Sleep session - Part 1-

Bonjour, bonjour!

Today I wanted to talk about a subject that is essential, in my opinion, to a good balance of life. I think we all know how important it is to sleep well in order to fonction properly.

I mean, every person is different, but sleep is an essential need (like in SIMS XD). After a good night's sleep, it is so much easier to attack the day, whether it is school or work. After a bad or short night of sleep ... let's say it's something else!

I am a naturally anxious person and my anxiety affects my sleep: I have nightmares and I often wake up during the night. The SAE (Service d'aide aux étudiants) at my university often offers sessions on a variety of topics, including sleep. So I enrolled in this series of 3 sessions of 3 hours each in the hope of finding a solution to sleep better. By the way, these sessions are often free, I urge you to see if your university offers this kind of resources too!

Since I am quite sure that I am not the only one who could benefit from an improvement in her quality of sleep, I thought that I could give you a small report of what I learned from these meetings. (So ​​I'm not an expert and it's not exhaustive)

And thus: session number 1, concerning the sleep environment.

Several factors can influence sleep. These include light, noise, emotional triggers, temperature ...

Light

I do not think I will teach you a new concept, but here is the thing about electricity: it has not always existed! Tadadadaaaaaam. In other words, our body was programmed to understand that when there is light, it is time to perform its awakening activities and when there is no light, it is time to recover by sleeping. This programming still exists, so sleeping in a room with little or badly covered window, or watching screens before going to bed (oops) sends a wake-up message to the brain. More precisely, the light (and especially the blue light of the screens) inhibits the production of melatonin. Melatonin is one of the factors that allows our body to go into "sleep" mode. Also, it is better to cut the screens at least 30 minutes before going to bed. This is what the psychologist who gave the session said. What a radio-canada article said is to close them 2 hours before... So no, no I-look-at-my-facebook-a-last-time-just-in-case-a-wonderful-event-happened. It will be a challenge for me!

Tips: close the screens well before bed, have good curtains, wear a sleeping mask, put a filter of blue light on your cellphone, use an electronic reading device such as a kindle...

Noise

Again with my history of biological programming: our brain remains active during the night (yes!), in case a danger appears, among other reasons. A sudden or irregular noise will awaken us, but a constant and regular noise can help to sleep, since our brain does not associate it with a threat and will "forget it". I look at you, friend who sleeps with a fan ...

Tips: putting on ear plugs, using a fan, listening to soft music, listening to "white noise"...

Emotional triggers

It is here that it becomes more difficult. The emotional triggers vary for everyone: I, for example, must have a room perfectly ordered to sleep well. The triggers can be positive as they may be negative. Seeing my outfit for next day and my school bag ready triggers in me a state of calm, which helps me to sleep. On the contrary, a pile of notebooks on my desk will trigger a state of anxiety, because I will think about what I have done and what remains to be done.

For certain people, the presence of a partner or a pet will reassure. In short, it is necessary to begin by identifying emotional triggers to take the necessary measures.

Tips: separate the desk from the bed in order not to see it from the bed, put in order the sleeping area, avoid working in the bedroom (or worse, in the bed, which is something I often do # badhabits), rearrange your sleeping area...

temperature

I learned that the temperature of the body decreases naturally during the night and that in addition, the body is able to regulate its temperature, thanks to the covers, without even waking up... The ideal would be to test which temperatures correspond the best to your sleep and to have good blankets to allow the body to breathe and warm up (or cool down).

Little additional tips

I talked about cutting the screens before going to bed. The period between the two moments can be (and should) be a period of pre-sleep. Doing meditation, yoga, reading a book... These are all activities that prepare you to have a better quality sleep! I will talk more about it in part 2!

I would say that my challenge is in the pre-sleep period, precisely. Very often, I close my computer at the last minute and lie down a big 15-20 minutes later (time I use to do a 10 minutes of intense cardio instead of the expected 30 minutes...). What would be your challenge?

I also linked some interesting articles on the sucject, but hey are in french!

Xoxox

Camille Élisabeth

https://www.protegez-vous.ca/Technologie/appareils-mobiles-et-insomnie-eteignez-tout

http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/la_sphere/2015-2016/chronique.asp?idChronique=387405

http://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/les-eclaireurs/segments/chronique/8396/yeux-lumiere-bleue-ecran-sommeil-cerveau

http://sante.lefigaro.fr/mieux-etre/environnement/bruit/bruit-sommeil