Do you have difficulty falling asleep? Does it take more than 20 minutes for you to fall asleep? Do you agree with the statement, “wired but tired?” Initiating sleep is a common challenge for many in the United States. Sleep issues can occur for many different reasons. One reason is poor sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene relates to the quality of your sleep routine or lack thereof. If you struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep, improving your sleep hygiene can be extremely effective. A strong sleep hygiene can train your brain to recognize when it is time to go to sleep. Try these effective sleep hygiene steps:
Sleep and Wake Time
I know how hard this is, but going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday is incredibly helpful in training your body to go to sleep on time. What about the weekends? Keeping the schedule the same has the strongest impact, but if you just have to sleep more on the weekends, try to keep your schedule within an hour of the regular weekday time.
Minimize Napping
Napping can cause problems for the natural development of melatonin in your system. This impact can cause falling asleep at night much harder and cause problems with establishing a schedule. If you have to nap, keep it at or under 30 minutes and away from bedtime.
Evaluate Your Sleep Environment
Ideally your bedroom should be dedicated to sleep. Strive for an environment that is dark, quiet, and has a comfortable temperature. Set your bed up in a way that encourages you to fall asleep. Avoid doing anything in your bed except for sleep and sex. Anything you do, besides sleep, in the bed causes the brain to associate the bed with activities other than sleep, thus decreasing the chance of falling asleep.
Exercise
Exercise can be really helpful to sleep. An active lifestyle can improve sleep onset and duration. However, exercise should be avoided 1-2 hours before bedtime. Engaging in exercise during this timeframe can result in body temperature regulation difficulties that can result in a sleepless night.
Things to Avoid
Caffeine has a half-life of about 10 hours. As such caffeine consumed after lunchtime can cause challenges in initiating sleep. Alcohol does lead to a quicker onset of sleep, but it causes erratic sleep throughout the night, which will ultimately result in increased difficulties with falling asleep when desired. Additionally, avoid looking at the clock. Looking at the clock when trying to fall asleep often causes frustration, which in turn will increase how long it takes to fall asleep.
Quality of sleep is a challenge for many of us. However, sometimes it can be a symptom of something more serious. Sleep can be disrupted by our emotional state, behavior, and/or our physiology. If you feel your sleep difficulties are severe or a major concern for you, I encourage you to seek out a professional diagnosis. If you need help with sleep hygiene or are concerned that you may suffer from insomnia, the University Counseling Center provides counseling services, both in-person and on-line.
Additional Resources
https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/CD/insomnia/TrifectaInsomniaSeverityIndexFillable910162020.pdf Free insomnia screener
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/ Dig deeper into healthy sleep
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/your-sleep-checklist helpful sleep tip checklist