Jack of Spades - Consistency Is Key!

‘Sleep hygiene’ is a term used to refer to sleep practices that are optimal for health and wellness. One important aspect of sleep hygiene is sleep consistency (Sleep Health Foundation, 2023). This means getting into a routine of going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning. Yes, that includes weekends too! Research shows that your body is designed for a consistent sleep-wake cycle, and too much variability can cause adverse health outcomes such as increased risk of heart disease, poorer mental health, and reduced physical activity (Chaput et al., 2020). Why might an irregular sleep schedule be detrimental to your health? It is likely due to your sleep schedule being misaligned with your body’s circadian rhythm (Chaput et al., 2020).

Simply put, your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock that runs on a 24-hour cycle. One of the things it does is it uses hormones to helps control when you are awake, and when you are sleepy (Sleep Health Foundation, 2023). This internal clock is highly integrated with the rest of your body. It has effects on your body temperature, metabolism, and nervous system, to name a few. So, as you can imagine, this natural pattern of your body’s systems will get disturbed if you wake up at 06:00 one day, but sleep in until 10:00 the next day. For this reason, sleep experts highly recommend regular sleep and wake up times, 7 days a week (Chaput et al., 2020).

You guessed it – set an alarm! Choose a time in the morning that works best for you and set a daily alarm to wake you up at that time. If possible, make it unsnoozeable (Inventing words is one of many amazing things we do here at Imago)! Alarms aren’t reserved for the morning. Try setting an alarm in the evening to remind yourself to start getting ready for bed. After a few days of allowing your body to get into a consistent sleep-wake cycle, you may start to feel more wakeful during the day and have an easier time getting to sleep at night. We will say it again for the people in the back: consistency is key!

Small changes CAN make a big difference – that’s what the 1% club is all about.

Chaput, J.P., Dutil, C., Featherstone, R., Ross, R., Giangregorio, L., Saunders, T. J., Janssen, I., Poitras, V. J., Kho, M. E., Ross-White, A., Zankar, S., Carrier, J. (2020). Sleep timing, sleep consistency, and health in adults: A systematic review. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 45(10 (Suppl. 2)). https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2020-0032

Sleep hygiene: Good sleep habits. Sleep Health Foundation. (2023). https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/sleep-topics/sleep-hygiene-good-sleep-habits