How to fix your sleep schedule after it’s been thrown away

After a fun night of binging reruns of your favorite sitcom, you look at your watch to see if you can squeeze another episode and – oh, shit – it’s already been three hours since your usual bedtime!

You know it will hurt wake up at 6 am tomorrow, so you have to make a decision before going to sleep: will you wake up at your usual time, or will you sleep until you “catch up” on lost sleep?

The first option, although difficult, is the best solution if you want to maintain a healthy sleep cycle that supports energy, productivity, and a good mood. If you choose to sleep late, you risk pushing your bedtime further back until waking up at the usual time (like for work) seems impossible and you spend the day battling fatigue. If you find yourself in this situation, you can try resetting your sleep schedule with these tips from sleep experts.

Read more: Insomnia: what are the causes and how many of us have it?

Why your sleep cycle matters

Having a consistent sleep schedule makes it easier to fall into restful sleep, Annie Miller, a therapist at DC Metro Sleep and Psychotherapy, tells CNET.

“Our brains respond very well to routines,” Miller says. “When we create healthy bedtime routines for ourselves, our sleep can improve dramatically. And when your brain begins to associate bedtime with relaxation instead of stress, sleep will become easier.” .

When you fall asleep faster and spend less time tossing and turning in bed, your overall sleep duration and quality improve, leaving you more rested and energized for the next day. “Regular, consistent sleep is the first line of defense in the fight against anxious or depressive thoughts or a lack of energy” during the day, Dr. Max Kerr, dental sleep expert at Sleep Better Austin, tells CNET.

Additionally, sleep stages are time-dependent, says Dr. Kerr, so inconsistent sleep schedules can “change” sleep stages and result in less time spent in the important. REM phase and deep sleep.

How the sleep cycle is interrupted

Miller says that keeping your morning alarm the same every day, no matter what time you go to sleep, is key to keeping your body in rhythm (although, ideally, you would have the same bedtime and wake up time every day). “Typically, varying your waking times is more harmful to sleep than going to bed later. If you push your waking time by sleeping late, we create a jet lag type of response,” Miller explains. “If you go to bed later and get up again at the same time, you will sleep less, but it won’t cancel your sleep cycle.”

Dr. Kerr claims that push back bedtime can he abandon the sleep cycle. From a scientific point of view, research suggests that if bedtime varies by more than 30 minutes each night, it can lead to less healthy daytime behaviors such as lack of physical activity. Other research points to consistent wake times as a predictor of better sleep quality. It’s best to try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, but only you can know if waking up at 6am is doable if you went to sleep at 10pm or 12pm.

Other things can also ruin your sleep cycle. Doing shift work, drinking alcohol, sleeping with a disturbing bed partner (such as children, spouse or pets), snoring or sleep apnea or temperature changes in your bedroom they can all throw off the sleep cycle, says Dr. Kerr.

How to restore the sleep cycle

Dr. Kerr offers these tips for restoring your sleep schedule:

• Get out and get moving. “Fresh air and exercise can help you calm down and tire yourself out, while the sun’s vitamin D helps regulate circadian rhythms to keep your sleep consistent,” says Dr. Kerr.
• Prepare your bedroom for sleeping. Keep the temperatures cool, the electronics to a minimum, and the comfortable but simple bed. Check your pillows to make sure they’re right for you – pillows should comfortably support the head and neck.
• Nix daytime naps. “With more time on your hands, or perhaps because of working from home, it can be easy and tempting to take a nap during the day,” says Dr. Kerr. “While the occasional nap can be a great recovery for the rest of the day, it may deprive you of the most important, restorative sleep your body needs at night.”
• Watch what you watch on TV. Listening to the disheartening reports on the evening news before bed could make your mind run all night long, says Dr. Kerr. If you have to watch TV before bed, opt for lighter, funnier programs, and ideally stop watching all TV an hour before bed.
• Take a melatonin supplement. If all else fails, you may need a file dose of melatonin to get your body back into your favorite sleep cycle or if you just have trouble falling asleep in general. Melatonin is safe sleep supplement and it shouldn’t make you addicted to it. Magnesium it can also help.

How to keep track of your sleep schedule

Once your sleep cycle is successfully restored, the real hard work begins: keeping your schedule in check. Miller offers these few tips for creating a bedtime routine:

• Create a “buffer zone” about an hour before bed. During this time, don’t work, watch the news, or do anything that can create stress. The buffer zone is just for relaxation, says Miller. Stretch out, listen to calm music, meditate, read a book or talk to your spouse or roommate.
• Wake up at the same time every day, no matter what time you go to sleep at night. “We often think we can ‘catch up’ with sleep over the weekend or if we have a bad night’s sleep,” says Miller, “but in reality, this can make insomnia worse by creating what is called social jet lag.” It’s important to keep your wake up time constant and understand that you may be tired in the short term, but this will increase your desire to sleep and eventually allow you to fall asleep faster at night, explains Miller.
• Use your bed only for sleeping. “This is what a lot of people have heard before, but it’s really important,” Miller points out. “When you create a conditioned response that the bed is only used for sleep, it allows you to create an association between bed and sleep.” That means no reading in bed, no watching TV in bed, no tossing and turning and no napping in the morning.
• Stop trying to sleep. It seems counterintuitive, but “[w]When we try too hard to sleep, it backfires, “explains Miller.” Spending time in bed trying to sleep can make insomnia worse. “If you can’t sleep, get up and out of bed and do something quiet until you feel very sleepy. Sleep should be easy and we should minimize the time spent trying to sleep, says Miller.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical or health advice. Always consult a doctor or other qualified health care practitioner with any questions about a medical condition or health goals.