Is your stress making you sleep deprived? Let’s improve our sleep with some healthy sleep practices! 

Do you know good sleep can significantly enhance your quality of life?

There is a great difference in terms of productivity, energy and happiness between someone who had a good night’s sleep and one who didn’t.

People call the ways that help people sleep soundly at night “Sleep hygiene”. This is particularly important for individuals working in stressful and fast paced environment.

By practising sleep hygiene, you get a good night’s sleep. You will be bursting with energy during the daytime, which in turn increases your focus. You are less irritable, more creative and your productivity will soar. You will generally be happier and less stressed. These are only few of the benefits of sleep hygiene. 

This is a relatively new term which was first introduced during early 1970. 

Sleep hygiene is a set of different practices and habits that improve your nighttime sleep quality and daytime alertness.

What do we do to achieve sleep hygiene?

• Get enough sleep. 6-8 hours of sleep is an optimal length of sleep time for best results. It is best if you don’t go less than 6 hours and more than 8 hours.
•  Avoid caffienated drinks, nicotine and alcohol right before sleep. Alcoholic drinks can actually disrupt the sleep quality despite the popular belief that a drink before sleep can help you sleep faster.
• Make sure you get regular exercise. Any kind of exercise such as fast walking, cycling, aerobic classes and yoga can notably help you fall asleep faster. However, don’t exercise too close to the bedtime. Workouts of great intensity before sleep can make you alert till late hours into the night.
• Avoid eating late at night especially food with heavy flavours such as deep fried, oily food, spicy food, citrus fruits and carbonated drinks.
• Sleep in a room that receives adequate natural light. Getting exposed to sunlight in the daytime and darkness in the nighttime can help regulate the sleep-wake cycle in your body.
• Set a regular bedtime routine. Taking a warm shower, reading a soothing book or any activity that will help you relax can ease you into a great quality sleep.
• Make yourself comfortable in your bed. Firmness and height of your pillows and bolsters, the comfort of your mattress, and how the blanket feels on your body should be chosen to your own likings.
• Turn off all blue light emitting electronic devices. A cool dark room is the first step to a good sleep. Light from your mobile phones and TVs can greatly impact your quality of sleep.
• Steer clear of your phones and laptops at least an hour before you sleep. Blue light from these devices can disturb your sleep-wake cycle. 

Many physical and psychological problems can result from poor sleep hygiene. Some examples are declined performances at work, depression, anxiety, excessive depenence on alcohol and cigarettes, consequently leading to long term illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, hypertension and diabetes.

All you need is a few simple and small habit changes to bring so much positive differences to your quality of sleep and can also help you avoid sleep related problems. It is also an essential step to a healthier, better life.

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/daytime-sleepiness-tips#1

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/slideshow-sleep-tips

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-hygiene