What is sleep hygiene and how to improve it

What is sleep hygiene and why is it important for your sleep quality? Learn about how to improve sleep hygiene and ultimately your sleep!

Articles, Health, Wellness
Sleep

How much do you sleep? How well do you sleep? How often do you sleep? The role of sleep in our physical and psychological health is undeniable. However, quality sleep is slowly becoming a rarity in the lives of today’s humans. Insomnia and sleep disorders are turning into a modern epidemic that undoubtedly contributes to many other health problems. And sleep hygiene becomes a new need that can possibly help us… dream again!

How important is sleep?

Sleep belongs to the basic needs of the human body. In Maslow’s pyramid of the hierarchy of needs, sleep’s position is at the base of the pyramid together with food, water, and oxygen. And if you think that it is the least important one, remember that the average person can survive for several days without food. However, after 2-3 consecutive days without sleep, the brain and nervous system reach such points of exhaustion that one begins to hallucinate. After all, sleeping is the vacuum cleaner that works during the night and cleans all waste product left behind by the brain. Research has shown that after a single 24-hour period without sleep, cognitive and motor performance is affected to the same degree as after alcohol consumption equal to 1 gram per liter of blood, when the permitted limit in many countries is 0.5 grams per liter of blood!

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep hygiene is related to the environment in which we sleep but also to our habits and behaviors that can directly or indirectly affect the quality of our sleep. Good sleep hygiene creates all the right conditions for a quality sleep that will help you rest, “clean” your brain, restore your body after what it endured the previous day, and restore your mental and physical functions to their maximum potential performance in order for you to start a new day.

Signs that your sleep hygiene needs your attention

You have trouble falling asleep.
You wake up several times during sleep.
You feel sleepy many times during the day.
You often wake up feeling tired or unrested.
There is no consistency in the hours and duration of your sleep.

How to take care of your sleep hygiene

You can improve your sleep hygiene in 3 different areas:

Your bedroom conditions
Your habits during the day
Your daily bedtime routine

What is sleep hygiene and how to improve it | offadiet.com

Turn your room into… a bedroom!

Unfortunately, the modern lifestyle and lack of space may have turned your bedroom into a… multi-purpose room. It may also serve as your office, or the playroom for your children or function as a sitting room when your friends visit you. This may not be ideal but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Just make sure it’s gone back to a bedroom state by the time you go to sleep.

ENVIRONMENT: Keep your bedroom clean and tidy. If it is used for other purposes, try to keep the bed area separate from the rest of the room.
TEMPERATURE: Your bedroom must be neither very hot nor cold during sleep. The ideal temperature is around 65° F (18° C).
LIGHT: Sleep in a dark bedroom. If you absolutely need a light, use a night light with a very low intensity that will not be in direct contact with your eyes while sleeping.
NOISE: If there are loud noises in the area of your bedroom, try wearing earplugs.
COMFORT: Choose a pillow and covers that will make you feel comfortable throughout the night.
CLEANLINESS: Make sure you change the sheets and air your bedroom quite often.

Build daily habits that will aid your sleep

There are habits that support your circadian rhythm and others that disrupt it. The circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock that regulates your activity levels throughout the day. When your habits are aligned with your internal clock, all your activities, including sleep, receive the best possible support from your body. To support your circadian rhythm:

SUN: Get daily exposure to sunlight, which helps regulate the circadian rhythm. If you can start your day “saluting” the sun, it would be ideal.
EXERCISE: Daily physical exercise will have many benefits for your overall health. One of them is that it will help you sleep better. Even half an hour of walking a day is enough. However, a workout done in the evening can keep you overstimulated and make it difficult to fall asleep. It’s better to plan your exercise several hours before sleep.
SMOKING: Try to limit smoking, or ideally quit. Nicotine stimulates the nervous system in a way that affects sleep patterns.
ALCOHOL: Avoid daily alcohol consumption. You may feel that alcohol will help you relax and fall asleep more easily, but its effect during the night may disturb your sleep.
COFFEE: Caffeine, as a stimulant, can affect your energy levels and therefore your circadian rhythm. Try to reduce the consumption to 1-2 cups of coffee per day and drink coffee up until early afternoon at the latest.
DINNER: Eating very late in the evening, just before bedtime, will disrupt your sleep simply because your body will not have completed the digestion process when you go to bed. Try to have your last meal at least 2 hours before bed and opt for easily digestible foods.
WATER: Good hydration during the day is important for many reasons but also for the quality of your sleep, so that thirst will not wake you up during the night. However, if you drink too much water 1-2 hours before bed, you will be woken up by the need to use the bathroom. It is best to drink your water earlier in the day.
STRESS: Daily stress and everyday problems tend to flare up when your head hits the pillow. Try to find ways to relax and deal with stress in your day. It will not only help your sleep but also every other aspect of your life.
DAYTIME SLEEPING: If you get really tired during the day and you absolutely feel that you need a nap, allow yourself to take one. A 20-minute nap would be ideal. Make sure you don’t sleep more than 45 minutes because then it could affect nighttime sleeping.

Create a daily bedtime ritual

Your body loves habit and consistency. If you follow a specific schedule every day before you go to sleep, you will gradually adjust your internal clock to follow it and sleep will come more easily.

SCREENS: One or even half an hour before you lie down in your bed, it is important to… unplug. Put your mobile phone or tablet away, turn off the computer and the TV. The light emitted by screens affects the secretion of melatonin, the hormone necessary for sleep. In addition, the overstimulation caused by scrolling will not help you with the relaxation that bedtime requires.
LIGHT: Dim the lights in the room where you relax before bed to help melatonin secretion.
ROUTINE: Take a shower, wash your face, put on your pajamas or sleep clothes, brush your teeth, etc. Follow your own daily routine with the things you enjoy doing.
RELAXATION: Find an activity that will take your mind off the day’s thoughts and help you relax before bed. Try relaxing music, a book, meditation, etc.

And what if nothing works?

Sleep hygiene is different for each person and sometimes we need to try different things in order to discover what will help us sleep better. Furthermore, whatever change we make in our daily habits, it will take some time before we actually see results.
If no matter what you have tried, your sleep quality is not improving or you suffer from chronic insomnia, then you’d better talk to a specialist. They can help you rule out possible pathological causes such as obstructive sleep apnea, or identify and treat them.