Perhaps the most difficult happiness hack of the series. Sleep.

Here’s a fun fact- Human beings are the only species that will sacrifice sleep in order to get more done. Without realising it, we are making our lives a hell of a lot more miserable because as a result.

The ever elusive shut eye is so difficult to achieve consistently because we are too ‘busy’. Most of us, including myself, tend to cut sleep time as we feel like we need more time to get shit done. Whilst it might give us more hours in the day, we certainly sacrifice a lot more energy in doing so. Ever met a happy exhausted person? Nope, me neither.

Whilst we all acknowledge the physical effects of a lack of sleep, the mental cost has huge implications on our mood, energy levels and general sense of wellbeing.

Sadly, you cumulatively pay a very high price just to watch that extra episode of game of thrones (I’ll save you some time..they all die..except John Snow..he’s alive).

A lack of sleep is responsible for making us less alert, slowing reaction times, impairing memory, lowering energy levels, increasing irritability, lowering mood, decreasing brain function and increasing levels of stress. Pretty serious then.

Research on life satisfaction has found a direct correlation between sleep quality and overall happiness. In fact, sleep quality was the single most influential factor in rating daily mood.

Before you strangle me with the cord to your baby monitors, I’m not saying it’s easy to hit 7-8 hours a night, especially with family and a heavy work load! It is easy however, easy to improve the quality of your sleep.

Here’s 8 simple tips for better sleep quality;

  1. Remove all screens from your bedroom. The blue light emitted from your phone, TV and laptop send signals to your brain encouraging it to stay awake. If you must watch screens in bed download F.lux onto your phone and laptop to block blue light emissions.
  1. Use your bedroom for sleeping, reading, and sex only.
  1. Make your bedroom as dark as possible. Consider adding shutters or extra thick curtains. I personally recommend Moondream thermal curtain tuape.
  1. Get the temperature right. Aim for a room temp of between 60-67 degrees F
  1. Avoid stimulants and alcohol before bed – the booze might knock you out but your sleep is likely to be restless and broken.
  1. Try and stick to a regular schedule when possible. Being consistent reinforces your circadian rhythms (essentially our body clock), helping you to fall asleep quicker and wake up with a spring in your step.
  1. Keep a notepad by your bed. If you are anything like me, as soon as your head hits the pillow your mind starts racing. Your best bet is to stick any worries or thoughts down on paper and review them in the morning. It’s usually nonsense but at least it calms the mind.
  1. Leave your mobile phone in another room. If you use the alarm function on your phone it’s worth investing in an alarm clock instead. I recently bought a Withings Sleep Aura, which emits blue light gradually waking you up without the horrible alarm racket.

If all else fails, have your haircut like the guy below and catch 40 winks at work…

 

Interestingly, it also appears that being happier will help you get more shut eye.

In their 2013 study Ong et al found that those with a more positive outlook got longer, better quality sleep. So keeping your chin up evidently helps you get your head down.

Still not convinced? There is plenty of scientific data to suggest that more sleep leads not only to increased mood but; better decision making, improved looks (seriously), increased capacity to retain memories, better sex life, increased immunity, lower calorie intake, and reduced risk of disease.

I think we can all agree that it’s important. Try and carve out some time for it.

Action points for day 3

  1. Complete day 1&2 action points.
  2. Create the perfect sleep environment. Spend 30 minutes or so adjusting your bedroom to meet the points mentioned above. Try it for one night, I guarantee you will feel the benefits.

If all else fails, just read some of my other blogs. That should put you to bed 🙂

CW