Tips to Improve Your Sleep

Research has consistently linked sleep quality with cognitive functioning and mood stability, with healthy sleep habits significantly improving productivity, stamina, physical health, and overall quality of life. Poor sleep may not only impact how you feel the morning after a restless night, but chronic sleep challenges can also result in physiological changes to your brain that undermine long-term cognitive health. Thankfully, many sleep problems can be effectively addressed by improving sleep hygiene.

Sleep hygiene refers to healthy sleep practices that improve sleep quality. The key to improving sleep hygiene is consistency, such that new behaviors become habits. Often,  problematic bedtime routines have had years, if not a lifetime, to solidify, and changing these behaviors may feel like a daunting task. However, even implementing a small number of sleep hygiene strategies may make a noticeable difference in your sleep quality and daily cognitive functioning.

 Sleep Hygiene Tips:

1. Only use your bed for sleep and intimate activities. If you cannot fall asleep within 30 minutes or you wake in the night and cannot return to sleep, leave your bed and engage in a relaxing and minimally stimulating activity (e.g., petting your dog or cat on the couch, deep breathing) until you feel that you could fall asleep. The goal is to minimize the amount of time spend awake in bed.  
2. Wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. Overtime, this will improve your body’s sleep-wake cycle.
3. Develop a bedtime routine that does not involve very stimulating activities and stick to this routine every night.
   1. Turn off electronic screens (e.g., television, computer, cellphones) at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime.
   2. Dim the lighting in your bedroom.
   3. Regularly engage in a relaxing activity (e.g., relating bath, deep breathing, gentle stretching).
   4. Do not read anything that you find exciting, thrilling, or stressful.
4. Exercise regularly, but not within a few hours of bed-time.
5. Minimize eating within a few hours of bed-time.
6. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation can quiet the mind, relax the body, and promote sleep.
7. Avoid clock watching. Turn the clock around so you cannot see the time but can still use the clock as an alarm. 
8. If you find yourself waking multiple times at night to use the restroom, consider restricting your fluid intake one to two hours prior to bedtime. This may require you to drink more fluids during the day in order to maintain healthy levels of hydration. If you are thirsty during the night, consider sucking on small ice chips to alleviate dry mouth.
9. Monitor caffeine usage and drink only non-caffeinated beverages after mid-day.
10. If you find that sleep challenges persist even after attempting to improve your sleep hygiene, you may consider seeking help from your providers:
    1. Cognitive Behavior Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) is an evidenced-based, behavioral treatment for insomnia that incorporates structured assistance implementing sleep hygiene techniques, sleep restriction therapy, and stimulus control with the goal of reducing sleep onset latency and minimizing awakenings throughout the night.
    2. Consult with a physician who specializes in sleep medicine to determine if you would benefit from a formal sleep study to identify any underlying biological causes of your sleep challenges.

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