(“Breakfast Propulsion” by Stéfan. Click the photo to go to the original)
I’m really excited that Dr. Sarah Honaker has agreed to provide some great advice on how to get 30 more minutes of sleep every day in 2015. I met Sarah last summer at the AASM meeting in Minneapolis. She was the course director for a terrific section on behavioral sleep medicine in pediatrics, and I furiously took notes during her lecture. She is a clinical psychologist at Riley Children’s in Indianapolis where she has behavioral sleep clinics. She also the mother of two girls age three and six, which is an important part of any sleep doctor’s training. Her post is on the importance of morning planning in getting enough sleep at night.
Although a lot of sleep advice tends to focus on getting to bed earlier, it’s sometimes easier to control the time that we wake in the morning, assuming we don’t have early rising little ones at home. This is particularly true for adolescents and young adults, who tend to operate on a delayed sleep phase (meaning that biologically they are prone to go to bed later and sleep later). Here are some tips for extending your morning sleep:
• Limit morning activities to whatever is absolutely necessary. You might shower in the evening, prepare the clothing and items you will need the night before, and eat a simple breakfast.
• Don’t “snooze.” Get out of the habit of setting your alarm for earlier than you actually need to wake up. The sleep you obtain in the seven minutes between alarms is generally light sleep.
• Encourage younger children to be independent in the morning, when developmentally appropriate. The OK to Wake alarm can be used to teach younger children who cannot tell time when they are allowed to get up for the day. Before the alarm turns “green,” they can read books in bed or play quietly in their room, which means that mom or dad can sleep a little longer.
• Take your kids to school, especially middle and high-schoolers. Long bus rides mean even earlier wake times for kids. If you can drive them or arrange a car pool, those extra thirty minutes can make a big difference.
•Advocate for later school start times. Research over the last decade has consistently found that teens sleep more and function better when schools start later.
One caveat: be wary of too much weekend oversleeping. While some weekend oversleep (1–2 hours) may be restorative, particularly for those who have to wake extremely early during the week, sleeping too late on weekends usually results in less sleep during the week.
Personally, I have to leave for my clinic in Norwalk at 6:30 AM on Monday mornings. I have found that preparing the night before really helps me get out the door. Specifically, I shower, prepare the coffeemaker and breakfast, put out my clothes, and lay out everything I will need to take with me. If I don’t do this, it takes me about 15–20 minutes to get out the door, as I am blearily looking for the coffee grinder or (on more than one occasion) pouring orange juice into my granola. A carefully planned morning routine helps me minimize friction and decision fatigue before I start my day.
Do you plot your mornings to maximize your sleep? If so, what has worked for you in the past?