Sleep Hygiene
As you’ll learn below, there are many factors that affect our ability to get quality sleep. Over time and practice, you will be able to train your body to naturally increase quality of sleep without becoming reliant on an outside source.
Some Tips to Keep in Mind – Some of these you might not like. If good quality rest is important to you, use them all. *Thinking time: Our brain will get the time it needs to process activities of the day or the past. If you don’t want to have all the thoughts instead of sleeping – get some thinking/quiet time during the day. *Television/Phone: Avoid exciting or drama television shows or news stories 1 hour before bedtime – they’re stimulating to our minds so they don’t allow us to get to sleep easily or have good quality sleep during the night. *Light therapy: Due to the natural chemical reactions in our brains, we need bright light during the day and to avoid bright lights after the sun goes down. We can improve mood and energy, and reduce depression, by using broad-spectrum lights, 10,000 lux, without UV, during the day. Remember to avoid looking directly at the light, don’t use therapy lights within 4 hours of bedtime, and reduce any other lights in your home within half an hour of sleeping in order to simulate sunset and cue your brain to produce melatonin. Ultimately nature is the best medicine, but when you absolutely can’t get out of the home you can mimic some of it. *Light sources: In a natural night we would probably have some ambient light from the moon and stars. Keep this and safety in mind when choosing window coverings and night-lighting for your home. Also, sometimes our eyes are opened when we’re sleeping and we don’t want shadows and shapes that might spook us to wake up. Remember, you want to be relaxed, not stimulated. One hour before bed, avoid gadgets that give off light, even if the brightness is turned down or switch to red light. *Routine: having a stable sleep/wake schedule is important. In training your body to wind down and sleep, it is important to have a 30 minute routine so that your body can identify that it’s about time to sleep and have a chance to release the melatonin that triggers sleep. A routine can involve some of the following: caring for pets, brushing teeth, flossing, using the bathroom, prepping sleep area, praying/journaling and other relaxing activities. You don’t want anything triggering adrenaline at this point. *Bed: Reserve your bed for sleep or sex and your body will become trained to sleep when you get into bed. If you want to engage with a gadget, read, or do any other activity - find a chair, comfy spot on the floor, or other place to do these activities *Noise: Avoid noises including television, radio, cell phones and other gadgets. Our brains like to complete things like pesky song lyrics, movies or conversations. Our brains also like to try and keep us safe - so any noise triggers our brain to decide whether or not to wake up and fight, flight or freeze, which keeps us out of the restorative REM sleep. Don’t live where it’s quiet? - Sometimes a white-noise that has little or no rhythm, like fan noise, can be helpful in blocking out other noises. *Around 7 hours of sleep: The last cycle of sleep in a night is the most important one since it has mostly REM sleep which is when your brain can heal itself and reduce the stress chemicals in your brain. You need to budget time for your brain to wind down. After your body has adjusted fully to your schedule, assess how you feel when you wake up – you may need a little more or less than 7 hours. *Temperature: Our body doesn’t adjust its temperature as well during the night, so keeping things cool at night is helpful in encouraging restful and comfortable sleep. *Shower/Bath: Hot or cold showers can invigorate us – making it difficult for us to sleep. Have a warm shower instead or move showers to your morning routine. *Nutrition: – Avoid large meals, spicy or sugary foods or drinks 3 hours before bedtime – your body can’t relax and get into the sleep routine if it’s busy processing your food, and acid reflux thrives while you’re in a laying-down position. *Caffeine: - Avoid caffeine especially within an hour of bedtime – it’s a stimulant that can be sneaky and find its way into pain relievers and many food/drink items including items that advertise as “caffeine free.” Also, as we get older, even 1 caffeinated drink in the morning can affect our sleep for the next 2 nights. *Nicotine: Nicotine is a stimulant that can easily keep your body on a sleep-interrupting schedule of physical craving. There are many options to help you quit, and health & financial benefits to quitting also. *Exercise: A few minutes of walking can release positive endorphins such as serotonin, and studies have shown that moderate physical efforts can improve moods more than talk-therapy and medications combined. Basically – exercise reduces stress, improves body conditioning, helps synchronize circadian rhythms and helps you get properly fatigued for sleep. Exercising within 3 hours of bedtime can interrupt sleep because exercise is invigorating. *Alcohol & Cannabis: Alcohol & cannabis may help you fall asleep quicker but it interrupts your restorative brain activity. Alcohol & cannabis essentially eliminate good quality sleep. *Menopause & Sleep: Sleep disturbance is common during menopause, as is the development of sleep apnea. See your primary care physician for possible medication therapies and to see which physical exercises you can do to improve sleep quality. *Sleep Aids: Over-the-counter sleep aids are short-term bandages and don’t fix the reasons for your sleep disturbance.
*Still can’t sleep? Practice, practice, practice. Relax and think on something else – this way you avoid glaring at the clock and getting frustrated. By focusing on the situation of not being able to sleep, you’re winding yourself up instead of relaxing. Find a comfy position and use some of the techniques below to relax yourself into dreamland. If you’ve laid there for 20 minutes and sleep is still elusive, get up out of the sleep area and do something relaxing, then try again in about 20 minutes.
Happiness/Appreciation/Thanks-giving Journal: If your brain is racing around trying to complete various scenarios or thinking of a million things, writing them down can be good for finishing those thoughts. We don’t want to get stuck on negative things though, so make sure to end the writing/thinking session with things that you appreciate or thinking on things that make you happy. Examples include enjoyable articles, comics, things seen on tv/internet, artwork, poetry, recipes, book reviews, observational statements, anecdotes, stories of heroes, positive self-statements…
Positive Visualization - Calm/Safe/Happy Place: Daydream. What would you do if you won a substantial amount of money? What would your ideal date be? What would you do if you met your favorite celebrity? What would your dream vacation be? See it, hear it, smell it, taste it, feel it. Think of every little detail and live it out a little in your head. Not only will this help improve mood, it will help train your brain to pick out the positive in everyday life – thereby reducing depression and anxiety.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Begin by finding a comfortable position lying down. You can change positions any time during the progressive muscle relaxation exercises to make yourself more comfortable as needed. The first progressive muscle relaxation exercise is breathing. Breathe in as deep as you can, and hold this breath. Hold it...hold it... and now slowly release all of the air. Continue to breathe slowly and gently. Allow your breathing to relax you. The next progressive muscle relaxation exercise focuses on relaxing the muscles of your body. Start with the large muscles of your legs. Tighten all the muscles of your legs. Tense the muscles further. Hold onto this tension for a few seconds. Feel how tight and tensed the muscles in your legs are right now. Squeeze the muscles harder, tighter... Continue to hold this tension. Feel the muscles wanting to give up this tension. Hold it for a few moments more.... and now relax. Let all the tension go. Feel the muscles in your legs going limp, loose, and relaxed. Notice how relaxed the muscles feel now. Feel the difference between tension and relaxation. Enjoy the pleasant feeling of relaxation in your legs. Continue to do this with all your major muscles: buttocks, back, chest, stomach and arms.
Resources & References:
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/sleep-hygiene
http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/sleep/articles/2012/sleep-disorders/
http://sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/sleep-hygiene
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/overcoming/tips
http://www.cdc.gov/ & do a keyword search for “Sleep Hygiene.”
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/prefrontal-nudity/201112/fix-your-sleep-hygiene
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/26/light-therapy-promising-for-treating-major-depression.aspx
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