It’s easy to take for granted the importance of sleep. After all, if time is money, then time spent doing nothing has to be wasting it, right? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Sleep is up there with hydration and oxygen as one of the most important processes in day-to-day living.
Sleep recharges the body and the mind. It boosts our immune system and basic functions. Adults are recommended seven to nine hours of sleep nightly. This sounds excessive – and for some of you, maybe even impossible – but ,it is imperative to maximize our daily sleep. To achieve this we need to practice good sleep hygiene. This funny term refers to the habits we maintain to achieve a healthy sleep cycle. And, here are some ways to do it.
Routines
A solid routine of daily activities and nightly decompression is central to achieving healthy sleep hygiene. A fixed wake-up time, whether it’s a weekend or weekday, is the first step. Humans are habitual creatures by nature – our habits quickly seep into our subconscious. Try to eat meals, especially dinners, at the same time. Also, practice winding down activities such as reading a book or meditation.
Limit screen time
On the subject of unwinding, it’s helpful to keep screen time to a minimum. According to the Sleep Foundation, cell phones, tablets, and laptops can cause mental stimulation that make falling asleep more difficult than it needs to be. To make matters worse, these screens often shine blue light, which is believed to lower naturally-made melatonin, the hormone which governs our sleep cycles.
Work-Life Divide
Working from home has opened up incredible opportunities for all types of workers around the globe. Unfortunately, it has also eroded the already flimsy barrier many of us have had between work and home. If space permits, try to designate specific areas for work and specific areas for decompression. Don’t work in bed.
Get out and about
Just walking around in the sunlight can do wonders for your sleep hygiene. The combination of Vitamin D and light exercise promotes a healthy circadian rhythm, limiting sleep disruption.
Cut down on stimulants
Caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants found in everyday habit-forming activities – drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, respectively. With coffee/caffeine, in particular, it’s easy to fall into a dangerous loop where to stave off the consequences of sleep debt, we drink and indulge in increasing amounts of caffeine, exacerbating poor sleep hygiene.
Conclusion
There’s no one size fits all solution for sleep hygiene. Developing good sleep habits takes trial and error, and a lot of patience. Habits do not form overnight, and schedules are hard to stick to so it’s important to gradually build on basic steps over time until they become second nature.
