Holidays are synonymous with leaving routines behind, changing schedules, habits, and responsibilities. Our relationship with sleep completely changes during vacations: we forget about the alarm clock, take naps without hesitation, and go to bed late. This also alters our “sleep routine.”
However, sleep is a “rhythmic” process, a biorhythm, and therefore requires repeating sleep-related processes regularly. When we return to our routine, we must readjust that rhythm, and we often have trouble falling asleep. This makes waking up more difficult, leading to tiredness, irritability, drowsiness, and a low mood in our daily lives.
To minimize the effects of the “post-vacation syndrome,” CreuBlanca offers some tips for both children and adults to adapt to the return of the sleep routine in the healthiest way possible in the days leading up to returning to work or school:
- Go to bed early: Try to adapt to your usual bedtime. This will reset your body clock, making it easier to adjust to the change. Ideally, adults should set their bedtime according to the time they need to wake up, considering that adults should sleep more than 7 hours a day for good health. For children and teenagers, the number of hours of sleep per day depends on their age, as indicated in the provided table:
- Establish fixed meal times: The time you eat affects your internal clock, so try to have meals at the same time to maintain your internal clock and regulate your sleep.
- Control your diet: Eating and drinking excessively before bedtime affects sleep cycles. If you plan to have a heavy dinner or consume alcohol, try to do so at least three hours before going to bed. Also, avoid caffeine in the afternoon.
- Resume physical activity: It will help improve your mood and sleep quality. However, avoid exercising close to bedtime, as it can have the opposite effect.
- Incorporate moments of relaxation: Activities like reading (using a paper book and dim light), meditation, yoga, and listening to soft music promote relaxation and better sleep by reducing stress and improving the mood.
- Digital detox: An hour before bedtime, avoid watching TV or using a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. These devices emit intense light that “tricks our brain” into thinking it’s still daytime.
- Adjust your surroundings’ light: In the morning, expose yourself to light as soon as possible to “alert” your body. In the evening, dim the lights in your home at least an hour before bedtime to facilitate better sleep.
- Get enough sleep: Ensure you sleep enough hours for a good rest. The recommended duration is between 8 and 10 hours for children and more than 7 hours for adults.
- If you can’t sleep, don’t look at the clock: According to experts, doing so activates the brain as you inevitably count the remaining hours of sleep, causing anxiety about the inability to sleep.
- If you haven’t fallen asleep after about 20 minutes in bed, get up and engage in a relaxing activity for 10-15 minutes, such as reading a book in the living room, looking out the window, or listening to calming music. Avoid using computers, tablets, phones, or other screens. After this “adjustment or reset” time, go back to bed and try to fall asleep again. Repeat this process if you still can’t fall asleep.
Neurology specialists at CreuBlanca recommend following these habits in general, especially in the days leading up to returning to the routine, to train our brains to adapt gradually to work schedules, thereby avoiding negative effects on mood and health.