Questions About Sleep

Questions About Sleep

By Leo Babauta

Let’s put it simply: If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t be motivated to change any other habits or get any important work done. You’ll be less motivated to exercise and eat right.

Sleep changes everything.

And so, as we work on the Wake Early Habit, we need to talk about sleep.

When you start waking early, you’re changing your sleep patterns, and that brings up a number of issues:

That’s a lot to talk about! But we’ll keep the answers simple, don’t worry.

Let’s dive into these questions.

Q: What happens if you can’t go to sleep earlier?

Leo: Give yourself time to adjust. This is why I suggest only 10 minutes earlier at first, or 20 minutes at the most. I also find that exercising during the day helps get me tired so that I really want to sleep at night. And giving myself 30-45 minutes to unwind and read helps as well. Finally, try my insomnia method — it really seems to work.

Q: What happens if you have to stay up for social or work reasons one night?

Leo: Almost no one has a completely consistent schedule — sometimes we go out with friends, or have a late work night that throws us off our routine. Or there’s family emergency that keeps you up late. That’s OK — you’ll be a little thrown off your new waking habit, but you can adjust. It usually takes a couple days to get back on track if you have to stay up late.

There are a couple methods of handling a late night — my usual method, if I can get at least 5-6 hours of sleep, is to still try to wake early but maybe give myself an extra 30-60 minutes instead of trying to wake up exactly at the usual time. This leaves me a bit tired but I try to stay up or perhaps take a 20-minute nap so that I’m tired at night and ready to sleep. By the next morning, I’m mostly back on track.

The other method is to just sleep in after a late night. That’s fine too, and you’ll be well rested, which is good. It’ll just be a little harder getting to sleep the next night, but you’ll adjust after a couple of nights probably.

Q: What happens if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go to sleep?

Leo: I do this a lot when I start going to bed earlier — wake up in the middle of the night, wide awake. I’ll usually just try to lie there and close my eyes and think of all the things I did the day before, in detail, starting from when I woke up. Or I’ll do breathing meditation, lying with my eyes closed. Sometimes this doesn’t work because something is going through my head, so I write it down on paper and that helps get it off my head. Other times I’ll read (with a booklight that doesn’t disturb Eva).

Whatever you do, just know that this isn’t anything to stress out about. It’s a small bump in the road and you’ll adjust with time.

Q: What do you do if you wake up too early (like 4:30am when you planned on 6:30)?

Leo: Actually, I like to just get up, unless I’m super tired (and then I’ll try to go back to bed). If I feel wide awake really early, I’ll get up and start doing some work. I see this as bonus time. It means I’ll probably be really tired later, but that’s OK. I might take a short nap in the afternoon, or just tough it out and stay awake until bedtime, and by that time I’m exhausted and I fall asleep easily.

Again, this little irregularity isn’t that uncommon, and it’s a small bump that will smooth out with time as you adjust to your new schedule.

Q: What if you take a nap in the afternoon and then can’t go to sleep at night?

Leo: Just do your best to sleep, using some of the methods I mentioned above (meditation, reading a book, etc.). Don’t stress out about it. You’ll adjust.

Q: What if you travel?

Leo: This can be difficult. I’m planning on traveling this month and so I’m planning ahead a little. Here’s how I’m handling it:

  1. I’m going to give myself a break for a couple of travel days. I’m crossing the International Date line, which really messes me up. That means I’m not going to worry about when I wake up for at least 2 days.
  2. I’ll try to stay awake when I get to my destination, so that I get a reasonable bed time.
  3. I’ll give myself a few days of waking up earlier and earlier, and trying to have a good bed time.

This means I’ll be messed up for at least 3-4 days of adjustment, but that’s OK. And I’ll have to adjust when I come back home too.

Q: How do you deal with a sleep deficit?

Leo: I like to take a 20-30-minute nap in the afternoon, and/or stay awake for as long as possible before collapsing exhausted at bedtime. Sometimes if my sleep deficit is really big I’ll let myself sleep in one morning, to catch up, and then try to get back on track that night with the proper bedtime.

Q: What if a weekend or holiday changes your routine?

Leo: I try to stay fairly consistent on weekends (still get up early), but I understand that social stuff can change your routine. It’s not ideal, but go ahead and sleep in a bit if you stayed up late. Then adjust back to your normal schedule as soon as you can.

Q: What do you do if you keep falling back to sleep in the morning after getting up?

Leo: That’s OK. I used to get up, really tired, and try to do some reading or work, and then fall back to asleep within an hour. I did this for almost a week but eventually adjusted.

Sleep takes time to adjust. You’ll have a bunch of little hiccups along the way. You’ll have irregularities in your routine. Just know that this all smoothes out over time. Give it time, and keep at it. Be forgiving. Change gradually. It’ll come.