12 Sleep Hygiene Tips for a Better Night’s Rest
Paying attention to sleep hygiene is one of the easiest ways to get a good night’s sleep and improve your overall health and well-being. Sleep hygiene refers to the healthy habits, behaviors, and environmental factors needed to promote a restful night’s sleep. It includes developing certain habits, such as a consistent sleep schedule, a bedtime routine, and avoiding electronics before bed.
1. Maintain a Consistent Sleep Schedule
There is no specific time for going to bed at night and waking in the morning that is ideal for everyone. But, according to the Sleep Foundation, to balance your circadian rhythm, you should wake up around the start of daylight hours and get to bed when it gets dark at night.
Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythms, sometimes called the circadian cycle, refer to the physical, mental, and behavioral factors all organisms experience in a 24-hour cycle. Light and dark seem to have the most significant impact on circadian rhythms, but factors like stress, diet, and social environment can also affect them.
Circadian rhythms can influence various vital functions of the human body, including sleep patterns, hormone release, appetite, and body temperature.
Daylight hours vary depending on the season and where you are in the world. Your daily schedule may also make it harder to follow a day-night sleep schedule.
Even so, there are some basic rules you can follow. These include:
- Keep your bedtime and wake-up time consistent from day to day.
- Allow for at least seven hours of sleep every night.
- Align your schedule with the natural day-night hours as much as possible.
Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule has benefits, including better health and longer life.
One study published in 2024 found that sleeping six hours nightly on a consistent schedule was associated with a lower risk for early death than eight hours on an irregular schedule. The study authors noted that sleep irregularity was a stronger predictor of all-cause mortality (death due to any cause) than sleep duration.
2. Stick to a Relaxing Bedtime Routine
Relaxing at the end of your day can help you cope with the effects of your day and get a good night’s sleep. Some ways to relax before bedtime include:
- Listen to music: Music can help improve and calm your mood. Some lighter music genres that can help induce sleep are jazz, ambient, classical, and soft rock. You can use music with other relaxing bedtime activities.
- Read a good book: Reading at the end of the day can help you slow down and get ready for sleep. It can also help distract you from the stress of the day and put you in a more laid-back mood, which makes it easier to fall asleep. You will want to avoid reading off a backlit device, such as a tablet with blue light, because the light will keep you awake.
- Take a warm, soothing bath: A warm bath can relax muscles and prepare you for sleep. Consider lighting a few candles, listening to soothing music, and adding a bath bomb to your bath to further enhance your relaxation. You may not be able to take a bath every night but try to do this at least once a week to help you de-stress and fall asleep quicker.
- Try meditation: Meditation before bed is a great way to resolve negative thoughts and anxieties and can help you get into a better sleep state. You can find guided meditation videos online or download an app for your smartphone.
3. Create a Comfortable Sleep Environment
Research shows your sleep environment can significantly affect your sleep quality. Things like bedroom temperature, noise, smell, and light level can help or harm your sleep quality and affect your falling asleep and staying asleep.
Sleep Quality
Sleep quality is a measure of how well you are sleeping. It is based on four factors:
- Sleep latency: How long it takes to fall asleep
- Awakenings: The number of times you awaken during the night
- Wake after sleep onset: How long you are awake after first falling asleep
- Sleep efficiency: The ratio of sleep time while in bed
Things that you can do to create a comfortable sleep environment are:
- Set the right room temperature: According to the Sleep Foundation, the ideal room temperature for sleep is between 65 and 68 degrees. Your body temperature will drop as you sleep, so a cooler bedroom can help you fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep.
- Reduce the noise: Research shows persistent night noises can affect sleep quality and long-term health. If the nighttime noise is out of your control, consider wearing earplugs or using a white noise machine.
- Keep your room dark: Your circadian rhythm reacts to light, and a lighted room (even dim lighting) can confuse it into thinking it is daytime. Keep electronic devices out of your bedroom since they have lights on them, and use blackout curtains or a sleep mask to limit the light exposure in your bedroom.
- Try aromatherapy: Aromatherapy uses essential oils to enhance physical and emotional health. Essential oils that may help to induce and promote better sleep include lavender, chamomile, bergamot, peppermint, and cedarwood.
4. Avoid Electronic Devices Before You Sleep
Catching up on social media may be relaxing at bedtime, but doing this may increase the time you are tossing and turning. Your smartphone, laptop, and even your TV transmit signals to your brain that it is still daylight, which sets you up for a restless night.
If you must use your devices before bedtime, set the phone screen to night mode to reduce light exposure. You can also wear blue light-blocking glasses.
5. Manage Stress Before Bed
If you know that stress will keep you up at night, consider addressing those stressors before your bedtime.
One way to do this is to write down stressors and create an action plan to help you tackle the problem for the next day. For example, if you have a full schedule the next day, write down your plan for getting all activities in and which ones can be moved to the following day or later in the week.
