As a housesitter staying in other people’s homes it can be hard to sleep. Managing your sleep cycles is especially difficult when away from home an in unfamiliar beds. Here are some top tips on managing sleep cycles when housesitting, away from home.

How To Stabilize The Number Of Your Sleep Cycles When House Sitting

Establishing a sleeping routine is extremely important no matter how old you are. However, it’s much harder than you might think as an adult! This, mixed with you changing your surroundings when housesitting, it can disrupt your sleeping schedule. People tend to take longer to fall asleep nowadays. There are so many digital distractions that keep us alert, later.  On top of that it is hard to sleep in someone else’s house and in a strange bed! Thankfully there are a lot of tips to help you get back on track. You can improve the quality of your sleep in general. Here’s how to stabilize the number of your sleeping cycles when house sitting! 

What are sleep cycles?

Basically, every night your body goes through multiple sleep cycles instead of sleeping for the entirety of the night. Although, you might not even notice, these cycles are happening subconsciously every night! The first sleep cycle often lasts for about 80 to 100 minutes. While others tend to last for about an hour and a half. This means that everyone goes through at least six to seven sleep cycles in a night! That being said, your sleep depends on a variety of factors. These include age, your level of activity during the day, possible sleeping disorders, change of environment, and sleeping habits in general.

However, even when sleeping at another person’s house, there are ways you can improve your sleep. Start by addressing your sleeping habits. Then get used to the changes without being stressed about it!

What influences your sleep

There are so many influences that can change your sleeping pattern entirely. It’s not uncommon for people to become light sleepers or have trouble falling asleep when staying at a different house. It can be stressful even on a subconscious level. So even if you are completely fine with sleeping in an entirely new environment, your body might not be! If you feel like your body is not well-rested or you just have trouble sleeping in someone else’s bed, change your habits. Adapt to the new environment to get as much sleep as your body needs in order to function properly! Small changes might throw you off and mess up your sleep quality, but at the same time it’s nothing unusual and unsolvable, you just need to find the root of your problem! 

How to stabilize them

Your main goal is to pay attention to your sleeping cycles. First, make sure you aren’t disturbed in your sleep to get the best results. By tracking and adjusting your sleeping schedule, you can fix your sleeping problem,. At the very least you can make a plan for the best time to lay down! One option is to use this sleep cycle calculator to find out when’s the perfect time to fall asleep. Then again for when you should wake up. Again, it all depends on your preferences, that’s why you should try to calculate it. There is no universal, one size fits all sleeping pattern! It is a highly individual thing. Focus on improving the basics of your own sleeping schedule. That way you can expect a better quality sleep each night, regardless of where you are sleeping!

How to adjust

House sitting might seem like an easy job. You stay in someone’s home making sure that everything on the property is running smoothly! But it can be extremely stressful at the same time, especially if you’re an anxious sleeper who can’t get used to new spaces to sleep in. This can be both on the conscious and subconscious level. Some people just always wake up tired without even knowing why. But it all comes down to fixing your sleeping schedule and tailoring it to your needs. So you need to be managing your sleep cycles carefully to make sure you are rested.

Also if there are other likely reasons why you lose sleep.  Perhaps it is the comfort of the bed itself or the fact that you have to sleep with pets in someone else’s house? These changes might not seem drastic. However, you can definitely feel the change in your subconscious level. It translates into your physical body – like being tired and feeling like you haven’t slept at all. 

Additional habits to include

There are always things you can include to better your sleep like filtering the air before going to bed, drinking tea, and reading a book that will make you fall asleep better. Above all else, putting your phone down for at least half an hour before closing your eyes to sleep is a must if you want to sleep well! Stabilizing your number of sleep cycles means not waking up every few minutes after you fall asleep! You need to fall into a deep sleep and not wake up for some time, rather than waking up and cutting the sleeping cycles in half. You’ll just feel more and more tired in the long run. So your main priority is just adapting to the environment and trying all the given methods you can, in order to better your sleep! 

The consequences

There are a lot of consequences you can face if you continue to ignore your sleeping duties – starting from the obvious, you’ll just be more stressed, being tired never feels good! This is especially important when you’re expected to look after someone’s home when they are away, but also who likes being tired after all! Sleeping in someone else’s home is hard on its own, the least you can do for yourself is to get some proper rest time! So make sure to follow the progress and downhills of your sleeping habits, that way you’ll know your strengths and weaknesses. 

A final note on managing sleep cycles when housesitting

It’s easier said than done, right? But in all actuality, this is extremely important, regardless of the age and activity levels, you should rest during the night and let the sleeping cycles do their thing! Quality sleep is definitely underrated nowadays, with all the tight schedules from work and uni, you want to get more sleep anywhere you can get! Start with the basics, know what caused your problem, seek professional help if needed, and if your restlessness is caused by changing the environment – just adapt to it! Also, use natural methods by calculating the time when you should go to bed and wake up – it will certainly refresh you!

FURTHER READING FOR HOMEOWNERS & PETOWNERS

At Housesitmatch.com we like to offer useful and practical articles on topics for our readers. In this selection we offer you a number of suitable pieces from our own blog on renovating and decorating a home.

A way to relax and sleep – Tips

Top Tips – How to improve your sleep at night

Delight house guests with their room

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities