Do you twist in horror at the sound of your alarm clock when it reminds you that your sleep is over? Can you only function after at least one cup of coffee? Are you overly familiar with the lack of sleep headache? 

As I got rudely awakened, yet again, by my neighbour’s dog at 6am on a Saturday, I grumpily reached for my ear plugs in the vague hope that they might make a difference. Even my own dog huffed in annoyance as she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. As I now face my lack of sleep headache for the day, I wondered at how so many of us suffer from too little sleep and how we can help ourselves to generally stop feeling so overwhelmed. 

Why Do We Sleep? 

Science has been baffled for centuries about the benefits of sleep although, of course, we know them intuitively. Neuroscientist Matthew Walker succinctly describes just how much sleep impacts us. We need it for our memory, decision making, emotional regulation, mood management which again, perhaps we already know. Did you know that your gut and your heart need sleep too? All the chemical reactions that keep them working properly are all nicely balanced when we sleep. 

Dreams are another important part of sleep. Carl Jung was already fascinated by dreams, along with Freud, back in the early 1900s. Jung thought that dreams give us insight into our very souls and help balance our subconscious mind. 

These days, we know from neuroimaging and various studies that noradrenaline, a chemical in the brain linked to stress, is shut off when we are in a dream state. The idea is that your brain can process painful events almost from a distance and so let the emotions go. Think of it as emotional cleaning. Of course, the most traumatic events will take longer to clean out but your dreams help clear your mind over time. 

What’s your Sleep Routine? 

So, how can we get rid of that lack of sleep headache once and for all? You might have already heard about having a sleep routine. It’s so important to get ourselves mentally and emotionally ready for sleep otherwise the mind just keeps on churning. We also disrupt our circadian rhythm with an irregular routine. For those who constantly ruminate or perhaps obsessively worry, you will need even longer to calm down the mind I’m afraid. 

If you’re a constant worrier, some good habits to start before going to sleep include journaling and scheduling your worry time. Journaling has been proven to lessen your emotions such that they don’t hijack your thinking mind so much. Like most healthy habits though, don’t expect a transformation overnight as it can take several months before you start seeing the benefits of a good sleep hygiene. 

Get Started with Observation

Another interesting tactic is sleep restriction for those who are insomniacs. The idea is that you keep a sleep diary and work out how many hours you tend to sleep, regardless of your schedule. Then, you start scheduling your sleep time to be limited to those hours. The idea is that your body will eventually take over and stop you from lying awake for most of the night. Once you hit that phase, you can start to gradually increase your sleep hours again. 

Either way, a sleep diary is a good place to start so you can make an informed decision about which approach is best for you. It’s too easy to make assumptions, especially when we’re tired, and a data driven approach can help take the emotion out of it. 

Choose your Plan of Attack 

Now that you know a bit more about why we sleep, what are you going to do to avoid that lack of sleep headache? 

• 1- Optimise your environment – studies show that we need the right temperature, noise and light levels. So, make sure you have the appropriate mattress in a 22C room without light. And definitely no barking dogs. 

• 2- Schedule off-device time – most of us now know that our devices emit unfriendly light that stops our brains from shutting down for the night. We’re also easily distracted by notifications so just turn them off. The world won’t stop turning, believe it or not. 

• 3- Calm your limbic system – our reactions and ingrained behaviours are linked to our limbic system along with our fight-or-flight responses. Clearly, if you’re still in a state of high alert, you’ll never sleep. So, those of us who suffer from anxiety and OCD need extra techniques to calm ourselves down. 

• 4- Meditation and body scans – these often quoted tools are useful things to do before going to sleep. You can also read a relaxing book, listen to music and even exercise, all of which can be helpful to vent your emotions. Another approach is to focus on the positives from that day or your life in general. The general idea is to disconnect from the worrying mind by connecting to other emotions through your mind or through your body sensations.

• 5- Food – we aren’t just floating heads as most of us tend to live our lives. It’s easy to forget that the gut, heart and mind are in constant communication. This means that what we eat impacts our thoughts, as discussed in this article on nutritional psychiatry. Essentially, you want to find foods that enhance the levels of your natural brain-chemicals called serotonin, melatonin and tryptophan to help you sleep. These are found in, for example for us vegans, herbs, nuts, bananas and other fruit. 

What are you going to start with Tonight? 

How are you now feeling about your options to reduce your lack of sleep headache? Which one seems the most doable right now? Remember that you don’t have to change everything in one go. As I described in a previous post, habits take time to change so start with easy baby steps and be patient with yourself. You’ll get there, with a little perseverance, and you’ll start looking forward to going to bed before you know it.