Struggling to get a good night’s sleep? Well, there’s a solid chance you aren’t listening to your sleep language.
Let us explain – according to clinical sleep psychologist Dr Shelby Harris and sleep and meditation app Calm, we could bag ourselves a better night’s sleep by identifying what our sleep language is and then tailoring our bedtime routine around it.
According to the sleep expert, the five sleep languages are:
The Gifted Sleeper
The Words of Worry Sleeper
The Routine Perfectionist Sleeper
The Too Hot To Handle Sleeper
The Light As A Feather Sleeper
“Being able to identify which (or a combination of) categories you fall into will help you know where to focus your efforts to improve your sleep”, says Harris.
“Basic sleep hygiene is always helpful for everyone, but certain techniques might be more important to focus on than others from the outset given your particular sleep style.”
Read on to find out yours and discover what your ideal bedtime should look like (and probably get a serious sleep hygiene reality check).
Words of Worry Sleeper - The one whose anxious thoughts keep them up at night
The ‘Words of Worry Sleeper’ has a busy brain at night, filled with “what ifs” and “shoulds”. This person frequently reports trouble with turning off their brain in order to fall asleep, or they wake up in the middle of the night with a busy brain that wasn’t there earlier in the evening.
These can be random thoughts or worries about things going on in life and in the future, whether based in reality... or not.
Ideal sleep scenario: The ideal sleep situation for the ‘Words of Worry Sleeper’ is a strong wind-down routine, giving time to quiet the brain and body before bed. Keep the room quiet, dark, cool and comfortable. While some scented oils and sprays might not be a sleep cure, lavender has been proven helpful to relax the brain and body, allowing you to better set the stage for sleep.
The Gifted Sleeper - The one who can sleep anywhere, anytime
The ‘Gifted Sleeper’ often prides themselves on their ability to fall asleep easily in any situation. They get right into bed and fall asleep, but also they might love to nap during the day.
Ideal sleep scenario: The ‘Gifted Sleeper’ often feels they can sleep anywhere, no matter the circumstances. While that might be true, it is still best to optimise your sleep (and remember, perfect sleep isn’t always a guarantee!) by keeping your bedroom quiet, dark, cool and comfortable as often as possible.
The Routine Perfectionist Sleeper - The one with the regimented routine
The ‘Routine Perfectionist Sleeper’ tends to be very rigid about behaviours and situations surrounding their sleep, and they typically fear a bad night of sleep. If something is outside of their typical routine at night they worry they won’t be able to get to sleep, and their anxiety about sleep can even keep them up.
Ideal sleep scenario: While you want to follow proper sleep hygiene (a cool, dark, quiet room is ideal), having a focus on “perfect” conditions can actually heighten your worry about sleep. Instead, work to be OK with things not always being perfect, like when you travel for example, to help alleviate your worries. Find a mattress comfortable to you, bedding you like, a dark room. But don’t be too tied down to it in case something changes!
The ‘Too Hot To Handle’ Sleeper - The one who overheats
This sleeper often wakes up covered in sweat and finds it hard to fall or stay
asleep as a result of being too hot. We frequently see this sleeper style in women going through peri/menopause and having hot flashes. Sometimes you might even go to bed feeling comfortable - or even cold! - and then, you wake up in the middle of the night in sweat or throwing off your covers.
Ideal sleep scenario: The best sleep situation for The ‘too hot to handle’ Sleeper is to have a really cool bedroom and sweat-wicking layers for clothing and sheets/comforters. Also, if you run warm and your bed partner is cold, have two twin-sized comforters on the bed instead of one large one, so you each get what you need. Put a large coverlet over the comforters in the morning to help the bed look more cohesive. There are cooling mattress pads you can purchase
as well as mattresses that don’t hold onto as much heat.
The Light as a Feather Sleeper - The restless sleeper who is always tired
The ‘Light as a Feather Sleeper’ may sleep through the night, but find their sleep isn’t ever “deep” enough. They wake up feeling drained and like they didn’t get the benefits of a full night’s sleep. This could be due to a number of reasons, whether substances / medications are lightening your sleep, not prioritising sleep or even sleep disorders such as sleepwalking/sleep talking, restless legs or teeth grinding.
Ideal sleep scenario: Here you want to make sure you have a cool, dark, quiet room and a comfortable mattress. Since you might be more sensitive to light and sound, it is best to really to mitigate any of those issues - as well as finding a mattress that is really comfortable for you and a bed partner.