From realsimple.com
By Elizabeth Yuko
A consistent daily schedule may do more for your mood and aches than you’d expect
Key Takeaways
- According to a recent study, older adults with consistent times for waking, eating, socializing, and sleeping reported less pain and fewer depressive symptoms, whether or not they had insomnia.
- Predictable habits give daily life anchors, make changes in behaviour easier to notice, and free up mental energy for things that feel meaningful.
- Experts suggest keeping a consistent wake-up time on weekdays and weekends, getting morning daylight, and holding on to a few weekday constants to avoid “social jet lag.”
While it’s important to be flexible and go with the flow when necessary, there’s also something to be said for having a routine. In addition to making life simpler and more streamlined, the predictability of keeping a regular daily schedule may also help reduce stress. And as it turns out, it may do even more than that.
According to the findings of a new study, sticking to a schedule may help reduce pain and depression—especially for older adults with insomnia. More specifically, the researchers learned that having a set routine—with consistent times—for waking, eating, socializing, and sleeping improved people’s well-being, even if their sleep quality wasn’t the best. Here’s what to know about the science behind schedules, and how to limit the effects of so-called “social jet lag.”
The Unexpected Benefits of Having a Routine
In this study, published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, researchers expected to find a relationship between insomnia and behavioural social rhythms, but the findings did not support this. “They did, however, find a connection between behavioural social rhythms and other health risks, including pain levels, BMI, and depressive symptoms,” says Eric Willmarth, PhD, director of the applied psychophysiology program at Saybrook University. “In short, high regularity in daily schedules, such as bedtime, meals, and other social activities is associated with fewer depressive symptoms, less reported pain, and lower BMI.”
It’s important to keep in mind that the study isn’t saying, “Have a perfect routine and your pain or depression will go away.” Rather, it found that older adults with more regularity in things such as sleep, meals, and social activity also tended to report less pain and depressive symptoms.
“What interested me was that this relationship existed whether or not somebody had insomnia,” says Giulia P. Davis, LMFT, licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Mycelia Therapy. “The study is small and cross-sectional, so we can’t say the routine caused these improvements, but it does reinforce something I see clinically: Our brains and bodies generally do better when they know what to expect.”
As people get older, their daily routines become important because so much of what previously organized people’s lives—like work and raising children—is no longer taking up their time. “People have a lot more ‘free’ time than they used to,” Davis says. “Routines provide anchors in daily life that can support sleep, activities, eating, etc.”
Routines also allow you to notice changes in your behaviour. “For example, if a person always walks in the morning, eats lunch with a friend, and goes to bed at the same time each night, then not walking, not eating lunch with a friend, or not going to bed at the same time each night could represent a significant change,” Davis says.
Along the same lines, introducing some routine back into their life can help older adults’ mind and body adjust to their new phase of life, says Courtney Crouse, PsyD, a postdoctoral psychology fellow and therapist. “It can help ease anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation, and restlessness associated with that phase of life,” she says.
Keeping a predictable daily routine can also help reduce decision fatigue as we age. “When we have fewer options, we have fewer opportunities to second-guess ourselves, and establishing consistent daily routines can help create that structure,” says Lindsay Liben, LCSW, a New York City-based psychotherapist. “It’s important to develop a life rhythm that lets you reduce decision based friction, so you can spend that energy on more satisfying endeavours that will bring you greater happiness.”
On top of that, having more choices can create more opportunities for uncertainty, second-guessing, and regret, Liben says. “As we age, protecting our cognitive bandwidth can become increasingly important. Developing choice-free routines can help minimize decision fatigue and preserve mental energy for the things that actually bring us purpose and meaning.”
How to Establish a Routine
To be clear: You don’t have to plan every single detail of your day out down to the second. In fact, Davis says you shouldn’t. “Instead, think about which activities will most likely happen at the same general times of day: waking up, getting morning sunlight, mealtime, physical movement, doing something fun or social, and bedtime,” she explains.
Begin by identifying a daily schedule that sets you up for success. While you’re planning, anticipate any obstacles and create contingency plans to achieve your goals, Liben suggests. “For example, if you want to exercise in the morning, lay out your workout clothes the night before, fill your water bottle, and put your shoes by the door,” she says. “You’ll find you’re more likely to make it to your exercise class.”
It’s also important to have good sleep hygiene and set up bedtime routines that let you wind down, signalling to your body that it’s time for rest, and creating consistency from one night to the next, she notes.
Also, don’t underestimate the importance of the social aspect of our lives. “Getting together for coffee daily with a friend, taking a walk with a neighbour regularly, or taking an exercise class once a week can add both a sense of belonging and structure to your day,” Davis says. “It’s less about planning every detail and more about creating enough routine to operate with flexibility.”
How to Manage Social Jet Lag
“Social jet lag” is a term used to describe the experience where there is a discrepancy between a person’s circadian rhythm—their internal biological clock—and their social schedules, Crouse explains.
Put another way, it’s the difference in timing between your weekday routine and weekend routine, Davis says. “For example, you might wake up at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday but sleep until 10 or 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday,” she explains. “Essentially, your body has to adapt to a different time zone approximately every three to four days.”
One way to reduce this back-and-forth is to keep a consistent wake-up time on both weekends and weekdays, and try to get as much natural daylight as possible early in the day. “Additionally, I think it would help to think of social jet lag more broadly,” Davis says. “If you have a highly structured environment Monday through Friday, but your weekend loses all that structure, maintaining a couple of constants from your weekdays will help you feel more grounded when you switch into the weekend.”
https://www.realsimple.com/why-routines-are-good-for-your-health-12175771
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