Sleep is essential to our physical and mental wellbeing. However, many factors can disrupt its quality such as your habits during the day and before bedtime, your bedroom environment and what you consume during this period.
Create healthy sleeping habits is the key to enjoying restful slumber. Here are some sleep hygiene tips that will help you do just that!
1. Get Regular Exercise
Regular exercise has multiple health benefits, one being improved sleep hygiene. Studies have demonstrated how physical activity increases slow-wave sleep duration which is essential for immune function, muscle recovery, memory processing and hormone balance. Furthermore, exercise has been proven to alleviate feelings of stress and anxiety which contributes to insomnia by releasing feel-good endorphins that provide relaxation benefits.
However, it is essential that exercise be conducted at an ideal time of day in order to promote better restful sleep. Exercise within two hours of sleeping can disrupt restful slumber and contribute to insomnia; to maximize restful slumber you should aim to complete moderate to high intensity workouts early in the day and opt for low impact activities like walking as an evening routine.
Exercise at night may also help regulate body temperature, signaling to your mind it’s time to sleep. Try different exercise times until you find what best works for you; and consult a healthcare provider should you have any queries or concerns.
2. Limit Your Screen Time
Blue light from phones, tablets, and computers disrupts our body’s natural sleep cycle by suppressing melatonin production – leading to insomnia, poor quality restful sleep, and fatigue during the day.
Screen time may also hinder sleep if its content is stimulating or exciting, particularly for children and teenagers. Studies have indicated that playing violent video games or scrolling social media at bedtime can cause restless sleeping, prolonged time-to-sleep times, and decreased total hours slept overall.
At bedtime, it is wise to switch off electronic devices at least one hour in advance and engage in soothing activities such as reading a book, taking a warm bath, or listening to soothing music. Parents can lead by example by practicing good sleep hygiene themselves and limiting screen time. Furthermore, all electronics should be charged centrally outside the bedroom in order to create a clear separation between sleeping and playing.
3. Set A Consistent Sleep Schedule
Sleeping on a consistent schedule is one of the key ingredients to ensuring you receive high-quality restful restful slumber, helping prevent sleep debts and improving mood and productivity. Unfortunately, maintaining such a schedule may be challenging due to distractions such as revenge bedtime procrastination, caffeine and energy drinks, stress/emotional difficulties, long or short power naps and more that could alter it.
Breus advises maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, but do allow yourself a little flexibility if necessary. For instance, if you tend to wake up earlier for work than anticipated on any given night then consider making up for lost hours on weekends if possible. But if your issues with sleeping persist then consulting with healthcare professional could be necessary in addressing any potential underlying causes that could be contributing.
4. Avoid Caffeine
Sleep has many positive implications, from improving productivity and mental sharpness, to overall quality of life improvements. Unfortunately, however, many individuals struggle to meet this essential goal.
Poor sleeping habits often develop over time from bad routines that have become part of our everyday lives, reinforcing them over years or decades. Luckily, most problems can be corrected with some simple lifestyle adjustments.
Avoid caffeine and stimulants such as nicotine or alcohol at least a few hours before bedtime to help ensure a more restful alternating sleep-wake cycle and easier nighttime slumber. These substances can interfere with this natural rhythm of sleeping and make it hard to drift off without difficulty.
Research to date on sleep hygiene recommendations has predominantly focused on objectively assessed sleep in laboratory settings. More studies investigating their impact in more naturalistic contexts will enable more applicable recommendations to be crafted, taking into account factors like habituation and tolerance/addiction mechanisms in order to create recommendations which reflect real life behavior patterns.
5. Turn Off The Light
If you have trouble sleeping, one common solution may be turning off the light. While this practice has long been considered helpful in improving both circadian rhythms and our sleep quality, recent scientific evidence supports its effects.
Studies show that exposure to light at nighttime suppresses melatonin production, making it harder for you to fall and remain asleep. This phenomenon is likely caused by blue light emitted by most electronic devices; therefore it is wise to limit screen time before bed, use apps which filter out blue light, and keep electronics out of the bedroom to avoid this from occurring.
If you must use lights at night, opt for amber hued lamps near the floor that emit amber-hued illumination to reduce blue and white light effects on circadian rhythm. If you have an aversion to darkness, speaking to your doctor may help decrease anxiety during bedtime.
6. Turn Down The Noise
Sleep can be hard when disturbed by noise: from early traffic or the barking of your neighbor’s dog to your partner snoring and that buzzing smartphone on your bedside table, they all play their part in keeping you from relaxing into peaceful slumber.
Create a peaceful sleeping environment is beneficial, though it’s impossible to eliminate all noise that might interfere with sleep. However, you can limit sound pollution that might be impacting your rest by keeping a cool and comfortable sleeping environment and eliminating distractions like work alerts on phones or television.
Before falling asleep, it can also help to listen to something relaxing – perhaps a song with slow rhythm or pink noise (which features all audible frequencies but has more energy in its lower ones, creating the sound of rustling leaves) in order to relax your mind and body, helping ensure a restful slumber. This may help ease anxiety while setting you up for restful restful slumber.
7. Get A Good Night’s Rest
Teenage years and college can be both exciting and stressful, often leaving little time for rest or rejuvenation. Balancing academic classes, extracurricular activities, socializing with classmates and sleeping can leave many individuals exhausted – however sleep deprivation may have serious health repercussions.
Sleep hygiene refers to adopting healthy behaviors both during the day and at bedtime that promote better quality rest. These practices include limiting stimulants like caffeine intake, not eating large meals close to bedtime and minimizing exposure to blue light from screens that disrupt circadian rhythm and hinder melatonin production.
Adherence to these habits will make it easier for you to fall asleep quickly, stay asleep throughout the night and get quality rest. While this process may take time to establish, its rewards include improved quality of sleep as well as being more productive during the day and more energetic overall.
8. Make Your Bedroom Comfortable
Set the scene for restful sleeping with an ideal environment. A cool, dark bedroom featuring comfortable bedding, quality mattresses and pillows can help promote restful slumber. Be mindful to avoid noise-generating gadgets such as smartphones and tablets in your room as well as light from TVs or clocks; blinds or curtains may help block out excess light as well. Using white noise machines or soothing music as white noise can also aid in helping with falling asleep faster.
Multiple factors impact the quality of sleep. Sleep hygiene refers to adopting healthy behaviors during the day and before bedtime that promote good quality rest. Avoiding caffeine and screen time, sticking with a consistent sleeping schedule and developing a soothing pre-sleep ritual are just some ways you can promote higher-quality restful slumber; using the 10-3-2-1-0 rule as a quick reminder. Though creating healthy sleeping habits takes some effort and dedication – they will pay dividends!
9. Get Enough Sleep
Ensuring you get enough rest each night is vitally important for maintaining overall good health. A well-rested body makes it easier to fight off illnesses like colds and flu; studies indicate that inadequate rest causes stress hormone production to rise as well as inflammation – both which have detrimental effects on heart and circulatory systems.
Practices such as adhering to a regular schedule, creating a prebedtime wind-down ritual, and making your bedroom an exclusively sleeping environment can all help improve sleep hygiene. However, if you still struggle to fall or stay asleep at night it’s essential that you visit a sleep specialist for evaluation.
Sleep specialists can identify conditions, such as snoring or sleep apnea, which may be impacting your quality of restful slumber, and recommend treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Overall, good sleep hygiene begins by developing healthy habits which will lead to better restful slumber over time.
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