The holidays are a joyous time, but let’s face it, all that travel and celebrating can be exhausting! We’ve compiled some tips to help you stay rested and keep you singing fa-la-la-la-la instead of fa-fa-fa-fatigue.
Travel Tips
There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed, but during the holidays, chances are your squatting on someone else’s turf. Here are a few tips to get the best sleep you can while sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings.
If you’re staying in a hotel, ask for a room
far away from the elevator and all the noisy traffic it brings.
Bring an eye mask in case the curtains don’t darken
the room enough. Or, use clothespins or hairclips to hold the curtains closed.
Don’t forget the earplugs to block out the
celebrations in the room next door (wink wink J)!
Use your new Christmas socks or scarf to cover
up any light sources in the bedroom. All light is bad light when trying to
sleep.
If you’re staying at someone else’s home, let
your hosts know what time you would prefer to get up so that they know not to muzzle
the kids and not bother you before you’re ready.
If your hosts have pets (or young children),
keep the bedroom door closed to discourage them from entering and disturbing
your sweet slumber.
Bring your own pillow (especially if you have
allergies) to optimize your sleep and prevent a kink in your neck.
Travel with anti-histamines. They produce a
drowsy effect that can help you fall asleep when the house is noisy, and they
don’t have the addictive or narcotic effect of sleep medications.
If you use a C-Pap device, make sure you bring
it with you. There are travel versions available for easier packing.
Stick to a Schedule
Our bodies’ circadian rhythms crave routine, including a set sleeping schedule. However, if you find yourself invested in an all-night Christmas move marathon, or catching up with family and friends over one too many libations, a mid-day nap may be just what you need, but make sure you stick to the rules!
Limit your nap to 20-40 minutes to avoid
falling into a deep sleep or, commit to at least two hours so you can complete
a full sleep cycle and wake up back in the lighter stages.
No nap is too short. Sometimes a five-minute
nap is all you need to kick start the festivities all over again.
If you’re traveling
between time zones, there are more rules to follow.
If it’s a short trip (2-3 days) to see Aunt
Bertha and Uncle Herbert, or if you’re only travelling across one or two time
zones, stick to your home schedule. For example, if you normally go to bed at
11PM EST, make sure you still go to bed at 11PM EST even if it’s 9PM MST.
If it’s a longer trip (3+ days) or across
multiple time zones (hello jetlag!), slowly adapt your routine towards the time
at the new location that you’re headed to.
A few days prep can make all the difference!
Watch the Indulgence
The holidays are a time for indulgence and who are we kidding, most diets go out the window until the new year. However; what we eat and drink can have a big impact on our sleep.
Avoid late-night meals and snacking when our digestion is shut down.
Over-indulgence of alcohol especially 2-3 hours before you go to bed not only increase drowsiness, but significantly disrupt sleep patterns and the ability to get into deep recuperative sleep. It also wipes out your memory.
Alcohol also increases snoring by causing the throat muscles to relax.
Salty snacks can cause dehydration, which makes you feel tired.
Eat breakfast to help stay alert throughout the day.
Sugary snacks and beverage give a quick energy boost, but after 30 minutes, can makes us crash and burn.
Don’t Blame the Turkey!
We all know the turkey drug… Tryptophan! Yes, it makes you drowsy and has a calming effect, but only when the tryptophan is activated. So what activates tryptophan? Carbohydrates such as stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and all the lesser regarded dishes at the holiday feast that we overdose on. If you just ate turkey and nothing else, you would be alert enough to do the dishes after dinner instead of crashing in front of the TV within 5 minutes of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. So stop blaming the turkey.
Exercise
During the flurry of activities, set aside time to get out for some fresh air and exercise. Not only will it help keep the holiday pounds off, but it also does wonders to relieve stress and stabilize your body’s circadian rhythms for a better night’s sleep.
Finally, make sure you schedule in some quiet time for
yourself; catch up on a book or take a relaxing bath!
Before you know it,
the holidays will be over and you’ll need a vacation!
As Canadians, we sit back with beer in hand, (*insert team name here) hockey jersey on, orange-fingered and covered with the dust of cheezies (look it up), bemused as we channel surf during commercial breaks to catch glimpses of the chaos that is the American Presidential Election unfolding to the south of us.
I realize that we as outsiders should hold our opinions to ourselves. But come on… this is no ordinary election! Still, I will refrain from trashing/endorsing either candidate and instead, attempt to rationalize their behavior based on science. Ok, just Trump. I can’t explain Hillary.
As someone who specializes in fatigue management, perhaps I can shed some (blue) light on Trump’s communication style. Let’s look at the facts.
Fact #1. Last November, Trump eloquently bragged about his lack of need for sleep. “You know, I’m not a big sleeper,” he said. “I like three hours, four hours, I toss, I turn, I beep-de-beep, I want to find out what’s going on.”
