Sleep Routine Guide
Governing all our body functions is the 24 hour circadian clock which cycles through phases known as “circadian rhythms”. (circ = about and diem = day) Synchronizing your 24 hour activities against these natural patterns will provide the platform to optimize recovery.
Sleep Optimization: calculate your current status by adding up the hours of sleep achieved in one week from Monday to Friday only. Record a day when you felt alert and at your peak and the hours of sleep achieved the previous night. Multiply that number by five and subtract that from the week’s total amount of hours.
Morning Larks: Enjoy breakfast, best meal of the day – naturally wake - find it easier to work in the morning - most alert around midday - suffer more from jet lag - don't tend to fall asleep during the day - prefer to exercise in the morning - find it difficult to work shifts - go to bed early
Afternoon Evening Owls: skip breakfast – best meal dinner - alarm clock wake - easier to work in the afternoon - most alert early evening - cope better with jet lag – take or experience naps - prefer to evening exercise - easier to work shifts – have variable asleep times - stay up later and sleep later into the am period non work days.
Introduce more regular daytime 5 minute down time breaks (a place of solitude) which helps to process information, thoughts, and plans and not carry this into the pre sleep period.
Maintain: a regular and balanced diet combined with regular or your specific exercise goals, but avoid over training into the evening period and allow an adequate last meal digestion period of 3 hours. Note: check if you have any food allergies.
Social interactivity outside of work and your sport can be very important in any daily routine and sometimes lost when work, training schedules overlap.
Light and Dark: Light is a primary control factor and in today’s ever increasing time poor technologically advanced world our own personal far more pro-active lifestyles are fighting against the natural “clock” routine. Ensure your room is dark with no ambient light (street lights- electrical devices) and remember as the sun rises our natural (wake) alarm clock is activated so be conscious of this during the seasonal changes in summer /winter.
Check out www.lumie.com
Bad Noise: External noise that can easily affect the internal space and keep you mentally alert and internal noise like partners snoring creating extended periods of light sleeping and awakenings.
SLEEPNOTICS: Displacing the outside world through a sound induced sleep state can help with extreme pressure circumstances, getting off to sleep, getting back to sleep and sleeping in unusual, unfamiliar and insecure environments.
Check out PRO SOUND PILLO
Prescribed Drugs: should be a last resort and avoided, considered only for very short-term situations under medical or professional supervision. Sleeping pills very often have counter productive side effects, including negative performance consequences. Over-the-counter remedies (herbal) and supplements may not be rigorously tested so their long-term effects are still unknown and not normally effective in isolation.
Another misconception is that the pillows chosen to combine with you and your mattress can be purchased separately and have little effect on sleeping quality. In fact they are the key components and as most sleepers get this wrong it is no wonder so many are purchased every year trying to solve the problems they cause.
Click here to complete a personal sleeping profile
back to the top of the page
Sleep Optimization: calculate your current status by adding up the hours of sleep achieved in one week from Monday to Friday only. Record a day when you felt alert and at your peak and the hours of sleep achieved the previous night. Multiply that number by five and subtract that from the week’s total amount of hours.
Morning Larks: Enjoy breakfast, best meal of the day – naturally wake - find it easier to work in the morning - most alert around midday - suffer more from jet lag - don't tend to fall asleep during the day - prefer to exercise in the morning - find it difficult to work shifts - go to bed early
Afternoon Evening Owls: skip breakfast – best meal dinner - alarm clock wake - easier to work in the afternoon - most alert early evening - cope better with jet lag – take or experience naps - prefer to evening exercise - easier to work shifts – have variable asleep times - stay up later and sleep later into the am period non work days.
Introduce more regular daytime 5 minute down time breaks (a place of solitude) which helps to process information, thoughts, and plans and not carry this into the pre sleep period.
Maintain: a regular and balanced diet combined with regular or your specific exercise goals, but avoid over training into the evening period and allow an adequate last meal digestion period of 3 hours. Note: check if you have any food allergies.
Social interactivity outside of work and your sport can be very important in any daily routine and sometimes lost when work, training schedules overlap.
Light and Dark: Light is a primary control factor and in today’s ever increasing time poor technologically advanced world our own personal far more pro-active lifestyles are fighting against the natural “clock” routine. Ensure your room is dark with no ambient light (street lights- electrical devices) and remember as the sun rises our natural (wake) alarm clock is activated so be conscious of this during the seasonal changes in summer /winter.
Check out www.lumie.com
Bad Noise: External noise that can easily affect the internal space and keep you mentally alert and internal noise like partners snoring creating extended periods of light sleeping and awakenings.
SLEEPNOTICS: Displacing the outside world through a sound induced sleep state can help with extreme pressure circumstances, getting off to sleep, getting back to sleep and sleeping in unusual, unfamiliar and insecure environments.
Check out PRO SOUND PILLO
Prescribed Drugs: should be a last resort and avoided, considered only for very short-term situations under medical or professional supervision. Sleeping pills very often have counter productive side effects, including negative performance consequences. Over-the-counter remedies (herbal) and supplements may not be rigorously tested so their long-term effects are still unknown and not normally effective in isolation.
Another misconception is that the pillows chosen to combine with you and your mattress can be purchased separately and have little effect on sleeping quality. In fact they are the key components and as most sleepers get this wrong it is no wonder so many are purchased every year trying to solve the problems they cause.
Click here to complete a personal sleeping profile
back to the top of the page
