Good Sleep Hygiene

There are many habits that have been proven to help with sleep onset and quality. These practices are recommended for everyone to the degree that they do not cause significant inconvenience or negative impact on a person’s life:

  • Consistent bedtime and wake time

    Having a consistent bedtime and wake time synchronizes your body clock which is responsible for putting you to sleep at night.

  • Avoiding screens and bright lights within an hour of bedtime

    Avoiding screens and bright lights within an hour of bedtime allows your body to produce increasing levels of melatonin, which is normally made in the brain in response to darkness beginning when the sun goes down and eventually shifting you into sleep. Looking at bright screens interrupts this process. Try reading a book, cleaning up or any screen-less activity that allows your brain to wind down.

  • Go to bed only when sleepy

    Go to bed only when sleepy, not just fatigued, but actually sleepy. It is better to allow your body to tell you when it is ready for bed than to try and force yourself to sleep at a particular time.

  • If you cannot fall asleep right away go to another room

    If you cannot fall asleep right away (eg. 20 mins or so), get up and go to another room until you feel like you’re about to fall asleep. Staying in bed can lead you into a stressed or anxious state of mind and has been shown to negatively affect sleep onset.

  • Regular exercise

    Regular exercise has shown to deepen sleep in adults of all ages, but should be avoided close to bedtime as it may have an alerting effect.

  • Warming the body

    Warming the body before bed in a warm bath, hot tub or sauna can help initiate sleep. When you leave the warmth of your bath, hot tub or sauna, your body’s cooling process “kicks in” and helps you fall and stay asleep.

  • Having a fan in the room

    Having a fan in the room can benefit your sleep by helping with the drop in body temperature required for sleep. To stay cool, keep your palms, forehead, and bottom of your feet exposed to cool air as this is where your body dumps out the most heat (fun fact: that’s why they’re the only places that never grow hair)!

  • Avoid spending time in bed other than when you’re trying to fall asleep

    Avoid spending time in bed other than when you’re trying to fall asleep - no TV watching, radio listening, reading or other activities in bed (other than sex). This allows your brain to associate being in bed with falling asleep. For some it may seem hard to implement, but the concept is simple and can have powerful benefits for sleep onset.

  • Avoid daytime napping

    Avoid daytime napping to allow your body’s “sleep debt” to accumulate, which allows you to fall asleep faster and sleep better. Many people have experienced this effect after staying awake for extended periods of time.

  • Cover/turn off your alarm clock

    Cover/turn off your alarm clock to reduce clock-watching, which can increase anxiety and have negative effects on sleep onset.

  • Avoid stimulants several hours before bedtime

    Avoid stimulants several hours before bedtime. Caffeine and nicotine, for example, are common stimulants that can have profound negative consequences on sleep onset and quality. Avoid alcohol before bedtime as it is known to decrease sleep quality by fragmenting your sleep (make you slightly awaken many times throughout the night).

  • Keep the bedroom dark, quiet and comfortable

    Keep the bedroom dark, quiet and comfortable. Light, loud noise and (to a lesser extent) discomfort are deeply rooted in our body as ways to wake us up. If you live in a loud area, consider buying earplugs from your local drug store to help keep the noise out.

 Additional recommendations

  • Avoid taking melatonin to help fall asleep. Melatonin is your body’s way of synchronizing its clock, and therefore should only be taken a few hours before bed as a way of resetting your sleep cycle. If taken to fall asleep repeatedly, melatonin can actually be harmful to your sleep and become part of the problem rather than the solution.

  • Acupuncture (therapeutic insertion of thin needles in specific points in the skin) has been shown to increase your body’s natural production of melatonin throughout the evening which is beneficial for sleep onset and quality.

  • Meditation is a useful tool for the relaxation of the body and mind. While it may not help sleep for everyone, it counteracts the common causes of insomnia (excitation of certain areas of the brain and nervous system).

  • If you find yourself with anxious or racing thoughts before bed, it is helpful to write them down on paper, ideally while in a separate room.

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