5 Ways to Improve Your Sleep
Is your nightly routine setting you up for successful and restful sleep?
Let’s talk about your sleep hygiene, what can affect the quality of your sleep and how you can sleep better!
But first, let’s level set about a few sleep facts and things you should know.
Circadian Rhythm: 24-hour clock, body’s internal clock, sleep-wake cycle
*Adenosine: Chemical barometer that registers the amount of time elapsed since you woke in the AM. More adenosine = increased desire to sleep.
Melatonin: Provides the official instruction to commence the event of sleep, but does not participate in the sleep race itself. The rise in Melatonin begins soon after dusk, being released into the bloodstream from the pineal gland, situated deep in the back of the brain.
And while we’re at it, let’s crack a few sleep myths:
- Sleep Debt: Have you ever said you were going to “catch up on sleep over the weekend”? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way! Binge sleeping does not fully restore the damage created by the lack of sleep.
- “I don’t need 8 hrs of sleep”: Has anyone ever told you that they don’t need 8 hours of sleep? That they function just fine on 4 or 6 hours? There is a tiny percent of the population that has a DNA gene mutation that actually allows for that, but it’s probably not you. You need 7–9 hours of sleep a night. The negative consequences of consistently less than 7 hours are: impaired immune system, doubles risk of cancer, memory problems, shortens your lifespan, and more…
Here is a checklist of things you can do to ensure you set yourself up for quality sleep:
- Environment
Is your bedroom set up to give you a good night of sleep?
- Set temperature to 65 degrees (if you can’t check the temp, it’s pretty cold)
- Comfortable mattress and pillow
- You can use essential oils like lavender to promote sleep (although be careful with lavender, it can give you funny dreams)
- Keep the bedroom as dark as possible
- Use a fan, noise machine or other sound devices if there are sounds that could wake you up
2. Screen Time
Phones, computers, and TV were designed to keep us entertained, to make our lives easier, and to keep us stimulated. Is your screentime impairing your ability to sleep?
When you are watching TV, looking at work email, scrolling social media your brain is stimulated aka not the ideal state for sleep. The blue light emitted suppresses Melatonin, which controls the sleep-wake cycle.
- Turn off screens 30 minutes before bed.
3. Caffeine
Is caffeine affecting your ability to fall asleep? Caffeine impairs the release of Melatonin, which again, you know helps signal your brain that it’s time for bed.
Caffeine has an average half-life of 5–7 hours. That means that after your cup of coffee, there is still half the amount of caffeine in your body 5 hours later.
- Try to keep caffeine intake in the morning.
- Switch to decaf coffee or tea in the afternoon if desired.
4. Food + Water
Ideally, you are going to bed at a 3 (on the hunger/fullness scale) — not hungry, not full.
- Sleeping directly after eating doesn’t allow the body to shut off as the digestive process is in full swing.*
- However, sleeping on an empty stomach can cause you to wake up early, disrupting sleep stages. *
There aren’t a lot of studies showing that specific diets improve sleep, however, what is known is that diets high in sugar and low in fiber are poor for sleep. They are linked to more fragmented and less deep sleep.*
“Short sleep [under 7 hours] will increase hunger and appetite, compromise impulse control within the brain, increase food consumption (especially of high-calorie foods), decrease feelings of food satisfaction after eating, and prevent effective weight loss when dieting.”*
- Essentially, short sleep suppresses the fullness hormone (leptin) and increases the hunger hormone (ghrelin).
5. Consistency
Your circadian rhythm is just that. A rhythm. It likes to be on a 24-hour schedule, so it’s in your best interest to listen to it.
If you notice you’re going to bed some nights at 10pm, some at 12am and some at 2am, we need to talk about consistency.
Your body likes a schedule and it functions that way! But instead of saying you are going to bed at 10pm every night (which is hard to maintain forever), try setting a range.
- I go to bed between 10–11pm most nights.
- I wake up between 6–7am most nights.
Giving yourself a range, is easier to maintain than a strict number and gives you flexibility on the weekend when we tend to stay up later.
Give yourself more than 8 hours in bed. If you’re shooting for 8 hours of sleep (which you should be), try to be in bed for at least 8.5 hours.
What ones on the list do you already do? What ones can you focus on to improve your sleep quality?
*Information taken from Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
