HOW TO QUIT: SABOTAGING YOUR SLEEP

If you start another episode of your favourite TV series at 1am with a hectic morning to come, you’re engaging in what sleep experts call ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’. People who delay bedtime know it will lead to negative consequences but do it anyway, says sleep medicine psychologist Dr Michelle Drerup. She says she’s had an influx of patients who fail to go to bed at a healthy hour despite facing zero barriers to doing so. Sound familiar? Try these techniques:

1 RETHINK YOUR SCHEDULE

Your late-night habits may be fuelled by not having enough free time. Take a hard look at your day to work in ‘me time’ long before bed.

2 SET A RECURRING MORNING ALARM Rather than prioritising a certain bedtime, focus on waking up at the same time every day so your body’s internal circadian clock will naturally create sleepy feelings at night.

3 TURN OFF AUTOPLAY Letting go of screens in bed is hard, but disabling the autoplay function on Netflix can help.

4 BLOCK YOURSELF Forest is an app that allows you to set a period of time when you commit not to use your phone/tablet. During that time, a digital plant will grow in the app. If you use your device at this time, Forest sends you a notification to get off the app or your plant will die!

Take steps (literally) to quit fighting. When someone ticks you off, walking away will give you a better perspective and lower the toll on your overall health. It doesn’t mean you have to be happy with the situation – it’s more about taking a breath to process and then to calmly problem-solve.