Millennials are shown to be the most prevalent age group to sleep longer during the weekends. This is due to them being sleep-deprived during the weekdays because the millennials do not have enough time allocated for sleep as a result of lifestyle choices or everyday commitments such as work obligations. Millennials have to work and face a lot of stress and are also very dependent on their technological devices like phones and laptops, thus resulting in them having sleep deprivation.
The two ways to help them change their sleep habits without making changes to their health beliefs are creating a relaxing bedtime routine and writing their plans, thoughts, and feelings in a journal.
Firstly, creating a relaxing bedtime routine helps them quickly transition to sleep, thus enabling them to change their sleep habits. They can do so by limiting the use of their electronic devices that emit blue light at least an hour before bed and also do relaxing activities. The millennials will then be able to sleep earlier and have a better sleep and wake up ready to have a productive day with sufficient and quality sleep.
Millennials find it very tempting to scroll through their devices especially phones right before sleeping which results in their mind being psychologically engaged, shift of circadian rhythm and suppression of melatonin production, making it harder to fall asleep. They can consider methods such as putting their devices such as smartphones, laptops further away from their bedside – increasing the distance between the devices and the bed, for example, putting them on the desk decreases the chances of using them before or during bedtime, setting time limits for apps that they frequently use, setting an alarm to remind them when to get ready for bed, turn on the “Do Not Disturb” mode which turns off all the notifications from incoming calls, emails, and messages except from some of our important/close contacts in case of an emergency, and getting an old fashioned alarm clock to put at the bedside instead of using their phones as a alarm clock. All these methods can help to limit the use of the electronic devices that emit blue light before bedtime. They can also practice relaxing activities such as reading a book or doing some meditation before bed. These methods will allow their minds to relax and go to sleep, thus changing the sleep habits of millennials.
Secondly, writing out their plans, thoughts, and feelings in a journal helps them to clear their mind, manage their stress and worries. Going to bed with a clear and empty mind will help them to sleep more willingly and faster. They can write things in their journals like what they are thinking about, what is bothering them and a to-do list. Once they wrote down everything, they can recognise the source of their issues and come up with a plan to address their sources of stress, and also get organised, setting priorities and resolving them tomorrow. This method will help to resolve the worries and concerns that they have before sleeping and also address their thoughts in a faster way, keeping them for tomorrow and not dwelling on them during bedtime, thus allowing them to sleep more and better.
In conclusion, it is hard to change the way they perceive their sleep behaviour, the nature of work practices and the amount of stress they are dealing with, but they can change the sleep habits that they are practicing with some perseverance as these habits are completely within their control.
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