“Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds. Sleep, the main course in life's feast, and the most nourishing.” William Shakespeare

The property management industry is going through a period of change, particularly regarding Health & Safety, which unfortunately is adding to the day-to-day stress of our workforce. Whilst we can’t control some of the stressors experienced on a regular basis, there are lots of things we can control to help us manage our stress better. One of those things is our sleep.

Good quality sleep can have a significant impact on how we feel every day. If we feel better, we can cope better. Seems simple enough and yet when I speak to people about their sleep habits, it continually surprises me how many of us just don’t pay enough or any attention to it. And to be honest, for a long time, neither did I.

A while ago, I was chatting to a Nutritional Therapist who asked me about my sleep habits. The conversation went a bit like this:

NT: “Tell me about how you sleep.”

Me: “Generally very well. I’m out like a light as soon as my head touches the pillow, I sleep like the dead and I usually get 7-8 hours a night” (I said rather smugly!).

NT: “That sounds good. How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?”

Me: “Dreadful! I snooze my alarm for as long as humanly possible. I feel groggy and have to drag myself out of bed.”

NT: “And do you have dark circles under your eyes?”

Me: “Yes. (sigh…) There’s not enough concealer in the world to cover them!”

NT: “It’s good that you get to sleep quickly, and that you sleep for 7-8 hours a night. However, the quality of your sleep can’t be very good if you don’t feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning.”

Me: “Oh……” (Feeling foolish for previously being smug!)

I didn’t really consider the quality of my sleep at all. I had 7-8 hours of sleep a night and I thought I was doing well. It just didn’t occur to me to pay attention to how I was feeling when I woke up in the morning. Or if I did think about it, I assumed I ‘wasn’t that sort of person’ who sprang out of bed full of the joys of spring or I thought ‘I didn’t inherit that gene!”.

Upon understanding more about managing my sleep habits differently, I made some changes to my routine. I admit that I approached this somewhat sceptically. However, I can honestly say that it did make a huge difference. Here’s what I learnt.

The Purpose of Sleep

We need sleep. We need it to survive and thrive. During sleep, our body resets, repairs, rests, and recalibrates. Anything that interrupts that process simply means that we’re not going to be able to function at our best. So, the concept of sleep perhaps needs a rethink.

Avoid Eating Before Sleep

Are you a late night snacker? If you eat before going to sleep, your body is going to be devoting energy to the process of digesting your food rather than doing what it needs to do. It is therefore recommended that you stop eating 3 hours before you go to sleep. 

Get Fresh Air

When you go to bed, it’s good to have fresh air circulating into your room. If you keep your doors and windows closed during sleep, you are breathing in stale air. Open a window to ensure you get the right levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, helping you sleep more soundly. 

Avoid Blue Light Before Sleep

Sleep patterns are controlled by our internal body clock called our circadian rhythm. This sleep cycle is partly triggered by changes in light conditions (in other words, when it starts to get dark outside, our body intuitively knows that it’s time to prepare for sleep. Exposure to a lot of light can interrupt our circadian rhythm and disrupt our quality of sleep. The worst ‘light’ offender here is blue light emitted from mobile devices like our phones and laptops. With many of us glued to our mobile phones before bed, it’s no wonder that sleep quality is negatively impacted. The solution here is to avoid looking at mobile devices 1 hour before we go to sleep.

Room Temperature

Room temperature can also play a part in our sleep quality. Our body temperature drops a degree or two before we go to sleep which also impacts our circadian rhythm preparing us for sleep. Being too hot or too cold can negatively influence sleep quality. It is recommended for adults to have a bedroom temperature between 15.6 to 19.4 Degrees Celsius* for optimal sleep. 

Avoid Caffeine Before Sleep

We know that caffeine stimulates the mind. Interestingly, through numerous conversations with people about caffeine, I noticed that many people claim that they are immune to the effects of caffeine because they drift off to sleep quickly. I thought that myself and was prone to a cup of tea before bed. But think back to my earlier comments about sleep quality. People imagine that if they are impacted by caffeine, they will feel wired and stay wide awake for hours, and if they don’t experience that, it must therefore mean their sleep is not impacted by caffeine. Which is not quite true. You may fall asleep very quickly after having caffeine, but your sleep quality may still be impacted. Therefore, it’s still advisable to avoid caffeine at least 3-4 hours before we go to sleep.

Magnesium

Magnesium helps improve sleep quality and helps regulate sleep. Have a think about your diet and try to include foods that naturally contain magnesium (leafy green vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes, yoghurt, milk and wholegrains). Some breakfast cereals contain added magnesium and it can also be found in dark chocolate. There are also a variety of magnesium supplements available (it is advisable to consult a doctor before taking any supplements). There are other ways to increase magnesium via body creams and body sprays or having a warm bath with Epsom salts (which contain magnesium) before you go to bed – this has the added benefit of being relaxing which also aids sleep.

Regular Sleep Pattern

At the weekend, do you like to stay up late and have a lie in? Anything that disrupts our circadian rhythm is going to have a negative impact on our sleep quality. This is true for our sleep patterns too. To achieve optimal sleep quality, we need to have a regular sleep pattern every night (yes that includes weekends too!). This will keep our body clock functioning regularly and will facilitate better quality sleep.

Conclusion

I gave all these things a go. As I mentioned earlier, I was a bit sceptical, but kept an open mind. So, do I jump out of bed every morning singing, feeling eager to start the day and feeling super energised? Not quite! BUT I don’t feel groggy when I wake up anymore. I don’t snooze my alarm for an hour. My dark circles are looking better (with no expensive cosmetics or procedures!).

I wake up and feel like a human not a zombie.

There is a plethora of other tangible benefits to better quality sleep that I discovered along the way:

• my mind is generally clearer

• I have more energy and ability to cope with the day-to-day stressors

• I make better decisions

• I can focus better at work

• I don’t feel like I’m being endlessly dragged through the days

• I just generally feel better

I appreciate that there are many external factors impacting sleep that can’t always be controlled - external noise, kids, pets etc. My challenge to you is to think about your sleep and focus some attention to the elements that are in your control to change for the better. Give it a go and sleep well!

*Reference from www.sleepfoundation.org