The Down & Dirty Between the Sheets
The 10 - 3 - 2 - 1 Method for Better Sleep
These days, everyone is claiming to have the answer on how to get a good night's sleep. Whether it’s certain sleep supplements or that Wonder-Mattress-3000 for sale on Labor Day, most of those come with a price tag. While these types of “solutions” might have small benefits, they aren’t what has the biggest impact on how we sleep and how well we recover. And with all of the attention we pay to maximizing our healthy choices while we’re awake, we can make a few simple, but crucial, choices to get the most out of the time we’re not.
A great place to start is everyone’s favorite drug, caffeine. Because caffeine has a half-life of about 6-8 hours, a morning cup of coffee with about 100mg of caffeine will leave roughly 25mg in your system by the time you go to sleep. A study from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that “caffeine consumption even 6 hours before bedtime can have important disruptive effects on both objective and subjective measures of sleep.” Even for those people who claim they can still fall asleep immediately after a late-night coffee, the quality of their sleep will suffer. So the next time you think about drinking that 6 shot venti mocha frappe with extra “basic” on top, make sure it’s at least 10 hours before bed or you might pay for it later.
Moving on to food. We LOVE food, and for good reason, but when we eat it can affect how we sleep. The main thing to think about is digestion. When we eat close to bedtime our body is now tasked with digesting food and sleeping at the same time. This can cause a problem when it comes to sleep. Digestion is an “awake” function of our body. It requires energy and metabolic activity to achieve. So, if you eat late at night, it keeps your digestive system “awake” even when you are trying to rest. A good rule of thumb for this is to cut off your food intake about 3 hours before bedtime. If this seems too daunting, try downsizing your dinner just a little to see how it affects your sleep.
Next, we are going to talk about work and focused activities. With all of us living busy lives, it can be hard to “sign off” sometimes, but research shows that stopping physical or mental stress at least 2 hours before bed can help your body and mind prepare for sleep. Close the laptop and take a hot shower to wind down from the day and prepare your body for sleep.
Last, but certainly not least, screens. With doomscrolling on the rise and hours of sleep rapidly declining, this might be the hardest one of all. Even just a few minutes on Instagram or in front of Love is Blind Denver can change the quality of our sleep tremendously. The blue light emitted by these screens can reduce the production of melatonin, which helps our body regulate our sleep cycles. This can make it very difficult to fall asleep and wake up the next morning. Even shutting off screens 1 hour before bed can raise the quality of your sleep.
To sum up…
10 hours before bed: Avoid caffeine
3 hours before bed: Stop eating
2 hours before bed: Finish work or other stimulating activities
1 hour before bed: Turn off screens (e.g., phone, TV, computer)
(Extra credit) 0 times hitting that snooze button in the morning.
These small changes can have a huge impact on how we sleep and how we feel the next day. It is totally understandable that this might feel like a huge task right off the bat, but even changing one of these habits can make a difference. So no need to buy those overpriced supplements or that special pillow you saw on Etsy, just turn off the screens and avoid that late night snack.
Hart