Sleep hygiene is all about your sleep cycle and your sleep habits, healthy or poor, and that depends on you! If you have stayed up late thinking, why doesn’t it come to you like many others? You may not take your sleep hygiene as seriously as you should.
Something might be wrong with your approach or habits, and you can only rectify it if you know how to distinguish between the good and the bad.
Well, you are at the right place because, in this post, you will be able to identify and correct your sleeping patterns and sleep like a baby tonight, too.
What is sleep hygiene?
Sleep hygiene refers to your sleep habits, good and evil and the activities or the factors that influence your behavior throughout the day and affect your sleep cycle.
Sleep hygiene refers to a healthy sleep cycle and healthy sleep patterns; good sleep hygiene is essential to your general health, helping you sleep better and more accessible.
This post will detail the importance and benefits of sleep hygiene and how you can achieve a good night’s sleep easily and regularly.
Types of sleep hygiene
Sleep hygiene can be generally categorized into good and poor, which means you might have good or bad habits that affect your sleep cycle directly or indirectly. Identifying what habits serve a terrible purpose in your current sleep cycle is an essential step in rectifying your sleep patterns, and through these ten tips, you can quickly correct your bad habits and get a good night’s sleep.
Ten tips for better sleep hygiene
1.Consistency and sleep routines
Take time and devise a sleep schedule for your body. Consider your schedule, stress, and personal time, and fix a time stamp for waking up and going to sleep every day. Try following at all costs. This will help your body’s internal clock to get accustomed to your sleep schedule, and you won’t have trouble sleeping on time after a while.
2. Set a relaxing bedtime routine for your body.
You can take a hot shower or do stretches or any other activity to help you unwind your body before sleeping. Keep in mind to do this 45-60 minutes before going to bed. This way, your body will automatically register it’s time to go to bed when you start the routine.
3. Keep your electronic devices away and turn them off.
Melatonin is a chemical hormone that influences your sleep cycle, and a decrease in melatonin levels in your body can cause you to fall asleep later than usual and face difficulties while trying to sleep.
The electronic devices around you emit harmful blue rays that end up reducing your melatonin levels and create disturbances in your sleep cycle.
4. Workout regularly
Working out or exercising regularly enhances your sleep quality; you can improve your health and sleep by exercising for 30-45 minutes. However, ensure you don’t exercise around bedtime because that will increase your body temperature and make sleeping difficult.
5. Set up your bedroom for good sleep.
You sleep better when your environment is better suited for a relaxing nap. A dark room with fresh and clean mattresses and proper ventilation is an appropriate environment for a good night’s sleep and helps you fall asleep faster.
6. Say no to caffeine when you can
Limit your caffeine intake whenever you can, and you will start noticing changes in your sleep patterns and overall quality of life.
Avoid substances like alcohol and caffeine. Everyone has different tolerance levels for stimulating substances like these, and their effects can last a long time, which will end up keeping you awake longer than desired.
7. Only go to bed if you are tired.
Only retreat to your bed when you are tired, and your body needs sleep. Try engaging yourself with a relaxing hobby that helps you calm down and ease off the stress from your entire day.
You should try to fall asleep within 10-20 minutes of going to bed, and if that doesn’t happen, get up and try doing something else for a while. Try reading a book or walking around and see if that helps; you can also try a relaxing bath to soothe yourself.
8. Avoid taking naps during the day.
When you take a nap during the day, sleeping on time at night becomes more challenging. Avoid taking long naps during the day that exceed 30 minutes, and also avoid naps during the late afternoon for a smooth functioning sleep cycle.
Your body can only sleep so much, and sleeping throughout the afternoon deprives your body of a sound sleep cycle.
9. Manage your stress before deciding on sleep.
Worrying and overthinking to no end can keep you up at night, and sleeping with these thoughts becomes very difficult for someone with anxiety.
Journaling helps a lot with overthinking and anxiety, and writing down all of your worries helps you stay calm; you can also try weighted blankets that help in the reduction of anxiety and help you achieve a deep sleep.
WRAPPING IT UP
Sleep hygiene is an essential part of your daily life, and you should pay close attention to the sleeping habits you follow daily. By keeping in mind what you eat and drink, you can check your sleep cycles and ensure your overall general health is improving; now, that’s killing two birds with one stone.
Your body, sleep, and skin will all improve if you give up drinking and caffeine as you usually do. Doctors have claimed that good sleep hygiene is one of the most under-looked health practices by the young and old alike; getting a good night’s sleep has helped with a lot of diseases, such as depression and anxiety, and has visibly shown a reduction in panic and anxiety attacks in people.
Getting enough sleep is crucial for maintaining good physical and mental health.
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