Stop Falling Asleep On The Sofa: get a good bed, hide the alarm clock
1 in 20 teens fall asleep on the sofa every night, a survey by Archers Sleepcentre has revealed.
The survey, of 90 Glasgow school pupils also showed that 50% of teens fall asleep on the sofa at least once a month.
Easy to dose off on the couch but impossible to get to sleep in bed. Sound familiar? Dubbed as a ‘mind-over-matter’ issue, it’s often hard to sympathise with someone who wont just get up and go to bed.
But could there be more to it?
Different things are thought to cause this kind of environmental insomnia, and in finding the source of a problem it becomes easier to resolve it.
Room Association. Having your desk in your bedroom can make your sub conscious mind relate the room with work and pressure. The lounge is for lounging (reading a book, watching TV etc.) and so it’s easy to feel calm, and sleep comes more easily.
All of the teens in the survey are sitting exams this year so books lying around the room is likely.
A possible remedy here is to split the room in two. Work stays in one half, and sleep in the other. If the two don’t mingle the association might split as well. This means ensuring that the half with your bed is totally reserved for relaxation; no stress and no paper work allowed.
Poor Quality Mattress. Having a bed less comfy than your sofa is obviously going to disrupt how you sleep. There is no set time period for a beds lifetime, but the likelihood is that if you’re waking with aches and pains you need a new one.
50% of the survey teens already have a double bed, so it’s not all just about size.
Firm mattresses, in general, give more support but it’s about finding the right mattress for you. Make sure you try before you buy.
Clock Watching. Getting stressed about not sleeping, funnily enough, doesn’t help you sleep. It’s quite common to wake up in the transition between deep REM sleep and the lighter stages, which happens around every 90 minutes. Most people simply roll over and drift off again, however.
The same situation arises when transferring from sofa to bed, and what not to do is start staring at the clock. Lying feeling anxious about sleeping has a totally detrimental effect.
Spending fifteen minutes doing something relaxing (reading, listening to music etc.) and NOT thinking about sleep is often all it takes to help you drift off again.
No Routine. Creating a habit can help your body realise when it’s time to go to sleep, which puts you in control of when to go to bed, not to sofa.
From the survey, only 21% of teens sleep right through the night and this could be down to the same problem. Erratic sleeping habits make you more likely to dose and wake intermittently.
This means when you get up from the sofa your body thinks that it’s time to get up and won’t let you sleep when you get in bed. Persevering with a set bed time and wake time can pay off in the long term.
Uncomfortable Bedding. A sagging pillow and lumpy duvet aren’t going to help you fall asleep. Discomfort is an obvious one, but if you’re having problems falling asleep in your bed you have to make it as appealing as possible.
A quarter of the survey teens still share their bed with a toy. In fact, 44% of girls and 11% of boys. It seems like something to cuddle doesn’t always help, but something to comfort you isn’t that bad an idea.
“I miss when I was a kid and if you fell asleep on the sofa, you magically woke up in bed.” These words from one of our admin workers might sum up how we all feel. But since being carried to bed is now a far-gone option, maybe these tips can help you get a good night’s sleep.
Archers Sleepcentre recommends:
Silentnight Prestige Limited Edition Double Mattress
Dreamfinder Luxury Quilted Visco Pillow
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Tags: High Quality Mattresses
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