Cut screen time to ensure you get a better night’s sleep
GREAT sleep is a huge contributor to your health and wellbeing. Poor or insufficient sleep can make exercise seem insurmountable, and make bad habits harder to resist.
One way to boost sleep’s effectiveness is to let your body get into healthy patterns. That means not going to bed too late and ideally at a regular time, and waking at the same time each morning.
Blue light from phones and laptops is known to interfere with the release of sleep hormones, so keep your phone outside the bedroom.
THREE STEPS TO A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
If you’re fallen into the habit of crawling up to bed at midnight, you are likely to be cutting your restorative sleep short. Go to bed a little earlier — an hour or so — a few nights each week.
In your diary, record your bedtime every night.
But you also need to tackle the disruptive problem of night-time technology — that means switching off all screens at least 30 minutes before bed. And not charging your phone in the bedroom; we’d suggest the kitchen instead. These are two things you should do every night — which is why we’ve created a ‘good bedtime routine’ tick box for them in the diary.
You might wonder why we don’t want you to record how many hours you sleep. Firstly, because recording it won’t fix it. You know you’re not getting enough. We want you to record things that make a difference such as the time you go to bed.
Secondly people vary in their requirements — some people are fine on 6.5 hours and others need more like 8. Be fastidious about your routine and whether or not you feel exhausted all day.
SCREEN TIME
On a typical weekday, the average person spends six hours looking at screens. The time you spend doing it for work is probably out of your control, but do you really need to stare at your phone on the way to work and all the way home? Do you really need the TV on when you’re eating?
The convenience of smartphones means we can scroll almost anywhere. This barrage of information means your brain never gets a rest. Relaxing in front of a box set can seem like a great way to unwind, but too much screen time is bad for brain health — and if you’re sitting down, that’s bad for your body, too.
Cut down the amount of recreational screen time and maybe aim to have one TV or phone-free day per week. Log the hours in your planner and aim to see them tumble.