13. Sleep! (from 13 Ways Teachers can Hack their learning)
Sleep! is part 13 of 13 Ways Teachers can Hack their learning.
From a motivation point of view, this is the easiest hack on the list. Practicality, however, gets in the way. Starting in August, teachers start to become more and more sleep deprived. They may not notice it, but it’s there. You’ll see the signs during the day: coffee consumption, crankiness, hunger, yawning, spacing out, and forgetfulness are just a few. What can you do to fix it?
- Set a go to bed alarm. Most of us will set an alarm to wake us up in the morning, but how many set an alarm to go to bed? We have a light on a timer switch in the living room, and the customary saying is “time to go to bed” when the light turns off.
- Keep the bedroom slightly cold. Humans sleep better in a slightly cold environment, somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees.
- Wear socks. Warm hands and feet will help you fall to sleep faster.
- Darken the room/wear a sleep mask. It’s amazing what a sleep mask will do for your quality of sleep.
- Limit electronic use before bed, and set your screens to change “temperature” at dusk. iPhones have Nightshift, which removes the blue light from your phone screen, turning it sort of brown. This helps you fall asleep. For the computer, there is F.lux. Both of these can be scheduled to turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn.
The effect is different than just turning down the brightness of the screen. But it does help your brain get your body ready for bedtime.
- Exercise regularly. Or number 12 on our list.
- Cut out caffeine in the afternoon.
