Sleep Hygiene Tips

Your sleep environment and habits play an important role in the quantity and quality of your sleep. Improving your sleep hygiene can help you get adequate restorative sleep for optimal health and satisfying quality of life.

Sleep Environment Tips

Creating an environment that is just for sleep can help you get better sleep. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex, and invite sleep by:

Making your bedroom quiet and relaxing, leaving all electronic devices outside
Limiting light in your bedroom with soft lamps, blackout curtains, etc.
Keeping a comfortable, cool temperature
Not using electronic screens in any form, like TV, phone, computer from close to bedtime until the final awakening in the morning

Invest in a mattress that provides adequate support and replace your mattress as recommended.

Sleep Timing Tips

Developing habits that lead your body to expect restful sleep can help you actually get restful sleep. To improve your sleep, try:

Establishing a regular bedtime and wake time and sticking to it every day of the week (even on weekends, holidays and vacations)
Establishing a bedtime that allows for at least seven hours of sleep

However, lying awake in bed is counterproductive, so:

Do not go to bed until you are sleepy
If you cannot fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and read from a printed book

If you do have difficulty falling asleep, you need to avoid behaviors that will further stimulate you.

Tips for Sleep Rituals and Bedtime Behaviors

Leading up to bedtime, you need to prepare your body for short-term hibernation by:

Eating a light, healthy snack if you are hungry
Avoiding:
- Caffeine and other stimulants, like smoking/tobacco
- Large amounts of fluid
- Alcohol consumption

These tips help you avoid drops in blood glucose levels and nighttime bathroom urges that disrupt sleep.

Leading up to bedtime, also limit light exposure, especially exposure from electronic screens. Blue frequency light stimulates the part of the brain that controls sleep and wakefulness, so exposure near bedtime can confuse your natural circadian rhythm.

If improving your sleep hygiene is not enough to allow you to get sufficient restorative sleep, contact Neurology & Sleep Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Senthil Ramasamy, our board-certified sleep specialist, can diagnose and treat your sleep problem to improve your health and quality of life.