Celebrate World Sleep Day

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Hello, welcome to another class. I’m Robin and today we are going to talk about sleep. Why have I chosen this topic? Because March 19th is World Sleep Day. So in honor of this occasion, I am wearing my pajamas and I want to teach you some vocabulary related to sleep. Okay, so World Sleep Day was started by the World Sleep Society. So this is a group of people, medical professionals who are dedicated to sleep and sleep studies. Okay, so they started this to advocate the importance of sleep for an optimal, that means good, an optimal quality of life and improve global health. Because we know if we sleep better, then we feel better and we are healthier in general. Okay. So every year, in honor of this day, World Sleep Day, the World Sleep Society has a slogan. So the slogan for 2021 is “Regular sleep, healthy future”. 

Okay. So first, let’s talk about some of their recommendations on how to get a good night’s sleep. And then I’m going to teach you some sleep expressions because you know, I love to teach idioms related to whatever topic we are talking about. Okay, so their recommendations for a good night’s sleep. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time, every night. Okay, so I know this can be difficult sometimes, but if you establish a routine, it helps and your body get used to every night I go to sleep at this time, every morning, I wake up. Now I know it’s difficult to do on the weekend because you might want to sleep a little more. But, in general, it’s good to establish this routine. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and smoking before bed. Okay, so we know caffeine makes us very, makes us awake. Alcohol might help us to go to sleep, but then we might wake up during the night. And smoking can also affect our sleep. So it’s good to stop doing any of these things, drinking caffeine, drinking alcohol, or smoking a few hours a couple hours before you go to sleep. Okay, exercise regularly. So it’s good to exercise on a regular basis. Not right before you go to sleep, but every day, a little bit. It could just be some walkings just light exercise or, if you exercise more, but not right before bed. Use comfortable bedding. Okay, so this is your pillow, your mattress, so you sleep on your mattress, your sheets. These all need to be comfortable because if your mattress, for example, is too hard, too soft, this is going to affect your sleep. So it’s important to have all of the right bedding, which means mattress, pillow, sheets, etc. to ensure a good night’s sleep. And finally, block out any distractions. So this could be light. Some people are very sensitive to light when they’re sleeping. Noise and screens. Okay, so many people look at their phone or watch a TV show before you go to sleep. And this actually is not good for you. So the best thing is to stop any screen time before you go to sleep like an hour before, for example. Okay, so these are some recommendations, you can tell me if those work for you later. 

And now I’m going to teach you some sleep expressions or idioms. Alright, so see if you’ve heard any of these before. To get up on the wrong side of the bed. Okay, so this isn’t literal, obviously, you get up on the right side or the left side. But to get up on the wrong side of the bed means that you wake up and you’re in a bad mood. Maybe because you didn’t sleep well. Maybe because you have to do something that day you don’t want to do, maybe because you had to wake up early. So if you get up on the wrong side of the bed, you wake up and you just want to go right back to sleep, you don’t feel well. Okay, so this can change later in the day. You could say, “Oh, this morning, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but then I had my breakfast and now I feel better,” for example. Okay, so the opposite of this would be to sleep like a log. So if you sleep like a log, it means you sleep the whole night. And a log, this is part of a tree. Obviously a log is a piece of a tree so it doesn’t move. It means you slept, you didn’t move, you didn’t toss and turn. Toss and turn means you turn one way, you turn the other way, you wake up. Okay, so if you sleep like a log sleep like a log, it’s a lot of Ls, like a log, it means that you slept very well, you got a good night’s sleep. Okay? When we go to sleep, we say, to hit the hay, or to hit the sack, that means you go to bed, if you say, “I’m going to hit the hay” or “I’m going to hit the sack”. This comes from a long time ago, when people actually sometimes slept on hay, like on a farm, for example, or sack, like a sack of something, then that’s where the expression comes from. So if you say “I’m going to hit the hay”, it means I’m going to go to bed. To not sleep a wink, okay to wink, wink when we make this movement with our eye. But to not sleep a wink means that you didn’t sleep at all, or hardly at all. So if you say, “Oh, last night, I didn’t sleep a wink”. Maybe because you were worried about something or you just couldn’t sleep, you say “I didn’t” or “I couldn’t sleep a wink”. And my last sleep expression is to have a lie-in. So this is something that people like to do on the weekends, you have a lie-in. It means that you sleep late, later than you normally would. So if you normally wake up at seven, and you get up at nine, you have a lie-in, so you sleep a few extra hours. 

Okay, so I hope that you have learned some new expressions today, as well as some tips for a good night’s sleep. And I want you to tell me in the comments, do you sleep well in general? And what are your recommendations? So I mentioned a few but maybe you have some other recommendations or strategies for getting a good night’s sleep. And also, if you want to use one of these sleep expressions in a sentence in the comments then I would love to read it. So thanks for joining. I hope you liked the class. I hope you liked my pajamas. What kind of pajamas do you wear? You can tell me that in the comments as well. So take care and I will see you next time. Bye!