Sleep Hygiene Tip of the Week: Don't "break" good sleep habits during Spring Break

Who doesn't love a vacation, even if you don't go anywhere? For people who are sleep deprived, any kind of break is always an invitation to catch up on sleep.

Kids, in particular (young ones, but also teens) look forward to not having to get up with the sun during Spring Break. They've become some of the most sleep-deprived of all Americans, especially adolescents, thanks to unnecessarily early school start times and normal shifts to a delayed sleep phase cycle that come with hormones increases and the brain's final neurological stage of development.

But is a week off from school really going to fix your kids' problems with sleep deprivation?

It really depends.

Long-distance vacation travel

If your kids (whatever age they are) are traveling across time zones, they will be jet lagged when they arrive and jet lagged when they get back. It will take the rough equivalent of the number of time zones traveled in nights to reset their rhythms.

So... if you traveled 3 time zones home on Sunday at the end of break, your kids will need 3 nights (and a concerted effort to stick to a normal sleep schedule) to adapt to a normal schedule again.

Solution: Underschedule them for the first three days back, have them return to their normal sleep schedule as soon as they are home, and stick with it until they are back to their usual and customary rhythms.

If a short nap helps in the afternoon, that's fine. But don't allow for late nights beyond their typical bed time until they have recovered from jet lag. And be prepared for irritable behavior and unusual eating patterns, which can be part of the side effects of jet lag.

Stay-cation 

If your kids are not traveling, but they are sleeping in until several hours past their normal rise times, be wary that this may force them to shift to a later bedtime because they simply won't be tired enough to go to bed if they sleep in so late.

And then, guess what? Spring Break is over, and they have to go back to that normal bedtime/rise time schedule again.

Solution: You don't have to get them out of bed at Oh-Dark-Thirty during Spring Break, but allow them an extra hour beyond their rise time.

So... if they normally get up at 6, let them sleep until 7. They can take a short nap during the day if that helps, but it will definitely make the return to school much easier at the end of their vacation.

Camping is the perfect Spring Break solution!

Sleeping under the stars with limited electronics and artificial light is a surefire way to reset your circadian rhythms to the more natural light-dark cycles.

A few days of hanging out in tents, roasting marshmallows, breathing fresh air, getting exercise, and going without handheld devices is worth its weight in gold. Your kids will be refreshed even if they initially resist the suggestion. Give it a try!

A final reminder

Spring Break means there are only a few weeks left of classes. Entering these last two months of classes sleep deprived is no way to end the school year.

Writes Christine Ritter for The Flare: "While it’s easy to fall back on Spring Break habits, such as sleeping in and going out instead of studying, there are still six weeks left that can affect the overall grade... There is plenty of time for a grade to go up a letter, or down, depending upon how someone utilizes the time." 

You may even remember experiencing "spring fever" yourself, as a kid, or "Senioritis" going into your final days before graduation. The drive to do anything but study is strong! But you can help your kids get a good recharge during Spring Break, improving their chances of staying focused, energized, and motivated to complete projects and study for key tests, which could include AP or SAT tests or other rigorous exams.

Of course, your kids won't necessarily like hunkering down when the smell of new-mown grass is in the air and the sky is full of birds and bees, but if you want to help keep them on track, start with making sure they stick to a decent sleep schedule.

Sleep Hygiene Tip of the Week: How to avoid social jet lag

You get up every weekday early, stay up late, and rack up some sleep debt between Monday and Friday.

Saturday and Sunday morning you sleep in, and you maybe even take a nap during the day.

Then Monday morning rolls around and you feel sleep deprived already, thanks to that early morning alarm.

Here you go again, another week of sleeping less than 7 hours a night, followed by a temporary catch up, then BOOM, the Monday morning blahs.

Does this sound familiar? If it does, then you belong to a large section (estimates run between 30 and 60 percent) of our population experiencing what is known as social jet lag. 

We all know jet lag as a disruption of our sleep (circadian) rhythms that's caused by traveling across several time zones, leaving us out of sync. Social jet lag also desynchronizes our rhythms, but without the vacation or business trip built in.

Social jet lag, also known as Monday morning blues, is what happens when we short ourselves of sleep over a period of time, then sleep extensively for a couple of days to "make up" for lost sleep, only to put ourselves at risk for renewed sleep deprivation when we start the cycle all over again.

Like yo-yo dieting, sleep habits that promote social jet lag, when practiced on a regular basis, aren't harmless. Misaligned circadian rhythms increase your risk for diabetes, obesity, and depression. They can also put you at higher risk for drowsy driving, poor performance while on the job, and relationship struggles due to irritability, absentmindedness, and mood swings.

If you have always been a morning lark or a night owl, you have a well established chronotype. This means your circadian rhythms represent the characteristics of one of these two common sleeping patterns.

If you know your chronotype, find ways to honor it if you are able. For instance, if you have any flexibility in your work schedule, take advantage of it. More companies than ever have instituted flex time plans or can grant you adjusted working hours if it means you will get better sleep; a well-slept employee is a successful one. It may mean you go to work earlier and leave earlier, or start your day later and work later.

How to avoid social jet lag by focusing on sleep hygiene

• Go to bed at a decent hour, allowing yourself at least 8 hours to capture a full night's sleep (so, if you must get up at 530am, then go to bed at 9 or 930pm for best results)
• Get up at around the same hour everyday, even on weekends (your circadian rhythms will appreciate it!)
• Spend more time out of doors, especially in the morning. A blast of natural light every morning makes for an easy circadian reset
• If you work indoors every day, find a good source of natural light or use a full-spectrum lamp in the morning at your desk to help support daytime wakefulness, which will help improve evening sleepiness after the sun goes down
• Keep your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet to maximize your sleep environment
• Put your phone or other handheld gadget away an hour before bedtime to prevent exposure to blue spectrum light, which can interfere with circadian system processes which help improve melatonin release in the evening

Learn more about social jet lag

Check out a great infographic on social jet lag here at BizBrain.

Here's a basic abstract on the roots and definition of social jet lag from Chronobiology International.

Huffington Post has numerous articles on social jet lag archived here.

A scientist from Germany has put together this interesting short video on body clocks that help explain social jet lag.

The diagram below illustrates the timeline for a normal circadian rhythm. Note that melatonin (the sleep hormone) is secreted at around 9pm and stops around 730am. Remember, blue light exposure during this time will wreak havoc on your ability to fall asleep, as this kind of light essentially shuts down melatonin production and release. This is the reason why the backlit screen on your electronic tablet, handheld game or cell phone should be turned off at night. If you struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep, this bedtime habit just may be the culprit.

NORMAL CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS