Sleep is linked to just about everything: focus, mental health, energy levels, productivity, happiness, stress, depression, eating habits, physical health, social interactions, and decision-making. Indeed, moderate sleep deprivation can decrease your performance as much as being legally intoxicated with alcohol. Yet, millions of adults don’t get enough sleep. And the solution is good sleep hygiene.
5 clinically effective sleep hygiene tips
- Increasing and regulating our exposure to light
Increasing your exposure to natural light and regulating your artificial light exposure are key ways to help keep your biological clock on track and to prepare your body to get to sleep on time.
- Planning our food consumption to help regulate our body
Knowing how your food interacts and affects your sleep is important! Foods that cause our brain to be active often have tyramine (Bacon, Cheese, Nuts, Avo, Soy). Cutting down on caffeine helps our body become more self-reliant and better budget our energy usage throughout the day.
- Combating anxiety caused insomnia with mindfulness and sleep meditation
Stress and anxiety are common causes of anxiety, so incorporating meditations and pre-sleep routines are great ways to reduce anxiety so that you can get to sleep on time and sleep well.
- Establishing a regular bedtime and wake routine
A regular bedtime and wake time is one of the best ways to keep our body clocks on time consistently. A consistent bedtime establishes regularity and helps make our brain happy!
- Exercise daily
There’s a substantial body of scientific evidence that exercise helps improve sleep amounts, quality, reduce stress and relieve anxiety, and relieve mild forms of insomnia. Making exercise part of your regular routine can contribute to healthier, more restful sleep—and may help improve sleep issues such as insomnia.
These are simple and easy ways to have better sleep hygiene and sleep well each night. It is an important way to get our bodies into a natural cycle and ready for sleeping at night, waking up in the morning, and getting ready to attack each day with vigour, dedication and absorption.