Now we all like a good beep-de-beep now and again, but this lack of sleep has been an ongoing habit of his for over a decade. In 2004 in his bestselling book, Think Like a Billionaire, he wrote,
“Don’t sleep any more than you have to. I usually sleep about four hours per night.” There’s also been mention of him getting as little 90 minutes! Keep in mind that many groups use sleep deprivation as a form of mental torture.
There are two issues of concern with Trump’s slumber habits. First, he is not getting the essential amount of sleep for the brain and body to fully repair itself. The short term consequences will show up
in real time, such as impaired judgement (“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,“), trouble with complex decision making (“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”), reduced tolerances to stress and increased aggressiveness (“I’d like to punch him in the face”), and lack of memory consolidation (“I never said that”).
The long term consequences are even more devastating, with science now proving the link between restricted sleep and mood disorders, brain inflammation, and several dementias including the onset of Alzheimer’s.
And although research has yet to prove it, I’m sure there’s a connection to his hair.
Fact #2. Second, and by his own admission, he’s a twitter addict and famous for using technology in the middle of the night. All of our backlit devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, e-readers) use blue LED. While any light exposure at night is bad, blue wave length is especially damaging as it prevents the production of melatonin, our body’s natural sleep hormone. It’s what helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. So even if he wanted to get more sleep, it could be possible that he can’t, and now he just believes (erroneously, as most people do) that his body doesn’t actually need more sleep than what it’s allowing him.
Now I can’t say for sure whether or not this is the case with Donald, nor am I suggesting he’s using these devices every night. He may have blue-blocking apps that reduce the blue light effect, or maybe he wears sexy orange tinted glasses to bed while tweeting out his latest gems, but even those controls won’t eliminate the problem completely.
I suppose that we have to acknowledge that he could be one of the approximately 1% that carries a mutation of the DEC2 gene which plays an important role in regulating daily total sleep time requirements. These individuals have been known to function at the same level of most people but with needing only half the sleep to fully recuperate instead of 8 like the rest of us, but only for the short term. The science is quick to point out that there will still likely be long term consequences related to health impacts if this pattern continues over time.
Ok, so maybe he’s a mutant. Again, not saying there’s anything wrong with that unless you’re taller than a skyscraper and eating Manhattanites for breakfast. Just making a point.
In summary, I have attempted to explain why Donald Trump may be exhibiting extreme temperaments, poor memory, and unclear thoughts at times. As for Hilary, a wikileaks document from 2011 reveals that she is regarded by her staff as a “champion napper” and big on caffeine to boost her alertness. If so, the drug test that Trump is insisting on may reveal nothing more than overdose of Starbucks (think Tim Horton’s with twice the flavour but four times the cost). Rumor has it, she can afford it.
This is not a judgement on either one’s political skills or presidential aspirations. Who am I to judge someone else’s country? Remember, I’m Canadian.
I had the pleasure of presenting fatigue management concepts to the Occupational Safety and Health Cooperative Committee at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando. And yes, that’s my foot in the photo, proving I was there!
A huge shout out to Darcy Miller and Brian Gloade of NASA for inviting me to address such an important group of leaders, and for the once-in-a-lifetime behind the scenes tour. We’ve all witnessed that defining moment when, on the day of a launch, the astronauts exit through that infamous doorway littered with past mission stickers, smiling, waving, before being whisked away and strapped onto massive rockets that go where few, or no one, has gone before them.
To walk the path of the astronauts as they made their way onto a Mercury, Apollo or Space Shuttle flight was humbling. To view the remnants of the Apollo 1 disaster site, and the debris collected from Challenger and Columbia… words simply cannot describe their courage, or the bravery of those who marched forward from the footsteps left behind.
Such legacies continue to drive space exploration forward and human factors is front and center in ensuring the safety of these noble missions. Their Human Systems Integration Division is world leading in the areas of human performance, human computer interaction, and technology design for both in-flight and ground operations. But its the people, the spirit, the camaraderie that is their heart and soul, proudly displayed through such ways as the signature wall of every worker who has helped to launch a space shuttle.
In other news, the Canadian Space Agency is recruiting potential astronauts for two spots in its program. To date, they have received over 3300 applications. If only I was 30 years younger!
Twice you’ve dozed off at the wheel, only to wake up as you’re entering the ditch. You manage only 6 hours of sleep, if you’re lucky. Your back is killing you and you have the energy of a sea slug. You’re arguing more and more with your family and there’s a small nuclear reaction bubbling up in your stomach again (run, kids, run!). It never used to be this bad… what’s going on?
For many of us, it’s go, go, go, 24/7. We are cramming more into our busy world than ever, but how is it impacting our work, our family, and our own health and safety? Can we sustain the pace we’ve set for ourselves? Can companies?
Check out the link below to see what organizations are doing to combat the epidemic of fatigue.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
