Since the holiday season is approaching, everyone’s definitely getting excited! It’s a perfect time to celebrate and spend time with loved ones or to even just relax! It’s common to overindulge, stress and even have a change in pace during this period, all of which can cause sleep deprivation.
If you’re finding it hard to get some quality sleep during the holiday period, here are some ways that may help:
Keep the technology blues far away from the bed
If you’re very lucky and get to receive a gift such as a laptop or a smartphone, try to reduce the amount of time spent using it in bed.
When using your phones, laptops and other devices in bed, your brain is exposed to blue light. It was found in a study that blue light actually makes you less sleepy, taking you longer to fall asleep!
You can expose yourself less to blue light through limiting your screen time in bed. This will let your brain associate your bed and sleep instead of screen time.
If you can’t avoid using a device at night, try turning on the night mode setting. This will cause your device to emit a warm light instead of a blue light.
Does our body love festive drinks as much as we do?
If you’re one to go to a lot of end of year parties and gatherings, having a drink or two is pretty common. Sometimes you’ll end up falling asleep from drinking too much.
| According to the National Sleep Foundation, while drinking alcohol can make you fall asleep faster, drinking at night can actually lead to you getting a lesser quality amount of sleep. |
Alcohol has an impact on your circadian rhythm (your body clock). This makes you wake up more during the night. Your REM sleep (the most restorative sleep stage) also decreases when you drink alcohol, making you feel groggy in the morning.
Coffee is all fun until later during the day
The holiday period can be really busy, making you feel even more tired. Seeing all your family and friends, or your kids are just extremely happy from opening presents can be exhausting. Maybe you decide a cup of coffee is definitely needed.
Even if you’re awake for the next few hours, according to the Sleep Health Foundation, you may still feel the effect of caffeine 3-7 hours after.
This can cause you to have a lesser quality amount of sleep or make it even harder for you to fall asleep.
Don’t stress – it’s the holidays!
Stress can cause overthinking in bed, making your various thoughts keep you up until the middle of the night.
Stress hormones are produced from not having enough sleep, making it even harder to fall into deep sleep. It’s an endless cycle, so don’t stress about forgetting to buy presents or what to cook during the holiday season.
To keep yourself from stressing about everything that can go wrong, plan the tasks you need to do during the holidays. This lets you know the number of errands you need to do each day and prevents you from cramming them at the end. It can also add a sense of accomplishment when you tick off your checklist just before the festivities begin.
Don’t forget it’s important to take some time to wind down. Reading a book or taking time away from technology before bedtime may help!
Last but not least: sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillow
Sleeping on a supportive mattress and pillow helps you have a good sleeping posture. When you wake up the next day, you won’t feel any aches or pains.
Choosing a mattress with the right firmness that meets your preferences will certainly aid in giving you a good night’s sleep this holiday season. Or you can gift it to someone special!
We hope you have a fantastic holiday season and that these tips can help you get through with enough sleep!
