleep suffers due to having too much work, prioritize, delegate, and start saying “no”.
Do you have the willpower to avoid procrastination but still find yourself awake later than you’d like with mountains of work? Create a box, like the graphic above, and fill in the quadrants by thinking critically about whether or not the tasks are important and/or urgent. Reference the graph again to see how you should handle each group of tasks, then complete, schedule, delegate or eliminate each accordingly. If you still find yourself with too much to do, it’s time to take a close look at what you marked as important and really consider if all of it should be held above your health.
3. If you get to bed too late due to losing track of time, set a bedtime alarm.
Remind yourself to begin your bedtime routine at a time that works well for you and allows for the amount of sleep you need. When the alarm goes off, wrap up what you’re doing, get ready for bed and get under that blanket!
4. If anxious thoughts keep you up at night, start a journal.
Lying awake at night with worries running through your head? Try putting pen to paper and write those anxieties down. Once you write down those issues, take a deep breath, get some valuable shuteye and trust that you’ll address them in the morning. Everything will probably look much less daunting after a full night of sleep! Of course, some anxiety takes much more than this to solve, and I never want to diminish anyone’s mental health concerns. Never be embarrassed to seek professional help, especially if your anxiety is impacting your health by limiting your sleep.
By putting an end to procrastination, reevaluating your priorities, committing to a bedtime and working through your insomnia-causing worries, you can find your way to a healthy sleep schedule. Get started today and reap the benefits of being well-rested!