Sleep Hygiene
- Establish a regular time for going to bed. The key to good sleep hygiene is maintaining a regular schedule.
- Establish a regular time for arising every day. When you wake up in the morning, it is important to be exposed to relatively bright light as light is a major stimulus for wakefulness and resetting the bodyís natural clock.
- Keep the bedroom slightly cooler.
- Sleep requires a quiet environment with minimal disturbances or distractions.
- Exercise regularly, but do not exercise immediately before bedtime. A period of regular exercise once or twice a day is advisable. Actually, exercise approximately 4-6 hours before the desired sleep time sleep can be helpful to induce sleep.
- Avoid stimulant drugs containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine. Many cold remedies contain these drugs. If taken before bedtime, they can cause temporary insomnia.
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or tobacco immediately before bedtime. Alcohol can make you sleepy, but the sleep that follows is disturbed and not refreshing. Avoid chronic use of alcohol to fall asleep.
- Do not get into the habit of sleeping late and delaying getting out of bed.
- Do not regularly delay falling asleep at night.
- Afternoon naps may improve daytime performance, but contribute to difficulty falling asleep at night.
- The natural sleep cycle is 25 hours, but we live in a 24 hour world. Many social pressures tend to force one to stay up late. Persistently late bedtimes, will ultimately reset the bodyís natural clock and prevent earlier bedtimes.
- Have your spouse or sleep partner pay close attention to snoring or abnormal breathing patterns during sleep.
- If you are overweight, reduce. The fat on your abdomen and in your airways can restrict your breathing while you sleep.
- Remember you require less sleep when you get older. Five to six hours is common for senior citizens. Also as we grow older, we tend to fall asleep earlier and wake up earlier.
- Naps may make you feel refreshed. Some people need a brief ìpower napî of 20 minutes duration during the day. Longer naps can actually make you feel tired because they allow you to go into deeper sleep than you should have during the day. In many cases, naps cause you to be unable to fall asleep at night
- Establish a regular time for retiring to bed, such as 10:30 PM or 11:00 PM each night. This must be observed on a regular basis. The actual bedtime must be reasonable to accommodate your lifestyle and work schedule. But you must be consistent, and only rarely make exceptions for social engagements.
- Teenagers love to stay up late. The later you stay up, the later you get up the next day. Obviously awakening in the morning becomes next to impossible. This starts the vicious cycle of delayed sleep, known as phase delay syndrome. It is very hard at first to move the bedtime earlier.
- Establish a regular time to get out of bed and stick to it, for example 6:30 or 7:00 each morning. It is also important to remember that if you seem to wake up earlier, for example 5:00 AM, this could be your personal wake up time. If that is the case, then GET OUT OF BED at your wake up time and start your day. Advancing the wake up time is also hard to do, but eventually the body becomes adapted to it Just remember not to linger in bed. Once you are awake, get out of bed.
- Frequent awakening during sleep can be due to a variety of conditions, both medical and psychological. It is necessary to evaluate all of the possible causes before immediately looking for sleeping pills to solve the problem. Medical conditions include sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, asthma, heart failure, prostate conditions, neuromuscular conditions, thyroid disorders, any chronic pain syndrome.
- Learn to recognize your individual sleep needs.
