Sleep is vital for your health. Getting the right amount of good quality sleep can improve your mood, concentration, and memory, as well as help your body fight off diseases, even prolonging your life.
Many factors help determine how well you sleep and some of these might be out of your control. Others, though, you will have a say in.
A bedroom environment conducive to sleep is important, and so too are the habits you maintain each morning and night – and even throughout the day. These routines are collectively known as “sleep hygiene”.
Keep reading to find out how to maintain good sleep hygiene and why it’s so important.
Good sleep hygiene is essential for your physical and mental wellbeing
Sleep allows your body time to recharge and your mind to process information. Without enough quality sleep, our brains are unable to function properly.
If you have poor sleep hygiene, you might:
- Find it difficult to fall asleep
- Wake up in the middle of the night
- Feel tired and irritable during the day.
There are potential longer-term issues too.
Irregular sleep patterns knock the body’s circadian rhythms out-of-sync.
According to The Sleep Charity, over time, sleep deprivation can lead to an increased risk of a stroke, heart disease, obesity and diabetes, while shortening your life expectancy.
5 steps to improving your sleep hygiene
1. Keep regular sleep hours
The key to good sleep hygiene is consistency. That means waking up and going to bed at the same time all week (even on weekends).
This should allow your body to settle into a rhythm, knowing when it needs to be alert and when it can relax.
Once you are awake, be sure to open the curtains and then get outside.
Exposure to light in the morning and early afternoon helps to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, telling your body that it is daytime. Likewise, try to limit natural light exposure closer to bedtime as this can make you feel more awake.
2. Exercise and a balanced diet are key
Regular exercise and a balanced diet are important ingredients for a good night’s sleep.
You’ll just need to be careful not to do vigorous exercise close to bedtime as the endorphins released will prevent you from feeling sleepy.
If you do exercise later in the day, try something like yoga that won’t increase your heart rate.
Likewise, eating too close to bedtime will mean you’re trying to drift off to sleep while still digesting your dinner. This too, isn’t conducive to good quality sleep.
3. Avoid stimulants after lunch
You’ll need to think about not only your physical wellbeing and routines but your emotional and mental health too.
Try to avoid electronic devices close to bedtime. Not only will the blue light of these devices upset your circadian rhythms, but they will stimulate your brain – whether you’re doomscrolling news channels or catching up on social media – at the exact time you want your brain to be calm.
4. Create a restful bedroom environment and good routines
A key part of your sleep hygiene routine should be managing your sleep environment – your bedroom.
That means staying on top of several factors. Temperature is key so try to keep your room comfortable, whether that means putting on heating or opening a window. You’ll want the room to be quiet though too. So, if opening a window will lead to noise, you might consider earplugs.
A dark room is also best for sleeping so consider thicker curtains if outside light is penetrating your room and making sleep harder.
You’ll need to manage your mood within your sleep environment too.
Be sure to de-stress before bed, whether with a bath and a book, or yoga and listening to music. Whatever works for you.
Plan your relaxation time so that you stick to your nightly routines, while also ensuring you go to bed as relaxed and ready for sleep as you can.
5. Don’t force sleep if you’re not ready
Finally, remember that if you can’t sleep, it’s ok to get back out of bed.
Failing to fall asleep will make you conscious of the effort and could mean you get frustrated, so don’t be scared to take yourself out of the situation.
You know how long it usually takes you to get sleep. If it is taking longer one night, get out of bed. Go to a different room and read a book or find another way to relax that doesn’t involve a screen, until you start to feel sleepy again.
