Sleep Hygiene

Articles

Nov 1

With the busy holiday season quickly approaching, it is important that we are all focused (especially now) on our mental and physical health. One way to make sure you are taking care of yourself is to get enough rest. But what if you feel like you don’t normally get very good sleep? Sleep hygiene is a term to describe your routine around sleeping and sleep habits. If you are looking to improve your sleep and get more restful sleep, turn your attention to sleep hygiene. To help you determine how you can get healthier, good sleep, we will cover a few ways you can incorporate good sleep hygiene into your routine.

What is Good Sleep Hygiene?

Environment is one key element of good sleep. Good sleep hygiene is ensuring your surroundings are conducive to sleeping, like making it feel comfortable and without distractions and disruptions to your rest.

Everyone can adjust their habits and sleep hygiene to help themselves rest more soundly and feel more rested as a result. Your habits are the other key element of good sleep. If you reinforce the good habits associated with sleep hygiene, it could help with your health overall and over time.

Taking a look at your current routine around going to bed is the first step in analyzing your own sleep hygiene. What is your typical evening routine and what can you identify as helpful or not helpful for a restful sleep?

Use this chart from swedish.org to learn about some of your sleep habits by answering some simple questions about your routine each day for one week.

Here are some ideas that you can work into your routine to help you maintain good sleep hygiene:

Adjust Your Environment

Bedding and Pillows

Uncomfortable pillows or awkward arrangements can make sleeping less restful. But adjustments to your bedding or pillows is subjective, so change things based on your own individual comfort levels. Think about your mattress, pillow, sheets, and blankets or comforter, and make sure they suit your needs.

Temperature

Temperature is an important element of a restful sleep, so set your home temperature to your preference, or experiment and try a lower setting around 65 degrees.

Light, Scent, and Sound

Along with temperature comes light, scent, and sound. Try to block any light that might interrupt your sleep such as a street lamp coming in through the window or a kitchen light that stays on overnight. Scents that you find relaxing can be helpful to create calm in your space. If there are outside noises that you can’t prevent, consider earplugs to help prevent interruptions during sleep.

Nightly Sleep Habits

How easily do you fall asleep after going to bed? Consider incorporating some habits into your routine to make it easier to fall asleep each night.

No Electronics

Electronics are a big part of our lives now, but it is important that we do not scroll on our devices before going to sleep. Try to stay away from all electronics for at least 30-60 minutes before heading to bed. Routine is something that can reinforce our good habits, and sticking to a routine every evening that follows healthy sleep hygiene guidelines can aid overall restfulness.

Tossing and Turning

If you tend to have a difficult time falling asleep and toss and turn in bed, develop a habit of getting up if you don’t fall asleep within about 20 minutes. Take a little time to stretch, read something calming, or meditate before returning to bed again.

Sleep Hygiene Cards

For those who want to develop a new nightly routine, use something fun like our Sleep Hygiene Cards. These give you ideas to try new activities for relaxation before heading to sleep such as making a cup of herbal tea, writing down your thoughts, doing deep breathing exercises, and more.

Developing a Healthy Daily Routine

Although your routine before bed is very important, the things you do throughout the day and how you wake up have an influence on your sleep. During the day, you can reinforce your own internal sleep cycle by adding positive habits into your routine.

Sunlight

Sunlight exposure can help signal the circadian rhythm in our body and help with quality sleep. Getting exercise outside every day is a great way to help your body be able to sleep more restfully.

Substance Use

Alcohol and nicotine are two habits to stop if you are looking to improve your sleep. Some feel sleepy due to alcohol but these effects do not last and will interrupt your sleep instead. Nicotine is stimulating for the body and can disrupt your ability to sleep.

Caffeine and Meals

Keeping away from caffeine later in the day can also help eliminate that from potentially causing sleep issues. Similarly to caffeine, food can disrupt your sleep if you eat a large meal near bedtime. Your body has not had a chance to digest your meal yet and is still working while you try to rest.

Although the basics of creating a solid sleep routine would apply to many people, sleep hygiene is different for each individual. We cannot entirely control our sleep patterns, but we can certainly reinforce habits and environmental factors that improve our rest. Take the steps to address your own sleep hygiene and find ways to introduce more positive aspects to your routine. It is smart to take it one step at a time and not expect immediate change. Most of the time, improvement happens over time, so be patient with yourself as you experiment with your ideas.

Looking for additional resources? Check out some of our activities and Therapy Tune-Ups to find some ideas for exercises, mindfulness crafts, and more.