Another way to address stressful thoughts is with the right affirmations. This can be as simple as telling yourself, “I do not need to think about this right now. It is a problem that will be addressed and sorted out tomorrow.”
If you are still having intrusive thoughts when bedtime comes around, consider some relaxing activities, such as:
- Reading
- Listening to calming music
- A warm bath
- Meditation
- Praying
6. Limit Large Meals Before Sleeping
Experts recommend eating a meal two to four hours before bedtime. However, consuming too large a meal too close to sleep can affect digestion and sleep quality. In addition, frequently consuming too many of your daily calories too close to bedtime can also lead to weight gain over time.
If you are hungry at bedtime, consider a small snack, such as a piece of fruit, a glass of sugar-free juice or low-fat milk, or a handful of nuts. Avoid spicy foods, foods high in fat, acidic foods, caffeine, and alcohol.
7. Use Your Bed Only for Sleep and Sex
Keeping your bed as the main area for sleep and sex only can help you get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep you need nightly. For other activities, such as watching TV, scrolling on your phone, using your laptop, and reading, use your living room or sitting area in your bedroom.
8. Only Head to Bed When You’re Tired
If you lay in bed when you are not tired, you may find yourself tossing and turning. If you do not fall asleep within 20 minutes of lying down, consider the 20-minute rule. If you have not fallen asleep after 20 minutes, get up and stretch, read, or do another calming activity.
Other sources call this rule the 15-minute rule. The concept is the same. If you have not fallen asleep after 15 minutes, get up and find a relaxing activity to do.
9. Get Some Sun in the Morning
Sun exposure during the day can help you to sleep better at night because it resets the body’s sleep clock. As little as 30 minutes a day of exposure to natural sunlight can help.
Sunlight exposure in the morning might also help you feel more alert during the day. However, you should avoid bright light within hours of bedtime because it can make you less sleepy and cause you to fall asleep later.
10. Limit Caffeine During the Day
Research on caffeine consumption shows that it can cause you to fall asleep later, sleep fewer hours, and have less satisfying sleep.
Caffeine can disrupt your sleep-wake cycle when consumed too close to bedtime or in large amounts throughout the day. As such, you should stop drinking caffeine several hours before bedtime to reduce sleeplessness and promote good sleep quality.
Consider the 10-3-2-1-0 sleep rule when it comes to caffeine, alcohol, food, and daily activity:
- 10 hours before bed: No more caffeine
- 3 hours before bed: No more alcohol or food
- 2 hours before bed: No more work
- 1 hour before bed: No more screen time
- 0 times hitting the snooze button in the morning
11. Limit Naps
Napping during the day can make it harder to fall asleep. It may also affect your ability to stay asleep. If you need to nap, limit naps to 20 minutes or less and avoid napping later in the afternoon.
12. Exercise Regularly
As little as 30 minutes a day of exercise can improve a person’s sleep quality and overall health. Physical activity has also been found to reduce sleep disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnea.
You should avoid exercise an hour or two before bedtime. Physical activity increases energy levels and body temperature, making it harder to fall asleep.
Why Is Sleep Hygiene Important?
Not getting enough sleep can affect all areas of a person’s life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about a third of the United States population isn’t getting the sleep they need. That means that 33% of Americans are sleep deprived, which can have damaging effects on the mind and body.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults ages 18 to 60 get at least seven hours of sleep nightly for optimal health. They add that sleeping less is associated with adverse health outcomes, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, increased pain, impaired immune function, and more.
Sleep hygiene is essential because sleep affects physical and mental health and overall quality of life. All of your behaviors throughout the day, not just before bedtime, are part of your sleep hygiene.
Good sleep hygiene puts you in the best position for restful sleep. Poor-quality sleep can do more than just make you grumpy before your morning coffee.
Poor sleep can affect brain function, memory, and alertness. In the long term, it can affect physical health, leading to hypertension (high blood pressure), heart problems, weight gain, diabetes, and other conditions.
While sleep hygiene habits may vary from person to person, the basic concepts apply to everyone. Try different habits to see what works best for your unique situation and lifestyle.
You don’t have to make multiple changes at once. Start with small things to improve your sleep, such as keeping electronics out of your bedroom, listening to music, or reading to help you unwind before bed.
If improving your sleep hygiene does not help with daytime sleepiness, or you have trouble falling or staying asleep, talk to a healthcare provider. They can recommend testing to determine if a sleep disorder might be to blame and treatments to help you get a better night’s sleep.
Summary
Sleep hygiene is about creating healthy sleep habits. These include behaviors during the day and at bedtime that enhance sleep quality.
You can do various things to help you fall asleep quicker or to stay asleep. Options include setting a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine too close to bedtime, exercising daily, creating a relaxing bedtime, and more.
If, after making changes to your sleep hygiene, you continue to have sleep issues or think you may have a sleep disorder, consult a healthcare provider. They can request tests to determine if sleep issues result from a sleep disorder and provide treatment if needed.
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