Rest Assured: The Importance of Sleep
Sleep hygiene is frequently overlooked, yet it ties into numerous facets of our lives, including energy levels, physical health, immune function, stress management, memory, decision-making, and concentration. In fact, sleep is often regarded as the third pillar of health, complementing the other two pillars: diet and exercise.
Understand the importance of a good nights sleep!
Sleep is important for your:
Physical Health: Sleep regulates hormone levels including ones responsible for appetite and metabolism. Sleep also strengthens the immune system, reducing the risk of illnesses and chronic diseases. During sleep, the body can repair tissues and muscles, restore energy, and facilitate the removal of toxins from the brain in a type of cleansing process (glymphatic system). Learn more about this here.
2. Emotional Well-being: Have you ever felt irritable, annoyed with others around you, and generally being in a bad mood for seemingly no reason? Consider how often these experiences coincide with insufficient sleep. Lack of sleep can exacerbate stress, anxiety, and depression. Getting enough quality sleep increases emotional stability and regulation!
3. Cognitive Function: When we sleep, our brains consolidate information we received during the day, which helps with learning and memory retention. Thus, sleep is hugely important in cognitive function.
Take this short quiz to determine your sleep quality
If you determine that your sleep quality has some room for improvement, here are some tips to improve!
1. Establish a Consistent Sleep Schedule: Aim for a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends. It’s best if your sleep schedule doesn’t change by more than a couple hours on weekends. This helps regulate your body's internal clock and promotes better sleep quality over time. Often times, people try to make themselves go to sleep earlier in order to get on a better sleep schedule. Doing this can create stress because you are trying to change your sleep schedule and go to sleep when you may not be tired! Instead, try to wake up earlier and stay up throughout the day. You may feel a little tired throughout the day, but it will be easier to fall asleep and therefore easier to move to a consistent sleep schedule.
2. Healthy Bedtime Routine: Engage in calming activities before bed, such as reading, gentle stretching, or meditation. Avoid stimulating activities, bright screens, and heavy meals close to bedtime, as they can disrupt sleep. Turn your blue light on your phone off. Refrain from using your phone at least an hour before bed. Many phones also include settings where you can turn on a “night shift” which changes the phone lighting.
Tip: If you feel you get hungry at night, ask yourself if you had enough meals during the day? The most common reason for night eating is skipping breakfast!
3. Sleep Environment: Make your bedroom conducive to sleep by keeping it dark, quiet, and cool. Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows and consider using white noise machines or earplugs to drown out noise disturbances. Refrain from doing work or lounging in your bed during the day. If you find yourself lying in bed unable to fall asleep, try getting out of bed for a little while to avoid associating your bed with stress.
4. Limit Stimulants and Alcohol: Minimize consumption of caffeine and alcohol, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime. Both substances can interfere with sleep quality and disrupt sleep patterns.
5. Stress Management: You can use stress management techniques throughout the day such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, or mindfulness meditation. Stress management can help calm the mind and promote sleep. Another way to manage stress and promote healthy sleep is to get some movement in during the day! Even if it’s 20 minutes walking around the block, this will helps regulate your circadian rhythm, which is the body’s internal clock that manages our sleep/wake cycles.
These behaviors are part of something called sleep hygiene. You can find a sample worksheet here.
