Getting Restful Sleep
In our fast-paced lives, quality sleep often takes a backseat, leading to fatigue and a host of health issues. Thankfully, by practicing good sleep hygiene, you can establish healthy habits that promote restful nights and energized days. Here are steps to help you improve your sleep:
Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule helps regulate your body's internal clock. Consistency allows your body to establish a natural sleep-wake cycle, making it easier to fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. This often means setting limits for work, hobbies, technology, and TV .
Get a noise machine that is not a phone or TV.
Your sleep environment plays a crucial role in the quality of your sleep. Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. Invest in comfortable bedding and a supportive mattress. Consider using earplugs, eye masks, or white noise machines to block out any disruptive sounds or lights.
Engage in calming activities before bed.
Create a relaxing bedtime routine to signal to your body that it's time to wind down. Avoid stimulating activities such as vigorous exercise or using electronic devices close to bedtime, as they can interfere with your ability to fall asleep. Instead, read a book, take a warm bath, or practice gentle stretching or deep breathing exercises.
Switch to water mid-afternoon.
Caffeine and alcohol can disrupt your sleep patterns. Avoid consuming caffeinated beverages like coffee, tea, or soda in the late afternoon and evening. While alcohol may initially make you feel drowsy, it can disrupt your sleep cycles and lead to fragmented, less restorative sleep.
The bed is for sleeping or chilling… not Netflix.
Limit activities in bed to sleep or sex. Additionally, restrict the wakeful time in bed. Getting out of bed in the morning and staying out of bed for daytime rest directs our body and brain toward better sleep. Establish a technology-free, work-free, food-free, lounge-free bedroom.
Start mornings with movement and sunlight.
Regular physical activity can enhance sleep quality. Engage in moderate exercises such as walking, jogging, or yoga during the day. Avoid intense workouts close to bedtime, as they can stimulate your body and make it difficult to fall asleep. Getting 15 minutes of sunlight first thing in the morning is helpful for daytime wakefulness and nighttime rest.
Consider seeking EMDR to challenge negative thoughts and reactions to sleep.
EMDR can help remove unhelpful and hindering thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and bodily reactions toward sleep. By decreasing the stress on the nervous system related to sleep, EMDR can offer your body a more relaxed state and the opportunity to develop positive thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and experiences with sleep. If your sleep hygiene is good but sleep is still difficult, consider trying EMDR for improvement.
Ditch the smartwatch
Our bodies are wonderful communicators. Learning to listen, sense, and trust our bodies over technology goes a long way in overall well-being, especially sleep. Many people report poor sleep based on technology-derived data solely. These smart technologies have many benefits. However, when communication with our bodies is drowned out by data we could be experiencing a perceived state of poor-quality sleep. It may be an unpopular opinion but I will say it again: ditch the smartwatch!
*Written with assistance from Genie