Sleep Hygiene 101
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get back on track with my healthy habits, starting with my sleep! I may have been staying up late and snoozing my alarms the past few days, but I’ve come to appreciate a consistent bedtime schedule the older I get. As we all know, sleep is a restorative process that allows our bodies to recharge. During sleep, our brain works hard to store new information and repair cells. Not getting enough sleep is associated with poor concentration, headaches, irritability, anxiety, and weakened immunity. I’m sure we can all think of a time when we didn’t get enough sleep and how that impacted our mood or functioning throughout the day. Our daily routines such as diet, exercise, stress, medications, or travel can also impact our quality of sleep. To establish healthy sleep habits, more commonly referred to as sleep hygiene, we need to work backwards and address our poor habits. Keep reading to learn more about sleep hygiene and how you can improve your quality of sleep!
Avoid Avoid Avoid!
Sadly, some of the things we love to do before bedtime are actually negatively impacting our sleep including:
Napping during the day
Drinking alcohol close to bedtime
Drinking caffeine in the afternoon
Eating a large meal for dinner
Using technology in bed
Exercising before bedtime
Although these activities seem harmless, they disrupt our bodies' natural sleep-wake cycle. Here’s what you could do instead:
Take a 20-minute power nap
If drinking alcohol, limit your consumption to 1-2 glasses
Try de-café coffee or tea
Eat a light, well balanced dinner
Set a timer to turn off all screens at least half an hour before bedtime
Exercise in the morning
Create a Relaxing Nighttime Routine
A nighttime routine helps cue your body that it is almost time for bed! This could include taking a bath, doing your skincare routine, reading a book, praying, or doing some light yoga 30 minutes before bed. Remember to put your devices away during your unwind time!
Manage Stress
Sleep and mental health are interchangeable — mental health problems can disrupt your sleep and sleep issues can impact your mental health. As such, it is important to take care of your mental health to ensure a good night's sleep. You can try deep breathing, mindfulness exercise, working out, scheduling a worry time, journaling, or engaging in self-care to cope with stress! Check out my previous post about Self-Care to learn more!
Control your Environment
Our bedroom environment is essential for promoting sleep. According to sleep research, when preparing for bedtime our room should be dark, cool, relaxing, and quiet. Additionally, it’s important to invest in a quality mattress and comfortable bedding to optimize sleep!
Here are a few products that have helped me create an environment that is conducive to sleep:
Establish a Consistent Bedtime & Waketime
Probably the most important aspect of sleep hygiene is our sleep schedule. Our circadian rhythm is our internal clock that regulates our sleep-wake cycle. In the morning, light exposure signals our body to be alert or awake and, in the evening, the release of melatonin causes us to feel increasingly tired. Disrupting this sleep-wake cycle has significant consequences on our quality of sleep such as trouble falling asleep, reduction in total hours of sleep, or shallow sleep. As such, it is important to maintain a consistent sleep schedule that is aligned with our circadian rhythms. Sleep experts recommend establishing the same wake time and bedtime every day, including weekends, plus or minus 30 minutes. It may be tempting to sleep in during the weekends but sleeping in disrupts our circadian rhythm and therefore our quality of sleep.
Changing our poor behaviors and habits can lead us to better sleep! Taking small steps toward replacing our unhealthy habits with positive ones can be all the difference in attaining quality sleep!
Here are some resources for additional information about sleep hygiene:
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.
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