How To Deal With The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation & END IT
The effects of sleep deprivation can be disastrous in terms of your productivity levels so having a good amount of sleep each night is essential to making the most of each day.
The effects of sleep deprivation can cause a variety of symptoms, all of which prevent you from enjoying your day and ticking things of your list.
If you have trouble getting to sleep every night, these tips below will help you figure out a great routine to have a better quality of sleep and maximise your productivity levels as a result of it.
Or, if you generally want to know how to have better sleep each night, these tips will equally be of value to you.
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What are the symptoms of lack of sleep?
Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms?
- Easily irritated
- Feeling extremely tired all the time
- Finding it hard to concentrate
- Poor immune system
- Hallucinations
- Getting hungry more quickly (especially for unhealthy foods)
- Acne
- Micro-sleep
- Weight gain
- Mood swings
- Find it difficult to make decisions
- Poor reaction times
- Stress
- Drowsiness
All these things you are experiencing could be effects of sleep deprivation. Of course, there are many things that can cause these symptoms, but if you know you are not sleeping well, your symptoms could be linked to sleep deprivation.
How to sleep faster and better (& end the effects of sleep deprivation)
Just like personal hygiene – a set of things you do to keep your body clean (like showering every day or using deodorant) – sleep hygiene is a set of tasks you do to prepare your mind and body for sleep.
This could include having a good exercise routine, having sleep supplements or avoiding stimulants/ caffeine before bed.
Check out the tips below for my ideas on how to combat the effects of sleep deprivation, have better sleep hygiene and sleep better at night naturally.
No screens before bed
Things like phones, iPads and laptops emit blue light which reduce/ delay the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) in the evening. This makes you feel less sleepy and more awake.
As well as this, scrolling on your phone makes you more alert as you become engaged in what you are looking at. This further reduces the feeling of sleepiness.
If you get easily curious by your notifications, turn them off in the evening or mute your chats for a few hours.
Use the time before bed to focus on you, not what is happening in other’s lives.
Move the screens away at a minimum of 30 minutes before bed and replace screens with reading a book before bed, or journal about things you learned during the day.
Engage in mental health activities to de-compress and de-stress
Whether this is through prayer, thinking about all you are grateful for, doing some breathing techniques, having a hot bath, doing stretches or journaling, use the end of the day to wind down and decompress.
Here’s a list of brain dump journaling prompts to do before bed that will help you stay mindful and calm.
Create a night routine/ ritual
I go through this more in this post where I talk about the four stages of habit formation.
A cue is basically the trigger that prompts you to start the habit.
This could be something like feeling hungry late at night and seeing an open packet of biscuits on the the table. This could trigger you to begin the habit of late-night snacking.
Similarly, the feeling of boredom could trigger you to watch T.V. Every time, you feel bored, you end up watching T.V. for hours and hours.
Unlike these examples, create a positive routine and cue to help you feel sleepy before bed.
This means not doing all the things you should be doing (like scrolling on your phone or drinking coffee) and doing the things you should be doing (like using low lighting, doing your de-stress techniques etc.) when you feel sleepiness. These actions are cues for you to build the positive habit of sleeping at a suitable time so you get enough sleep.
Basically, as soon as you feel a little tired, don’t do anything that will stop you from feeling tired. Use that cue to do positive actions before you go to bed.
Along with this, you can habit stack your different habits to create a routine that prepares you for sleep.
For example, you could habit stack your evening skin care with journaling straight after. As you stack these habits together and do them repeatedly, your brain starts to get used to you doing these habits and over time, you will naturally yearn to do these things.
Have a sleep tracker
Try doing something different each couple of days to help you get to sleep, and track how much sleep you have each night.
Over time, you can identify the actions you took that helped you have a better night of sleep and the ones that didn’t.
Optimize your bedroom environment
Use lower levels of light at night through lamps rather than keeping your normal bright lights on. Having less light triggers your body to create more melatonin which makes you feel sleepier. You could buy blackout curtains to keep your room dark when you go to sleep, and an eye mask as well.
As well as this, keep your windows open until just before bed to create a cool environment for sleep. The cooler temperature helps your body lower its internal temperature which makes it easier to sleep. This also helps melatonin production and allows an overall better quality of sleep.
Gentle sounds such as rain or white noise can also help you get in a sleepy mood.
You could even use essential oils in your room to induce sleepiness such as lavender oil or chamomile essential oils. Either use a diffuser or pour a few drops on the underside of your pillow (be careful though as essential oils are very strong).
Additionally, you could have them in the form of tea.
Other things include having a good pillow that you feel comfortable sleeping on (not too hard, soft, low or high) and making sure your bed makes you feel warm (you could have a second duvet or even sleep with your jumper on!).
Related:
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Have a sleep schedule
Go to bed at the same time each day and wake up at the same time. Make sure you get enough sleep and don’t get into the habit of oversleeping as this can also make you feel lazy and sluggish during the day.
Going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday is a part of habit formation. At first, it might be difficult to go to sleep/ wake up at those times but the more you do it, the more it will be reinforced as a habit in your brain. Over time, you may even naturally start feeling tired at that time, and even wake up before your alarm goes off.
If you find it difficult to go to sleep and you are tossing and turning/ getting frustrated that it’s taking you so long to sleep, you could try getting up and do some sort of relaxing activity until you feel tired again. Assess if this works for you however, as with some people it might just make them feel more awake!
Don’t have too many naps during the day. Keep the bulk of your sleep for the night so that you can have a sleep cycle that allows you to rest during the night and be your ultimate productive self during the day.
KEY POINTS – How To Deal With The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation & END IT
- Some of the effects of sleep deprivation include being easily irritated, feeling extremely tired all the time, finding it hard to concentrate, having a poor immune system, experiencing hallucinations etc.
- Just like personal hygiene – a set of things you do to keep your body clean (like showering every day or using deodorant) – sleep hygiene is a set of tasks you do to prepare your mind and body for sleep.
- Things like phones, iPads and laptops emit blue light which reduce/ delay the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) in the evening. This makes you feel less sleepy and more awake.
- Whether this is through prayer, thinking about all you are grateful for, doing some breathing techniques, having a hot bath, doing stretches or journaling, use the end of the day to wind down and decompress.
- Create a positive routine and cue to help you feel sleepy before bed.
- Try doing something different each couple of days to help you get to sleep, and track how much sleep you have each night.
- Use lower levels of light at night through lamps rather than keeping your normal bright lights on. Having less light triggers your body to create more melatonin which makes you feel sleepier. You could buy blackout curtains to keep your room dark when you go to sleep, and an eye mask as well.
