What is Sleep Hygiene?
Sleep hygiene refers to a set of rituals that one takes every day to achieve a healthier lifestyle. This lifestyle reflects how you sleep at night and the restorative power that comes to your brain. Moreover, each of us should develop these best practices by the day if we want to succeed.
After learning what sleep hygiene is, one should also learn how to practice it. It is impossible to deny the power of sleep in one’s overall health. But how can one create and practice the sleep hygiene with Air Liquide Healthcare to yield maximum results? Or better still, what daily practices can accrue to productive sleep hygiene.
More so, one can learn daily steps that will redirect the effect of the quality of sleep for better results. In this case, the short-term goal is workable sleep hygiene, while the long-term goal is a healthy and prolonged life. Below are daily activities you can imbibe to help create a better sleep plan or schedule for your overall sleep hygiene.
Sleep Hygiene Practices for Each Period of the Day
- Morning
You may have been used to waking up in the morning to a cup of tea, coffee, or other shots. But that will no longer be the case when you want to build good sleep hygiene. The first thing when you wake up will be to remove the cup of Joe. You can no longer start your day with caffeine, nicotine, or even alcohol because these substances can stimulate your body to stay awake.
They can also quickly disorganize your regulated sleep cycle, which we call circadian rhythm. But by ingesting cappuccino in the morning in any form, you sign off to a disrupted sleep cycle at night. In addition, you should take food that contains some of the exciting nutrients for good sleep hygiene.
For example, you need food items like seafood, fish, eggs, and other related ones. Moreover, it would help if you also learned to exercise your body and mind no later than the mid-afternoon. Any exercise that occurs beyond that time does not support the body for the night’s sleep. Many times, the body is hardly ready for such an adventure.
- Afternoon
If you cannot exercise in the afternoon, then what do you do in the afternoon that will contribute to your sleep hygiene? Depending on your current sleep situation, it will be nice for you to get a short nap each afternoon at a regular time. Of course, taking a nap can be good and evil, especially if one ignores how long a nap should be and how it should be done.
It will solve the issue if you can design an amount of time you can spare to sleep each day. In some people, 30 minutes nap is enough to refresh their body and soul. Whereas, in others, they need close to one hour, which can quickly turn into a deep sleep. It is important to note what happens when you begin to take a short nap in the afternoon. Learn more about sleep hygiene and sleeping position.
Do you feel rejuvenated and refreshed after the nap? Or, after taking a nap, do you find it difficult to sleep in the night or stay asleep? The latter case might be a reason to reduce your afternoon power nap daily. All things being equal, the standard period for an afternoon nap is not more than 30 minutes per day.
- Evening
How vital can the night itself be if you know what to do in the morning and afternoon to make you sleep better? Starting with the evening, the thoughts of how the day went and what to do the following day are often predominant. Therefore, one must take proactive steps to ensure every disturbance or stressful thought is done away with. So, you must not only identify the things that stress you but be bold to remove them.
For instance, does the thought of your financial needs weigh on your mind? Now is the time to remove the situations, especially those you cannot change. The reason is that stressful thinking can release cortisol, which will make you stay awake and alert instead of feeling sleepy. To replace this condition, you can pick a book to read or take up a quiet activity such as playing a game. Also, you can use some stress-reducing oils to induce sleep while staying away from a bedside snack.
Moreover, eating late at night can cause indigestion or even heartburn. As you attempt to read from a smart device or under light, try and protect your eyes from the blue rays. These rays can prevent your eyes from sleeping. In addition, put away every computer or smart device. As light is a significant factor in your sleep hygiene, a warm bath can also help your body regain its shape for sleep.
- Bedtime
Now that you have successfully made it throughout the day and hit the bed, some rituals can further help. For instance, ensure your mattress is comfortable for sleep and the room is cool enough. Don’t forget that the primary purpose of a room is to be a place of rest and love. Therefore, set the right tone in the bedroom, which means that you should not bring any unrelated item into the bedroom.
For instance, there is no place for smartphones, work from the office, or LED lights. You should keep the room as dark and safe as possible. To establish good sleep hygiene, you must go to bed at about the same time every night. When we do, we have set a good tone for our body and biological clock to know and do, respectively. Such a strategy also helps the body’s sleep schedule. In the case of any disturbing pet, set them apart to limit the disturbance.
Conclusion
Finally, sleep hygiene also requires deliberate effort and core maintained structure. Also, you can use it to create a regular pattern or routine to follow for a better and healthier lifestyle. When you successfully develop these habits, you can begin seeing the rewards of such dedication.