Sleep affects every aspect of your life, from your energy levels to your ability to fight off illnesses. Good sleep hygiene is about setting yourself up to get the best night’s sleep possible.
In this blog, we ask what is sleep hygiene and look at the sleep hygiene tips that will help you establish a healthy routine.
Sleep hygiene is all about forming healthy habits to improve your sleep. Consistency is key to getting a better night’s sleep, which is why it’s so important to stick to a routine.
You should design a routine to suit your circumstances. Your lifestyle affects your sleep pattern, and your age determines how much sleep you need.
What works for one person may not work for another, but there are some general principles of sleep hygiene that you should try to stick to.
We’ll cover some of these in this blog, but first, let’s look at why sleep hygiene is important.
Sleep contributes to our overall mental and physical well-being. When you get a good night’s sleep, you wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.
According to doctors, better quality sleep can help you maintain a healthy weight and lower your risk of serious health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. It affects your memory, concentration and mood.
Investing time in creating a routine that works for you can stop you from developing the bad habits that lead to poor sleep hygiene.
Poor sleep hygiene refers to bad habits that can result in a terrible night’s sleep. Signs of poor sleep hygiene include:
The lack of a consistently good night’s sleep can lead to a ‘sleep deficit’ or ‘sleep debt’. The long-term effect of not getting enough sleep can lead to low mood and poor concentration.
Humans are adept at forming habits, and you can use this to your advantage to improve your quality of sleep. With some practice, you can create a routine that, over time, becomes second nature.
In this section, we’ll look at some of the principles of sleep hygiene.
Timing is key when it comes to training your body to sleep – and that goes for what time you go to bed and get up the following day.
Settle on the time you want to get up and stick to it, even on weekends. Though it’s tempting to snooze your alarm and go back to sleep, this will throw off your body’s finely tuned rhythm.
Once you’ve settled on a time to get up, decide when you should go to bed. Again, consistency is essential, so make sure you turn in at the same time every night.
Drinking stimulants like caffeine and alcohol too close to bedtime can affect your sleep.
Though alcohol might help you drift off to sleep, it’s more likely to keep you up at night. Sleep experts recommend that you stop drinking tea, coffee, and alcohol at least four hours before you go to bed.
Doing the same things every night, like brushing your teeth or putting on your pyjamas, make up your bedtime routine. These steps signal to your brain that it’s time for sleep.
Turn off the TV and put your phone to one side in the lead-up to bedtime. Instead, do something to help you unwind, like reading or meditation. Gentle stretching or breathing exercises can help you to drift off.
If you find yourself tossing and turning after 20 minutes of trying to drop off, get up and do something else quietly. When your eyelids start to feel heavy, try again.
Creating the right environment for sleep is essential to good sleep hygiene. What works for one person may not work for another, but most people sleep better when it’s dark and quiet.
If you find that noise from outside is keeping you awake at night, try using earplugs or a white noise machine.
Your bedroom should be tranquil and free from stimulation. If you use your bedroom for any other purpose than sleep, your brain will associate your bed with these things, making it harder to drift off.
Whether you sleep on an everyday sofa bed or a standard bed, ensure your mattress and pillow are comfortable. If you wake up feeling sore and poorly rested, then it may be time to replace your mattress.
Your daytime routine is just as important as what you do before bed. Daylight helps to regulate your body’s sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm), so get as much light as possible during waking hours.
You should try to avoid napping during the day if you can. If you do need to get some much-needed rest, avoid sleeping for longer than 20 minutes.
Doing at least thirty minutes of physical activity or light exercise will help you sleep better, but avoid rigorous exercise in the hours leading up to bed as it’s likely to keep you awake.
Poor sleep hygiene refers to the things that are stopping you from getting a consistently good night’s sleep. It might be a disruptive sleep environment, taking too many naps, or using your phone before bed.
Eradicating these bad habits can help you achieve better quality sleep. But though good sleep hygiene is an important first step, it can’t cure sleep disorders like insomnia or sleep apnoea.
These serious sleep disorders require medical intervention.
Sleep hygiene is all about getting a good night’s sleep every night – not just one or two nights of the week. Creating your own checklist of healthy habits can help you to improve your sleep quality long-term.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog post, you might also like this article on how to pick a mattress to suit you.
