Checking in With Your “Sleep Hygiene”
Sleep hygiene is the latest buzz word for actively addressing what is preventing you from falling asleep and staying asleep naturally. There is no uniform methodology to falling into natural sleep patterns and thus one has to experiment with different techniques till you find somthing that works for you.
Invariably falling asleep is mostly disturbed by cyclic thoughts that rotate through our minds about the past, future, relationships or simply the day’s events. This can be an attribute of deeper stress that may require some talk thereapy to resolve.
Mindful cleaning routines such as meditation and breathing techniques take a bit of practice but have the longest term sustainability as they can be adapted into daily life and do not require external activators.
Sleep hygiene includes the “duration” or quality of sleep. In other words, getting disturbed during your sleep cycles can have the same effect as getting very little sleep.
Below are some of the universal routines that you can try to fall asleep and get better nighttime sleep.
- Create a sleep schedule by going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time, (even over weekends). This helps put your body into a rhythm that it can begin to use to regulate. In your schedule give your mind time to prepare for sleep by spending time on a light
- Create a relaxing ritual that avoids bright lights and screen technology (which is designed to activate your senses). Reading, listening to calming repetitive music or a soft-spoken audiobook an hour or two is a great way to drop out of the activated zone and send signals to you body that it’s time to calm down now.
- Use “power napping” wisely. Power naps can help or harm your normal healthy sleep cycles. Sometimes exhaustion takes over and a nap in the day is what is required to re-boost your wellbeing however the reality is that if the nap is not sustainable part of your daily routine then your sleep schedules and routines can all be thrown out of balance. So rather stick to your routines, rituals and schedules and use power naps sparingly so that they don’t disrupt your normal sleep patterns.
- Create a relaxing sleep environment. A bedroom is not a lounge or an office so resist the urge to hop into bed and binge the latest Netflix seasons. Your bedroom should be a sanctity from the world for sleep, quiet, dark and stress-free. Make your bedroom a “nice place” to be for your mind to unwind and do not associate it with activity. Eyemasks, earplugs, blackout curtains, “white noise” playing humidifiers, fans can all be great solutions to set the environment into being relaxing for you to tap into a good sleep routine.
- Choose the right mattress, pillows and covers. Many people don’t spend enough time selecting a mattress that adequately supports their spine and body and covers and pillows that keep them steady and comfortable. If you have been using a quality mattress for over 9 years it’s time to get a new one and don’t go for the cheapest option, go for the option that feels right and provides proper support for your spine.
- Bright light = awake and dim light = ready for sleep. Humans have evolved to follow the sun – also known as the circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms help establish sleep at night and waking up in the day. Thus over daytime, you should be awake and at night time you should be asleep in the body’s natural order of operation. People that work shifts or at night need to simulate this order of operation as best they can or the Circadian rhythms go out of sync and sleep disorders can occur.
- Reduce blue light exposure. More recent research suggests “blue light” exposure is linked to sleep disturbance. Blue light is a spectrum of light that radiates from mobile phones, tablets, computers etc as well as certain LED and fluorescent and “day” type light bulbs. The “blue light” is an invisible spectrum that hijacks your natural systems and tricks your mind into thinking that it is still daytime whe it is not. This hijack means that it takes longer for your mind to drop down to be able to rest.
- Avoid substances. Smoking, drinking alcohol, taking stimulants (like caffeine) or certain medications can have an adverse effect on sleep patterns.
- Mealtimes and digestion. Going to bed with an empty to “too-full” stomach can cause a number of sleep discomfort issues. Ensure that you have had a moderated meal at least an hour and a half before you begin your bed time rituals and make sure you have been to the toilet before getting into bed.
- Talk Thereapy. Our minds are magnificent time machines and we are able to zoom back in time with memories or project into time with imagination. The problem is that when the mind is operating inn a active state it’s hard to switch it off. Yoga and meditation can do a lot of things but when we are flipping between past and future and preventing sleep it is very likley that there is an unresolved emotional state that simply requires talk therapy with a registered counsellor to unpack.
- Breathing techniques. Possibly one of the most powerful sleep routines that you can establish is the simple breathing technique called the Quick Coherence Technique. The idea is that stop your mind chatter by focusing on deep breathing. Quickly you will find your body slipping into a more grounded state from where it isa lot easier to drop into sleep. There are thousands of similar deep breathing techniques available for free on youtube and on the internet.
- Exercise.
- Guided Meditation.
- Mindfulness Practices.
Professional help with sleep issues and sleep hygiene.
So incase you have consistently tried all this and are still struggling with sleep issues there are professionals that actually specilise in understanding sleep disroders and how best to remedy certain issues that fit beyond this scope. The process is to deturmine whether the problem is physical or psychological.
