Sleep Hygiene 101
You’re exhausted after a big day, you’ve been dreaming of your bed all arvo, your head hits the pillow, and boom… wide awake!
While the occasional night of poor sleep is annoying, ongoing sleep disturbances can lead to bigger issues including emotional difficulties, brain fog, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, and lowered immunity. Even more alarming, long-standing insomnia is associated with many chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and mood disorders.
Luckily, there are some easy and inexpensive ways to help you get a good nights rest.
Sleep Hygiene
Unfortunately, modern life predisposes us to poor sleep hygiene. Between late night Netflix binges after the kids are in bed, scrolling social media for hours, catching up on bookwork on the computer at night, high stress levels, or simply a busy social life causing sleep routine to be all over the place, it is no wonder our body can forget how to sleep!
If you spend every night struggling to sleep, you probably already know that your sleep habits need attention. However, if your issue is more subtle, or less frequent, you may be wondering whether it’s worth taking action. Using the checklist below may help you decide.
Regularly experiencing one or more of the following may be a sign of a disrupted sleeping pattern:
✔ It takes over 30 minutes to fall asleep after getting into bed.
✔ You wake up more than once per night.
✔ You awaken for over 20 minutes during the night.
✔ You spend less than 85% of your time spent in bed asleep.
✔ You wake most mornings feeling unrefreshed.
✔ You rely on caffeinated beverages to get you through the day.
Tips for good sleep Hygiene
Bedtime Routine. Yep you read that ride, just like we do for our kids, we need a pretty stable bedtime routine. Try to roughly go to bed at the same time every night, and wake at the same time every day.
Bedtime Rituals. A nice herbal tea, warm bath, reading a book, breathwork, mindfulness, anything that helps to calm & soothe and let the body know it is time to rest.
Get off devices! Night time exposure to blue light from digital screens is stimulating and can interfere with your bodies production of melatonin, our sleep hormone. This means no scrolling in bed, and avoiding TV, computers and devices a minimum of 30minutes before bedtime.
Get off stimulants. Whether you like it or not, simulants like caffeine and nicotine can and will interrupt sleep patterns. If you are struggling with chronic sleep issues, try getting rid of these things for a couple of weeks. You won’t believe the difference.
Ditch the alcohol. You may fall asleep more quickly, but alcohol inhibits restorative sleep, and makes you wake up groggy (even just 1 standard drink).
Your bed is not an activity centre. Get the TV out, keep phones out, and keep the space clean and tidy. Your bed is for sleeping (and maybe a bit of loving!) and that is it.
Get plenty of natural sunlight every day to help secure a healthy circadian rhythm and balance out all the excess blue light we are exposed to.
Keep your room cool and dark. It seems simple, but makes a huge difference. Around 18 degrees seems to be perfect temp according to the research.
Changing these habits can take time, as your body resets, and creates a healthier circadian rhythm. While you make changes, sleep-supporting herbs can fast track your journey. Remedies such as California poppy, passionflower, zizyphus, Jamaica dogwood, withania and lavender can enable you to fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. While Magnesium is fabulous at calming the nervous system and promoting a good night’s sleep.
Remember though, a pill for every ill is not the way to optimal health, so be sure to get your sleep hygiene under control as a priority.