Sleep hygiene habits

We spend 1/3 of our time in bed, hopefully sleeping so we need good sleep hygiene habits.  What is sleep hygiene anyway?

What is hygiene?

First, let’s talk about hygiene.  I’m sure you already know what hygiene is but it helps to start here.  Hygiene is what we do to maintain health – whether that is brushing our teeth, eating well, exercising and going to the doctor regularly.  If we don’t do these things, our bodies can break down and cause disease.  When we don’t take care of ourselves, it will catch up to us.

Maybe not this year or even next year but it will.  It could be too late at that point so we need to be vigilant with our health and habits.  Where does sleep hygiene play into this?

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep hygiene is similar in that if we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies start to suffer and break down.  We don’t function as well because we’re tired and our brains are unable to work properly.  Irritation, agitation and even depression aren’t far behind.  This can lead to destructive behavior like screaming at your family, drinking or smoking, and even drug use.  So, sleep hygiene is the term used to get into an environment that promotes healthy sleep patterns.  It’s that simple but with anything simple, it is harder to implement, especially if you’re going through some things in life.

Sleep hygiene habits

There are some things you can do to change your sleep hygiene habits.  Here are a few suggestions that have worked for me:

1. Winding down – this one is so important to me because the more activity I do at night, the less I am able to relax so I am mindful of what I do in the evening after 7 PM.  This means I do NOT exercise.  I may start planning my day for tomorrow, which helps to get it out of my head.  By putting it on paper (or in an app, etc.), I can organize my day for the next day so I don’t have to think or worry about it anymore.  It is surprisingly VERY effective!
2. Take your shower in the evening / take a warm bath – a warm bath is very calming and will help to get you sleepy.  Since I tend to be an anxious person anyway and I’m always so busy, I find it difficult to take a bath.  I do try every now and then.  When I do, I do enjoy it and I’m always glad I did it.  On most nights, though, I will take my shower in the evening rather than in the morning.  I know most people like to take morning showers because it wakes them up but it just helps me to settle down by taking it in the evening.  It has really worked for me.
3. I don’t drink caffeine after 2 PM – if I make the mistake of drinking too many stimulants after early afternoon, I never can fall asleep.  So, I cut it off at this time.
4. Less alcohol – more herbal tea – days can be hard and sometimes you feel like a nice glass of wine will help calm you.  Most of us know this has the opposite effect – even if we fall asleep quicker, we’ll generally wake up in the middle of the night.  This means we’re not getting a good nights’ sleep.  So, I drink more herbal tea in the evening.
5. No naps – napping for me means no sleep when it’s time to go to bed at night.  Some people swear by naps but I always wonder how well they sleep at night.  For me, naps don’t work and it causes me more trouble to get back into a sleep hygiene rhythm.
6. Eating – I don’t eat anything 2 hours before bed because our bodies need a couple hours to digest our food.  The last thing we want to do is wake ourselves up because our bodies are busy digesting.
7. Routines – it’s good to have a routine and stick with it.  Sure, sometimes you need to break a routine but our bodies crave it.  Even kids need routines to stay healthy so if you enforce it for your kids, you should take your own advice.  It does work.

Other options that you DON’T need

A couple options that you don’t need as part of your sleep hygiene habits are the following:

1. A smart watch – we already live with too many electronics.  I know that these are cool and I used to have one.  But, I didn’t like sleeping with a watch on and I was always too worried about the data.  That would mean I’d always be checking how I slept.  It only caused me more anxiety.  I got rid of mine and I sleep much better.
2. Blue light glasses – these just encourage you to stay on your devices.  Ditch the idea of that and read a book instead – a real one, not one on your tablet!

Feel better / look better

These are just some of the suggestions that have worked for me.  Take one or two of them and see if your sleep hygiene habits get better.  It will help your mental state and your skin – watch and see!