10 Tips for Better Sleep Habits

In a nutshell

Establishing and maintaining good sleep habits are crucial for your overall health and well-being. It can help you function better in your daily life and prevent various health problems, including the development of chronic health conditions.
How you behave during the day, particularly before bedtime, can significantly affect your sleep. Your behaviors can either support good quality sleep or hinder it, leading to sleep problems.
This article focuses on ten basic sleep rules and tips to help you establish a good sleep routine.

Getting enough sleep is essential for modern people who often work long hours. With demanding schedules and heavy workloads, it can be challenging to get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night, as suggested by the USA’s National Sleep Foundation. However, it is crucial to prioritize your sleep, as it is a precious commodity that can help you maintain a healthy and fulfilling life. By getting enough sleep, you can increase your lifespan and overall well-being.

Below we focus on essential tips that can help you to develop healthy sleep habits that will improve your sleep quality and thus prolong your health- and lifespan:

1. Be regular with your sleep schedule

Going to bed at approximately the same time every night is one of the best things you can do for your sleep schedule, but it takes some effort at first. You may want to consider setting the alarm not only for waking up in the morning but also as a reminder to go to bed. Also, don’t sleep over during the weekend. A consistent schedule is critical for good-quality sleep.

2. Keep stress at bay

Keep stress at bay by avoiding technology before bedtime. This includes watching TV or using your phone and avoiding work-related tasks such as answering emails or sending messages on social media. Moreover, it is a well-established fact that phones emit blue light. Exposure to blue light at night disrupts the circadian rhythm and the sleep-wake cycle, impairing sleep quality.¹

3. Adopt a regular wind-down routine

This could include reading a book or listening to music before bed, taking a bath or shower, and using relaxation techniques like deep breathing exercises. Famous sleep advocate Dr. Matt Walker has amazing podcast series dedicated to good sleep hygiene. In addition, he mentioned practicing meditation before going to sleep using two popular apps (such as Headspace and Calm).

4. Optimize your bedroom environment

Try to keep your room on the cool side, and use blackout curtains to keep the room dark. In addition, reducing the light in the house at least a couple of hours before bedtime will facilitate sleep.² Remove all clocks from the bedroom. Follow this guide for more tips on optimizing the bedroom environment to promote good sleep quality.

5. Abstain from caffeine and alcohol starting from noon

Don’t drink caffeine-containing beverages or heavy alcoholic drinks before going to sleep. This will dramatically reduce total sleep time and impair sleep quality.³ ⁴ While alcohol may initially help you fall asleep faster, it can ultimately disrupt your sleep later in the night, leading to poor performance during the day. Therefore, it’s best to avoid using alcohol as a sleep aid. Additionally, it’s a good idea to consider shifting heavy meals to an earlier time in the evening to ensure that your body has adequate time to digest before bedtime, allowing for a more restful night’s sleep.

6. Refrain from napping, especially after 1 p.m.

Napping late in the afternoon can interfere with nighttime sleep.⁵ Of course, individual factors may affect your need to have a nap, such as your sleeping schedule, age, and medication use. So if you need to take a nap, aim for 20 minutes maximum. This nap duration seems to be optimal. A short nap without entering into a deep sleep can boost your alertness. In contrast, longer ones can make you feel groggy afterward.

7. Walk it out

If sometimes you can’t fall asleep fast – don’t stress- walk it out. Don’t stay in your bed for more than 20 mins if you can’t fall asleep. Go to another room with dim lights, wind down (do stretching, read the book), and go to bed only when you feel sleepy again.

8. Don’t count sheep

If you want to fall asleep faster, don’t use the traditional destruction technique of counting sheep. In fact, it has been shown to prolong the time of falling asleep.⁶ Instead, take yourself on a mental walk in the place you enjoy. Do it by imagining everything in exquisite detail, and you will not notice how fast you will drift off.

9. If you had a few bad nights, do nothing about this

It’s perfectly normal to experience occasional sleep problems, and there’s no need to worry. It’s important, however, to maintain a consistent sleep schedule: don’t wake up any later the next day, don’t nap during the day, don’t go to bed earlier. Try to keep your regular sleep schedule as usual. If the problem persists, don’t hesitate to reach out to your doctor for guidance and support.

10. Set up your circadian clock

And finally, last but not least – a good night’s sleep starts already in the morning. Dr. Huberman, the host of the famous Huberman lab podcast, emphasizes in various episodes that exposure to sunlight for a brief period of 2-10 minutes in the morning is critical for establishing your circadian rhythm and improving your overall mental and metabolic health. This is because the light is a vital signal that regulates our internal clock. Besides light, other essential factors such as physical activity and regular eating habits also play a significant role in regulating our circadian rhythm, so it’s essential to remain active during the day and maintain a consistent eating schedule.

Recap and final thoughts

By following these simple rules and adopting good sleep habits, you can optimize the quality of your sleep and experience a healthier and longer life. Getting enough restful sleep is essential for maintaining overall physical and mental health, and it can impact everything from your immune system to your mood and cognitive performance. If you are still having trouble sleeping, despite adopting these good sleep habits, it may be helpful to seek additional guidance from a healthcare professional or explore the top 9 supplements of natural origin that might aid you with sleep.

References

1
Silvani, Marcia Ines et al. “The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 13 943108. 16 Aug. 2022. PubMed Source ↩︎
2
Burgess, Helen J, and Thomas A Molina. “Home lighting before usual bedtime impacts circadian timing: a field study.” Photochemistry and photobiology vol. 90,3 (2014): 723-6. PubMed Source ↩︎
3
Drake, Christopher et al. “Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed.” Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine vol. 9,11 1195-200. 15 Nov. 2013. PubMed Source ↩︎
4
Colrain, Ian M et al. “Alcohol and the sleeping brain.” Handbook of clinical neurology vol. 125 (2014): 415-31. PubMed Source ↩︎
5
Mograss, Melodee et al. “The effects of napping on night-time sleep in healthy young adults.” Journal of sleep research vol. 31,5 (2022): e13578. PubMed Source ↩︎
6
Harvey, Allison G, and Suzanna Payne. “The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia: distraction with imagery versus general distraction.” Behaviour research and therapy vol. 40,3 (2002): 267-77. PubMed Source ↩︎