How to Improve Your Quality Sleep

Today's topic is Sleep, and our focus is Consistent Bed and Wake times.

The periods of quality sleep (REM and Deep) are critically important in the recovery process of our body and mind. For example, we secrete 95% of our growth hormone during deep sleep. Growth hormone is responsible for the physical repair process so our muscular system can recover from intense workouts and become stronger over time. During REM sleep, we also secrete a fun hormone called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, which keeps brain tissue plastic or flexible. BDNF is integral in learning new skills and information from the previous day.

One way to ensure your body can spend more time in the REM and Deep sleep phases is to keep your bed and wake times consistent, even on the weekends.

The general rule of thumb is to get to bed and wake up within a 20-minute window from day to day. Staying consistent with our bed and wake times will keep our circadian rhythm consistent, helping our body prepare for sleep and keeping our sleep cycles steady.

Research has shown that if we go to bed just one hour later than usual, we miss out on our first sleep cycle, which will reduce the time we spend in quality sleep for that night.

Waking up later than usual doesn't have as severe an impact on our quality of sleep, but it can make it harder to fall asleep the following night, as our circadian rhythm may shift if it perceives the new wake-up time as a new rhythm.

To give yourself the best chance of staying consistent with bed and wake times, set an alarm to signal bedtime is approaching and follow through by getting to bed!