TM4T Stress Armoury 24 - Becoming sleep-expert

Not enough sleep and poor-quality sleep are frequent hidden causes of stress. If you are trying to cope at work, while suffering from poor concentration, reduced memory and motivation, impaired judgement and increased irritability, then of course this will be stressful. These are all symptoms of poor sleep.

There are, of course, also physical health issues around sleep, and if you feel these apply to you, stop reading now and consult a medical professional. For more information about sleep disorders, click here.

Teachers need good regular stretches of uninterrupted sleep. You should know how much sleep YOU need, and disregard others' preferences, which range from 5-10 hours (99%) with most (80%) needing 7-8 hours.

The 'uninterrupted' bit is important: four two-hour sleeps will not relax and refresh you as much as seven uninterrupted hours.

Some of the causes of sleep interruption are beyond correction (I explained the seven hour thing to our newborn, but she didn't alter her ways) but most are not.

Again, the important thing is self-knowledge: there are many factors which can interrupt sleep, and different people have different tolerances; you need to know what things disturb you and what don't. Examples include meal-times, diet, snoring, temperature, noise and light.

The 'regular' bit is also important. Irregular sleep reduces the effectiveness of your body clock, which – if operating well – can send you to dream-land with robotic reliability. This means that teachers may find it helpful NOT to adjust their sleeping patterns too much at weekends.

There are a number of websites which provide resources to assess how well your current sleep patterns work. Click here and/or here.

You should then consider gentle experimentation to modify your sleeping patterns to address any issues you have identified. Obvious things to consider include:

• the temperature of your bedroom

• warm baths before bedtime

• the noisiness your house

• the height of your pillows

• the softness of your mattress

• meditation or yoga

• relaxing music

• the timing of caffeine consumption (caffeine can affect sleep after several hours)

• consumption of alcohol (which helpfully sends you to sleep, but then sneakily wakes you up later to disrupt your rest)

• the timing of your evening meal (generally avoid eating in the last hour before sleep)

• the amount and timing of exercise (exercise: good idea; just before bedtime: bad idea)

You should also periodically check that you are getting the basics right; filling in a quiz in August does not guarantee good sleep in September. The 'basics' means going to sleep at the same time every day; avoiding day-time naps (especially in the classroom); not sleeping outside bed and not lying in bed without intending to sleep.

As far as possible, you should also try to avoid a sleep-stress cycle. This cycle involves being unable to sleep because you are worried about not being able to sleep. This means that if you are prone to waking up and staying awake in the middle of the night, you should not lie there worrying about it. You should have a pleasant routine ritual that you follow. Maybe some soothing music, some relaxation, and back to bed - following your bed-time ritual, when you feel ready.