10 Tips For Getting a Good Night's Sleep
10 Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
“Sleep hygiene” is a funny-sounding term that means “things you can do to help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep.” If you need some reasons to make sleep a priority, see Getting Adequate Sleep and Sleep Regulation. Try to implement as many of these as possible:
Make your room as dark as possible, and on the cool side. Consider using an eye mask.
Charge your phone outside your bedroom. If there is no other option or if you want to use a sleep monitoring/alarm app, put your phone on airplane mode when you go to bed. Do not use your phone while in bed.
Don’t use stimulants such as concentrated caffeine (Monster, Jolt, Red Bull etc), and nicotine. Enjoy coffee and caffeine-containing tea in the morning or afternoon.
Avoid alcohol, especially as a sleep aid. While it may make you sleepy initially, you will likely awaken when the effects wear off and may have trouble falling back to sleep.
Try to eat your last meal 2 or 3 hours before going to sleep.
If you have to nap, limit the time to 30 minutes, and try to take your nap in the morning or early afternoon.
If you wake up in the middle of the night, avoid looking at the clock more than once, which can create anxiety as you worry about how much sleep you’re not getting. Instead, try counting backwards from 1000 (a tip from the excellent Headspace meditation app)
Create a bedtime routine that will help you shift toward sleep. Some ideas: make a cup of herbal (non-caffeinated) tea, do some gentle yoga or breathing exercises, write in a journal, read a book, meditate, work on a craft such as knitting, crochet, or needlepoint.
One or two drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow can help you fall asleep (check the label; it should say Lavandula angustifolia). If you have never tried essential oils, Simplers is a reputable brand available widely, including at Whole Foods. An excellent online source is Mountain Rose.
Use screen shifters. These change the screen glow from blue to yellowish when the sun goes down. Blue light from a screen can trick your brain into thinking it is day time, making it harder to fall asleep. For iPhone: go to “Display and Brightness”, then click on “Night Shift.” Select “Sunset to Sunrise.” For Android, go to “Settings”, “Display” and then “Night Light.” For work on your computer, download the free app “f.lux.”