Have you ever found yourself feeling somehow “too tired to sleep”? Isn’t it super weird when you consciously want something that you know your brain (and rest of your body) needs, and yet it refuses to cooperate? What gives?
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According to the sleep training doctor, Dr. Mark Weissbluth; “sleep begets sleep”. When you sleep it settles your nervous system so it’s easier to sleep in the future. When you miss sleep and have a sleep debt then the nervous system goes crazy and goes on heightened alert essentially making it harder to sleep in the future. It’s kind of a wired but tired kind of thing. The nervous system is wired but you are tired.
The best way to fix this is to stick to a constant sleep schedule. Get up at the same time everyday. Your body will get into a rhythm and you’ll sleep well and much deeper and feel rested. It takes a while to override the nervous system because of sleep debt. Get up at the same time even if you are tired. Eventually your brain will know what is expected and it will relax at the same time every night and it will determine what time you need to go to bed. We all require a different amount of sleep. Your body will tell you when to go to bed if you are telling it what time you want it to get up every single day.
The two major factors are your circadian rhythm (body’s internal clock) and stress.
Your circadian rhythm sets when your body thinks it’s daytime or nighttime. Daytime is determined by how much blue light enters your eyes. Why blue? We evolved to be outside during the day where the sky is shining blue over half of our vision.
However, modern day is screwing up our internal rhythm. Many of us work indoors during the day so we don’t get enough outdoor exposure. Furthermore, our electric displays like smartphones, tablets, and computers emit a lot of blue light so it confuses our body when we use those devices at night. Changing our sleep times on a day to day basis also disrupts our internal clock much like how jet lag affects our sleep.
Consistent sleep schedules, outdoor time during the day (or substitute with light therapy), and reduced screen time at night will help align your circadian rhythm.
Stress is the second culprit. Stress is literally the fight or flight response. When you feel like you’re in danger, your body will not want to sleep. However, modern day dangers and anxieties are rather abstract but still trigger the response.
You: “I’m worried if my paycheck will stretch till my next one.”
Body: “Here’s some stress hormones to keep you awake and fight or run away from the danger!”
You: “I can’t fight the bank or else I’ll get arrested and running away makes the problem worse!”
Body: “Thank me later!”
This ends up keeping us up at night, ruining our sleep and also disrupting our circadian rhythm as mentioned above. Chronic stress (constant stress over time) also can cause other medical issues.
Stress relief is much about tricking the body. Exercise helps because it gives an outlet for the excess energy to fight or flee. Your body thinks it’s done something to get away from the danger so it stops the stress response. Deep breathing also helps trick the body to think it’s not in danger. Other ways of managing stress like meditation can help you pinpoint what stressors are under your control and which are not so you don’t need to worry about it.
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