Whether it's hormones or life's stresses, you're not alone if you're struggling to get enough good sleep these days. Advice will often tell you to improve your sleep by changing your environment, but you can only adjust your room temperature or close your blinds so much before you need to try something else.
One person who knows this all too well is Mel Robbins, bestselling author, podcast host, motivational speaker, and former lawyer. On a recent episode of her podcast, she speaks to neurologists and Alzheimer's experts Dr Ayesha Sherzai and Dr Dean Sherzai, and asks for their tips.
Mel particularly resonates with one hack that we can all get on board with - even if it takes some adjustment: waking up at the same time every day. This habit has been "validated by sleep scientists and specialists", Dr Aysha explains.
"Just set a time to wake up at the same time every day. Why? Because if you decide to wake up at seven in the morning or six in the morning, even if you haven’t had enough sleep before that, you’re going to slowly and gradually fix that. Your body will need to sleep more, so you don’t have to assign a time to go to bed. Just wake up at the same time,” she says.
Research in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (APNM) shows that this one change to your morning routine can stabilise your body's internal clock (known as the circadian rhythm), and so improve your sleep quality, heart health, and metabolism.
Other tips for helping with sleep included going for a walk first thing in the morning to reset your circadian rhythm by exposing yourself to sunlight and moving your body. She said this helps tire your body out during the day, too, which will help you fall asleep more easily at night.
Mel has previously said that exercising in the morning is a non-negotiable for her. “In life, you have to be able to do things that are hard in order to make life easier. You’ve got to be able to do things now in order to get the results later. This is a really critical skill, and every morning when you exercise, you’re building that skill,” she said.
Of course, Dr Ayesha also mentioned making sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and cool enough, and that you use the room for sleep and intimacy, and "not as a living room, a dining room, or a social gathering place".
Dr Ayesha says many people don’t take sleep seriously enough, and that it can often be an afterthought when life gets busy. But she explains that when we sleep, our brain “does its most important task” - cleansing our brains. She says that tiny cells called microglia activate and clear brain debris, which can otherwise lead to neurological problems and a decline in our brain health.
We need to sleep to convert our memories from short-term to long-term. As well as helping us retain memories of a good weekend, it helps with key skills like organisation the following day as the brain has had a chance to file information away. In turn, this improves memory and focus and helps lower cortisol levels.
Debris builds up in the brain if we "don't get seven to eight hours of sleep per night", says Dr Ayesha, as "we don't hit those deeper stages of sleep when these processes get activated."
Common reasons for missing these important stages include waking up in the night to use the bathroom, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or constant worrying that keeps our brains too engaged for sleep.
If you struggle to wake up early, a sunrise alarm clock can help. This sleep aid fills your room gently with sunlight in the mornings to encourage a gentle wake-up at your chosen time, all year round.
