Do’s and Don’ts of Sleep Hygiene
There are plenty of do’s and don’ts of good sleep hygiene that will help a person get the total 8-9 hours of sleep that they need. The daily stress, screen time, and never resting thoughts in your head can significantly interfere with precious sleep.
Creating a good sleep hygiene schedule is a necessity, not a luxury. Creating sleeping habits that allow you to get the adequate sleep you need will help your overall emotional, mental, and physical health.
Sleep hygiene can make your life so much easier and healthy, giving you a clear mind and waking up rejuvenated will set you up for success. There are plenty of things you should and shouldn’t do before bed to get a good night’s sleep and create healthy habits, so let’s get into them.
What is sleep hygiene?
Sleep hygiene can also be recognized as sleeping habits are creating a good sleep schedule to encourage your body to get the adequate amount of sleep it needs.
Sleep hygiene can be categorized by habits, behaviors, and environmental factors that can assist in a better night’s sleep.
Good sleep hygiene could include
Creating an environment with dim lights before bed
Limiting caffeine intake 6 hours before bed
Waking up and going to bed around the same time each day (including weekends)
Not going on phones or watching t.v. 1-2 hours before bed
Getting exercise throughout the day
Limit napping
Cutting out nightcaps
Creating a dimly lit environment could mean turning off half of your lights in the room leading up to your bedtime, whether in the living room or bedroom. Leaving on only one light or even just lighting a candle will help your body realize that it is time to wind down.
Limiting caffeine is important because it has what is known as a half-life. The half-life is approximately 5 hours and can take up to 9 hours to show no signs of caffeine. So having that late afternoon coffee at 2 pm could negatively affect your sleep.
Creating a routine of when you wake up and go to bed helps the body recognize that it is time to go to sleep. Our bodies work on routines when you give them enough time, so reacting to a sleep routine will help create good sleep hygiene.
Cutting off your phone or cutting off stimulating t.v shows could help you get a more thorough night’s rest. Sitting on your phone is not only stimulating the mind but the blue light mimics daylight, tricking the mind into thinking that you should be awake and not allowing your brain to shut off.
Exercising at the beginning of the day will make your body more tired, in turn when bedtime comes around you are more inclined to accept going to sleep.
This one may be a little difficult, I know it was for me in the beginning, but napping needs to either stop or be no more than 30 minutes. Napping is a big reason why people aren’t that tired when it comes to nighttime because they have created a routine in the middle of the day to rest.
Cutting out the nightcap to help you fall asleep. Yes, alcohol does help you get to sleep but it does not help you stay asleep nor does it allow your body to process what it needs to throughout the night.
Implementing some of these sleep hygien tips will help you along your journey to get a better night’s sleep. Don’t forget though, waking up periodically throughout the night is normal, but trying to get uninterrupted sleep is the key.
Why should you practice good sleep hygiene?
An adequate amount of sleep is important, an adult needs 7+ hours of sleep to perform daily tasks. Without sleep, your body cannot recover from the daily stressors it is under.
While sleeping your body does magical things like get your hormones balanced and flush fluids from your brain to help keep it healthy.
Having enough sleep also helps decrease the likelihood of having chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, and hypertension.
What is considered poor sleep hygiene?
Poor sleep hygiene would be just about anything opposite of what is listed above and could also include excessive time in bed. Having irregular sleep schedules could create uncertainty about when it would be appropriate to go to sleep.
Allowing your mind to not be overstimulated, so reading a book would be better than scrolling on your phone or watching an engaging t.v show. This also falls into drinking caffeine or alcohol that stimulates the brain through the night.
Even if you think you can sleep when you have had caffeine or alcohol your body will tell you otherwise as you wake up in the morning still exhausted.
To learn more about how alcohol affects sleep read here
Final thoughts
There may be many do’s and don’ts of sleep hygiene, but incorporating a couple at a time will still benefit you in the long run. Sleep is an important part of life and the saying I’ll sleep when I’m dead doesn’t make any sense, since not sleeping will lower your life expectancy.
You need to start prioritizing your sleep and making sure your body flushes out the toxins overnight to be ready to take on the next day. You can start by implementing one of the tips discussed above and adding in more gradually, maybe once a month to create better sleep hygiene.