A lot of people have heard about sleep hygiene. However, not everyone knows what it truly means. This is something that refers to both the habits and practices that can contribute to better sleep. It’s not only a bedtime routine but also things that you can do throughout the day.
Some of the practices that you can implement will help you make quality improvements to your sleep. For a lot of people, it can be a challenge to implement all of these things at the same time. Therefore, you may want to start with a few that you believe will make the biggest difference to the quality of your sleep. The main thing you need to do when looking at things is figure out what’s causing your sleep problems in the first place. Once you do this, you can begin to make positive changes.
Some Sleep Hygiene Principles
Here are some of the most important principles for better sleep hygiene:
- Maintaining Consistent Wake Times
One of the things you need to do is maintain consistency with your wake times. You need to figure out how you can go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day and night. This can help you build strength in your body’s internal clock.
- Get Outside
Believe it or not, but you can get better sleep and optimize your internal clock by going outside more. Not only is it essential for vitamin D production, but getting exposure to daylight right when you wake up can help your body’s internal clock get properly aligned.
- Don’t Nap
Unless you have a weird work schedule, it’s recommended to avoid napping. Napping can interfere with your restorative sleep. Because of this, you want to avoid napping throughout the day. If you must nap, keep it shorter than 30 minutes.
- Avoid Caffeine
Don’t drink caffeine past mid-day. This is only going to make it increasingly difficult for you to fall asleep. Caffeine can impact your sleep as much as 6 hours after drinking it. Therefore, it’s best to reduce caffeine consumption throughout the day.
- Don’t Do Intensive Exercise At Night
The last thing you want to do is start incorporating strength training or intense exercise at night. Avoid intense exercise at night because it’s only going to make it increasingly difficult to fall asleep.
- Don’t Drink Alcohol At Night
Avoid drinking alcohol at night. While it can be classified as a depressant, it can negatively interfere with your quality of sleep.
- Create a Relaxing Routine
Try to come up with a relaxing routine that you can incorporate into your night. Do this consistently to make it easy to unwind and fall asleep.
- Optimize Your Environment
You want to optimize your bedroom environment to make it easier to fall asleep. You can do this by lowering the ambient temperature, reducing ambient light, and getting more comfortable bedding. Find the mattresses to buy at Costco for a comfortable night’s sleep.
- Use Your Bed For Sleep and Sex
Don’t go to bed and watch TV or do anything else that’s stimulating. Instead, you want to keep it for sleeping and sex. That way, you don’t confuse your body and mind about what it means when you hop in bed.
- Don’t Lay There
If you have trouble sleeping, the last thing you want to do is lay around hoping you’ll eventually fall asleep. Get out of bed and do something else until you feel tired enough to sleep.