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Healthy Sleep - Make Restful Sleep a Priority!

 

1. Use your bedroom only for sleep (and sex). This is so your mind associates your bedroom with sleep, rather than work, TV, reading, etc.
   
   
2. Develop a "getting-ready-for-sleep" routine. Help your mind and body know you’re getting ready for sleep.  Do calming activities the hour or 2 before bed.  Then brush your teeth, wash your face, and turn off the lights.  Doing activities in the same order every night can help.
   
   
3. Go to bed only when you're sleepy. It’s more likely you’ll be able to fall asleep, and you’ll avoid tossing and turning in bed because you’re not sleepy.  But remember, you have to spend time before going to bed, so you naturally become sleepy.  It’s unlikely you’ll begin to feel sleepy if you’re engrossed in a book, doing an online search, etc.
   
   
4. If you can't fall asleep, get out of bed. The average time it takes to fall asleep is 5 to 30 minutes.  To keep your bedroom associated with sleep, don’t lie in bed unable to sleep (which can also make you start worrying about when you’re going to fall asleep). If you’re unable to fall asleep after 20 minutes or so, get out of bed and do a quiet activity – perhaps a relaxation exercise or quiet reading – and then return to bed when you begin to get sleepy.  After a few nights of doing this, you may not sleep very much at all, but keep at it.  You’re working on establishing good sleep habits!
   
   
5. Get up at the same time every morning. This helps to establish a sleeping routine.  You might be very tired, the first few days you do this, but you’ll then be ready for bed at night.  (On weekends and vacations, you can change this by getting up no more than 1 hour later than your usual getting-up time, but don’t do this until you’re sleeping well.)
   
   
6. No alcohol before bed.  No caffeine within 8 hours of your bedtime. No tobacco within 3 hours of your bedtime. All of these disrupt your sleep!  Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants – what you don’t need at bedtime.  Alcohol disrupts your sleep cycles, especially deep sleep.  While ii may help you get to sleep, you’ll wake up more often and get less deep/restful sleep.
   
   
7. Make your bedroom a good place to sleep. Be sure your bedroom is not too hot or cold.  Make sure it’s dark enough, even   as the sun starts to come up.  And make sure sounds don’t disturb your sleep – you can try an air purifier or white noise machine.
   
   

For more information: Sleep Hygiene/National Sleep Foundation www.sleepfoundation.org/Ask_the_Sleep_Expert_Sleep_Hygiene.htm