10 tips for better sleep
I am typically a great sleeper. Once I fall asleep, I typically stay asleep until morning and wake up feeling recharged and refreshed. In college I was always the first one to fall asleep during movie nights, wrapped in my blanket. Last night, however I had a rough night. I woke up for almost 3 hours in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. This is out of the norm for me, and my hope is that tonight I’ll get a great night’s sleep and reset my clock. I thought, you all might as well benefit from my bad night’s sleep so below are sleep hygiene tips. If you suffer from sleep problems, you’re not alone. You’d be surprised how many people have difficulty with good quality, consistent sleep. Below are tips we give our patients for improving their sleep. I hope you find one or all of these tips helpful:
Go to bed at the same time every night. Going to bed at the same time every night helps to condition your body to begin to wind down at a certain time. If your bedtime time is inconsistent, your body and nervous system never become habituated to any type of sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night to teach your body to sleep when you want it to.
Go to bed when you’re sleepy. This may sound counter to the prior tip but go to bed when you’re sleepy. If you’re trying to improve sleep go to bed when sleepy and then try going to bed around the same time the following nights. If you’re adjusting your bedtime try to adjust it at 15 minute increments every night. For example if you go to bed at 11pm but want to shift your bedtime to 10pm, go to bed at 10:45 one night, then 10:30 the next, and 10:15 the following night until you get to 10pm. Trying to make drastic changes to your sleep time is too much for your body to handle. Go gently.
Develop a sleep routine/habit. Develop a nighttime routine to help your mind and nervous system wind down for bed (see my post on bedtime habits to improve sleep here). A sleep routine may help with the first two tips. The activities that we do affect our energy, and ultimately our nervous system. Choose nighttime rituals or routines that help your body to calm down such as reading, using aromatherapy, a heated shoulder wrap, or listening to relaxing music. Again, we need to train our bodies and nervous systems to wind down when we want them to and routines can be such a great help with that process.
Don’t watch the clock . If you do wake up in the middle of the night. Don’t watch the clock, watching the clock when you can’t sleep only increases frustration. If you can’t sleep for a prolonged time, refer to the below tips on how to respond.
Get up and try again. If you wake up and can’t fall back asleep after approximately 20-30 minutes, get up for a short time and then try again. Get up, do some light reading or have a light snack, and then return to bed to try again. Getting up and switching modes can sometimes help to set the reset button so that you can fall back asleep when you do return to bed.
Eat only light meals if you must snack. Don’t get up and have a tub of ice cream. Large and/or unhealthy meals are too much of a shock to our bodies, especially in the middle of the night. If you must snack, have only a light, easily digestible snack like yogurt, or a piece of fruit, then return to bed afterwards to try again.
Reserve bed for sleep only. Beds should be for sleep and sex only. Don’t eat, watch TV, do homework, have stressful phone conversations, or do anything else in your bed. Treat your bed like a sacred space, a space reserved for sleep only. You don’t want your mind and/or body associating bed with any type of energizing activity.
Sleep only at night. Don’t nap. I have worked with too many people who, because of difficulty sleeping at night have reversed their sleep schedule and napped during the day, only to find that the more they nap during the day, the worse they sleep at night. Don’t give in. Reserve sleep only for the times when you actually want to be sleeping. If you get a bad night’s sleep, push through the day and then try again to go to sleep at your normal bedtime the following night.
Avoid alcohol caffeine and big meals before bed. All of these things disrupt sleep. Even one glass of wine or beer has been shown to decrease the quality of our sleep, so if you’re having sleep difficulties I greatly urge you to abstain while you get your sleep in order. Don’t have caffeine after 3pm, and don’t eat big meals before bed.
Exercise. Exercise really makes everything better. Exercise decreases cortisol (the stress hormone), decreases anxiety, and can truly support better sleep. Even on days when I haven’t slept well the night before, I exercise to the best of my ability and I always sleep better afterwards.