Why I’ll sacrifice my sleep for the football
Accepted. Sleep House has not seen too much sleep over the past few weeks – what with hot weather and the World Cup.
I’m not a massive football fan, but I’m massively patriotic, so I’m writing this, sitting here in red, white and blue…
And there is part of me that doesn’t want to write this blog – after all, I’m one of the loudest supporters cheering at the England team as they progress through the World Cup. I’m not poo-pooing their performance – goodness no. However, whether they lose or win, I know it will impact my sleep.
When we win 😉 I’ll have a few cheeky drinkies and as we know, alcohol might make you fall asleep faster, but that sleep is really poor quality – hence you wake up feeling unrested, and with the munchies. If we lose, there will be some commiseratory drinkies and the same will apply.
So, is it just me that will drink too much? Maybe the current CO2 shortage impacting beer supply is a good thing to coincide with this worldwide tournament!
Even if beer isn’t your thing, any alcohol will do the same.
But even if I gave up the alcohol, my anxiety levels are pretty high… peaking for the 90 minutes (plus stoppages) of the match… and that hormone change has an impact, particularly important for those evening matches!
So, what can we do about this?
- Reduce the alcohol, have lower alcohol versions – this is a good idea anyway so we don’t dehydrate with the higher temperatures. Intersperse alcohol with long soft drinks.
- Try to compensate – on the nights off from football, have no alcohol, and try to get more rest – you probably can’t control your wake time (employers like us turning up), so control your bedtime. Try to control your bedroom temperature. It sounds counter-intuitive, but only open the windows early morning and the evening to get cooler air in the house, and for most of the day keep the curtains/blinds drawn and windows closed to keep the heat out and that cooler air in.
Some people will say “naaaaa” and stay with the multiple drinks and not worry about the headache. If you decide to live with the tiredness tomorrow, the munchies and the slightly tighter waistband from ‘wasted’ calories (should that be ‘waisted’?) then consider adopting point two above!
Also remember that if you consume alcohol, you’re more likely to snore – so expect a few extra bruises on the ribs from the other half! [Find out how to reduce snoring here]
I’m going to try 1 and 2 and accept that my sleep is not going to be as good as it could be for a while.
I’ll also book in time for early nights and to recover in-between.
Come on England… I’ll gladly sacrifice my sleep on this occasion to support our World Cup campaign!
(And hope for the magic sponge to cool me down during this heatwave!)
