Sleep is essential for keeping the human body in the right shape not only mentally but also physically too. A bad sleep routine can spoil your sleep cycle and make you affected with poor sleep hygiene that will disturb your day-to-day routines like office timings, workout timings, food timings, and breakfast timings.
Bad sleep is often incomplete during the day, and your work will hamper you a lot. Today, we are about to discuss improving this poor sleep routine. Let us see what we can do about this:
First, let’s see what sleep hygiene is.
What Is Sleep Hygiene?
Just like dental hygiene and personal hygiene, sleep hygiene involves routines you do every day to sleep well at night and feel awake during the day. By following good sleep habits you can get better sleep every night, which is important for people who often lack enough sleep. Later on, we will discuss some tips to improve poor sleep hygiene.
Top Reasons for People Feeling Tired – Poor Sleep Hygiene
As per experts, people feel tired because of their lack of focus on the regular things in life and accepting behavior that is more towards the late-night party culture. Metro cities’ youth is inclined more toward the late-night parties that run from evening to midnight till 12 am or 3 am and this clearly hampers their sleep routines.
These youngsters even eat fast food, which also keeps them away from a healthy lifestyle that makes them tired, as they do not get a lot of nutrients in their bodies that they require. Alcohol and caffeine are also some reasons that make them sleepless and raise poor sleep hygiene in their life, which brings a lot of diseases to their life.
It’s always recommended that you develop healthy eating habits, sleep habits, and steadiness in both habits can lead to success and pleasant experiences.
Major Signs of Poor Sleep Hygiene
There are many signs of poor sleep that can spoil your life and these are:
- Forgetfulness
- Lack of motivation
- Decreased libido
- Irritability
- Poor concentration
- Lack of consistency
- Frequent sleep disturbances
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Low mood
- Moodiness
Why is Sleep Hygiene Important?
In a study, researchers discovered a clear link between sleep troubles and habits related to sleep, known as sleep hygiene. Those with poor sleep hygiene were more likely to have difficulty sleeping compared to those with better habits.
People with poor sleep hygiene also tended to feel overly sleepy during the day. Additionally, there was a higher number of participants with depression among those with poor sleep hygiene compared to those with good sleep habits.
Also, when you sleep, your body and mind recharge and restore energy. Without enough sleep, you would struggle with basic tasks and feel drained easily. So, getting proper sleep has many benefits for your health. For example, it reduces the risk of heart diseases, cancer and diabetes. It also boosts mood and energy.
Moreover, your body runs on a biological clock called the circadian rhythm, which tells you when to sleep and wake up. When this rhythm is off, you might have trouble sleeping. So practicing good sleep hygiene will keep your body clock in sync.
Tips to Improve the Poor Sleep Hygiene
If you are having trouble sleeping, you can do the following things during the day and before bed to help. It’s called sleep hygiene, which means you can develop healthy habits for better sleep. Let’s look at some ways to improve your sleep.
Create a Relaxing Bedtime Routine and Stick With It
Creating a calming bedtime routine and sticking to it every night helps in improving poor sleep hygiene. Start about 30 to 60 minutes before bed. Do relaxing things like take a warm bath, stretch, meditate listen to soothing music, or read a book. But avoid reading on electronic devices. Additionally, avoid stressful activities. It helps you unwind and signals to your body that it’s time to sleep.
Turn Off Electronic Devices Before You Go To Sleep
Mobile phones and other electronic devices emit blue light. This light can decrease the melatonin level in your body. This chemical is responsible for the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle. So, lower levels can make it hard to fall asleep. Furthermore, even if you don’t use your phone before bed, having it nearby can still disrupt your sleep with notifications and lights.
Use the Bed Only For Sleep
It feels good to do lots of things on your comfy bed like reading or watching TV. But it’s best to only use your bed for sleeping. It helps your brain know that it’s time to sleep. Although reading can be relaxing, it can also keep your brain awake. So try reading on a couch before you go to bed.
Go To Bed Only When You Are Tired
If you are not sleepy then don’t lie to bed. Instead do something relaxing until you feel tired and then go to bed. If you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, get up. Because lying in bed without being sleepy can frustrate you, which further can keep you awake even longer. So, find something calming to do until you feel sleepy enough to try sleeping again.
Limit or Avoid Napping
Napping during the day can make it harder to sleep at night and might cause more wake-ups during the night. And, it causes poor sleep hygiene. If you need to nap, then keep it short, under 30 minutes. And, you should avoid napping in the late afternoon.
Manage Stress Before Going To Bed
Worrying before bed can keep you awake. You can manage stress before going to bed in following ways:
- You can write down your worries or make a to-do list before bedtime to clear your mind.
- Decide in advance what’s important for tomorrow.
- Try a weighted blanket or meditation to relax and sleep better.
Best Way to Improve the Poor Sleep Hygiene
- Improve Your Wakeup Habits
Promoting sleep patterns can never be completed without improving wake-up habits. You should always try to sleep in between 10 pm to 12 am in the night as waking more than this time period can make you wake up for long period and therefore you will fall asleep late and thus you will wake up late and your daily routine tasks like shower, toilet, breakfast and dressing up will also be late.
- Consume Sunlight Once Every Day
High-quality sleep will also be gained upon improving poor sleep hygiene if you take sunlight every day. It can help you regulate the circadian rhythm. It is seen that people who take natural light in the morning and consume less light in the evening or night are the ones that are blessed with good quality sleep.
- Exercise Regularly
Regular exercising is beneficial for health and for sleep. Exercise raises the body temperature that drops after your exercises and it encourages the body to sleep. Also, try to exercise in the morning schedule as this improves the sleep routine.
- Say No to Alcohol of High Quality at Night
Alcohol may not bother some people to sleep but it can disrupt some people’s sleep later at night. It’s best that you avoid consuming alcohol in the evening so that you get on-time sleep.
- Avoid Caffeine in the Evening
Drinking caffeine can hamper your quality of sleep if you consume it after the evening, as it wakes your senses all day long. It gives you energy, and that is the negative point of it that hampers your sleep.
It’s best to avoid caffeine-based drinks like coffee, energy drinks, cigarettes, and more when you want to have quality sleep.
Get Regular Updates Now!
It’s best to have a routine that is great to live a healthy life. That is what you can get after improving your poor sleep hygiene. Keep following our blogs to get similar updates about a healthy lifestyle. We update regular blogs on health every day that will encourage you to do better in life.
