Back-to-school tired: how to avoid the shock
The second week back is the worst of all, and sleeping in on weekends is catastrophic... What good habits can you adopt to prepare for your return to work?
When it comes to sleep, we're not all equal, but some good habits after the summer vacations are universal.
Back-to-school season is always a time for paying close attention to children's biological rhythms, and we're quick to forget that adults need to take it easy too! "It's sometimes harder for them to get back to work after the summer break than it is for children. As we get older, past the age of 45 or 50, it's a challenge to resynchronize, because the biological clock is less flexible", confirms Damien Davenne, chronobiologist at the University of Caen and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institut national du sommeil et de la vigilance.
The biological clock is that small structure nestled in the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which sets the tempo for the entire organism. Programmed on a 24-hour cycle, it synchronizes itself throughout the year according to perceived light intensity and the alternation of day and night. This is what will determine whether or not we return to the office in top form.
A more complicated return for certain profiles
Adults are not all equal when it comes to the rhythms imposed by their professional lives or their children's schooling. "Each of us lives under the influence of his or her chronotype. The biological clock is not set the same for everyone on the time scale", explains Damien Davenne. Some people are genetically programmed to be "night owls" or "early risers", while others have intermediate profiles. The latter are the most numerous. "Almost 50% of the population naturally fall asleep between 11 p.m. and midnight, and wake up around 7 or 8 a.m." continues Damien Davenne.
No one decides to be a "morning person" or an "evening person"; it's a profile you have to live with. "It doesn't matter whether you want to or have to fight your chronotype all your life. And when the vacations are over, it's the 'night owls' who suffer the most," says the researcher. During the vacations, their chronotype has naturally led them to drift towards nights starting around 2 a.m. and ending at 9 or 10 a.m.. While intermediate profiles are not spared, these "night owls" have to be more rigorous than the others to get back on track.
Waking up: the key to successful synchronization
But when should you start preparing for back-to-school? A week to ten days before is the ideal time. Those who want to prolong their summer lifestyle at all costs should plan for at least two or three nights of acclimatization before the big day, to limit the damage. "Waking up is the key to successful resynchronization. To achieve effective resynchronization, you have to be uncompromising with yourself, and slowly but surely move up the time you leave your bed by a quarter to half an hour every day," explains Damien Davenne. And there's no question of lying there half-awake after turning off the alarm - you really have to get up.
The biggest mistake of all would be to pile on sleeping in before the start of the new school year, imagining that you're building up a stockpile of sleep - a bit like stocking up on food in anticipation of difficult days ahead. "It's a counter-productive method, because the body's most restorative hours are those at the start of the night," explains the scientist.
Don't sleep in on weekends
If you want to keep going in the long term, you mustn't rely on sleeping in. They are a brutal reminder to our biological clock that it has made a mistake in its wake-up time for the rest of the week. The body will pay for this for several days. For example, waking up after 10 or 11 a.m. on Sunday sabotages your Monday wake-up call, leaving you feeling tired. "Hence the classic expression 'it's going like a Monday' around the office coffee machine", jokes the chronobiologist. This disruptive effect on the biological clock is even more pronounced on Tuesday mornings. We often have to wait until Wednesday to finish paying for the negative effects of sleeping in on our state of morning freshness.
Once you've failed, you've got to keep going!
The secret to keeping fatigue at bay is simply to maintain a regular sleep pattern. Our nights are not elastic at will. "Good health is synonymous with a constant sleep-wake cycle that doesn't derail the biological clock. Many adults are unaware of this, or have not fully appreciated the influence of regular nights on their general state of health. We're talking about daily cognitive and physical performance, as well as the risk of long-term development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and even cancers," adds the chronobiologist.
Fortunately, there's about an hour's leeway to allow yourself a mini lie-in, without putting your biological clock out of sync. For example, you can wake up at 8 a.m. on weekends instead of 7 a.m. on weekdays, without paying the price the following days.
The second week, the most tiring
The start of the new school year isn't necessarily the hardest time to get through. In fact, "fatigue is more likely to be felt in the second week following the end of the vacations. The after-effects of the change of pace are felt with a slight delay", warns Damien Davenne. Fortunately, this is a transitory state. If you rely on regular sleep, you'll soon be back in shape.
Just as there are recommendations for establishing a bedtime ritual to help you fall asleep, you need to think about adopting an awakening ritual that will keep the biological clock running: don't drag yourself into bed, stretch out, have a coffee, sit by the window, or even take a quick walk outside in the garden... The clock perceives daylight in the morning, and thus calculates the period of wakefulness and sleep we'll need. In the evening, it will send sleep signals, such as itchy eyes, a slight drop in body temperature, and so on.
Think quickly about your next vacation
Without always realizing it, the months of October and November are the time of year when our bodies most need a vacation. With the combination of shorter days and the switch to winter time, our biological clock is put to the test. Our bodies adapt by demanding more sleep. In our latitudes, we may need to increase the length of our nights by one or two hours until February. In the Far North, the Inuit have extremely short nights in summer - just a handful of hours - then adopt very long sleeps, up to fourteen hours in a row, in the depths of winter. So, depending on their environment, humans undergo a natural adaptation process. Even if we find it hard to accept in our modern societies. As fatigue sets in in autumn, many don't have the instinct to simply go to bed earlier.
Generally speaking, "we should alternate seven weeks of activity followed by ten days of vacation. That would be ideal," says Damien Davenne. In the meantime, don't hold back on planning your next vacation. On the contrary! An American study confirms that people who plan ahead are the happiest. The feeling grows as the long-awaited date approaches. Thinking about your next "off" days, leafing through travel guides, putting an option on a ticket or selecting hotels, is a sure-fire way to happiness and rest.