Sleep hygiene is a series of sleep habits and different practices that are necessary to improve your quality of night-time sleep and helps you stay active in the day.
Attaining healthy sleep is a crucial factor in both physical and mental wellbeing. It improves your overall productivity, controls your metabolic hormone system, keeps your weight under control and lastly improves your quality of life, as your body repairs and renews itself when you are asleep.
Benefits of good sleep
Strengthens your immunity.
Improves your memory and concentration.
Prevents mood swings.
Repairs cellular damage due to stress and harmful rays
Promotes cell growth
Causes of poor sleep
Stress
Anxiety
Substance abuse
Caffeinated beverages
Side effects of certain medications
Poor sleep environment
Chronic illnesses like pain, asthma, thyroid related issues
Constant change in routine (shift work/ rotational shifts)
Effects of poor sleep
If you ever spend the night tossing and turning, you may wake up the next day feeling cranky and tired. The effects of missing out on quality sleep or sleep in general doesn’t just make you cranky but has other consequences as well.
Lack of sleep takes a toll on mental health – losing focus/concentration, memory issues etc.
Weakens immunity – lack of sleep prevents your immune system to build up strength to fight off illnesses, hence it takes longer time to recover.
Sleep effects leptin and ghrelin – these are the body’s hunger and appetite hormones. When they are out of sync, it causes you to over eat and have cravings for unhealthy foods. Leptin tells your brain to stop eating while ghrelin stimulates your appetite. Lack of sleep reduces your leptin levels and increases ghrelin which explains your unhealthy food cravings, late-night snacking and over eating.
Lack of sleep also effects your other hormones. These include growth hormones, which is responsible for growth in children, muscle building and cell repair in adults.
On the other hand, oversleeping is also not good. An extra hour or two might sound divine after a long week of work. But sleeping more than required can have negative effects on the body. Regularly over-sleeping can result in lowered metabolism, obesity, back pain etc.
How to improve your sleep hygiene
Sleep needs varies as we age. However, ensure you are getting the right amount of sleep in the right environment. This helps to improve the quality of sleep.
Healthy sleep practices include:
Wake up at the same time every day, even on the weekends. Avoid taking naps in the day time.
Exercise regularly, but avoid vigorous exercise 3-4 hours prior to the bed time. Doing so keeps you alert, making getting to sleep harder.
Keep your sleep environment free of blue light.
Blue light it is typically emitted from the screens of electronic devices and TVs etc. This light delays the release of melatonin (a sleep-inducing chemical), resulting in increased alertness and resets the body’s clock to a later schedule. The light from fluorescent bulbs and LED lights has the same effect. Solution – power down devices 2 hours prior to bed time, opt for dim-red lights in bed room. (1)
Eat regular meals and don’t go to bed hungry. Also, avoid having heavy meals just before going to bed. Give a gap of at least 2 hours between eating your meals and bed time.
Avoid excessive liquid intake after 6 or 7 pm, as your sleep could get disturbed if you wake up multiple time to use the bathroom.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine as they can degrade your quality of sleep.
Use your bed for sleeping only, avoid watching movies/reading/working/ eating on the bed.
Avoid checking the time often This can increase anxiety about not falling asleep sooner and keeps you up for a longer time.
Create a bed time routine. Start winding up with tasks and activities an hour before you sleep.
Find a relaxing activity – like warm water bath/ reading a book (paper based and preferably not from your phone or an e-reader).
You can consider using dark, light blocking curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, white noise machines (that induces sleep), humidifiers and fans. They can make the bed room more relaxing.
Signs of poor sleep hygiene
Day time sleepiness
Frequent sleeplessness
Taking too long to fall asleep at night
These are the tell-tale signs of poor sleep hygiene, which let you know that you have to re-evaluate your sleeping habits.
While this is easy to follow for a regular person with little to no effort added, there are many constraints faced by a shift worker when it comes to quality sleep. A shift worker is someone who works beyond the normal “9-5” shift. Some of the persistent problems faced by shift workers are:
Frequent sleep disturbance (due to rotational shifts that change in the same week or during the month)
Excessive sleepiness
Poor concentration, absenteeism
Sleep hygiene for shift workers
Establish a regular sleeping time and stick to it. Ensure you get 7-8 hours of continuous sleep and avoid waking up in between for meals.
Make your sleeping place dark, cool and quiet.
Go directly to bed from work.
Don’t go to bed hungry – pack a compact light meal like oats etc this way you can have food 2 hours before your shift ends, instead of eating food after reaching home, which delays the sleep.
Avoid sugary, spicy and fatty foods, they are more difficult to digest and can cause disturbances in sleep.
Go easy on caffeine, avoid coffee/ tea intake at least 2-3 hours before bed time.
Set boundaries – let people know that you are not to be disturbed.
If you drive back home in the morning light, wear dark sunglasses, avoid day light just before bed time.
Take a hot bath before going to bed.
Sleep is as important as food for you to be healthy. A good night’s sleep ensures physical and mental wellbeing. It enhances your work performance and memory power. Simple corrections in diet and lifestyle can improve your quality of sleep.
References:
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-blue-light-affects-kids-sleep
https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body#9
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-hygiene
https://www.slideshare.net/helenlr98/sleep-hygiene-38262172
http://www.sleepassociation.org
http://sleepeducation.org/essentials-in-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-you-can-sleep-better-if-you-work-the-night-shift/
https://www.alaskasleep.com/blog/sleep-management-for-shift-workers-avoiding-sleep-troubles
https://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/shift-workers.htm
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-excessive-sleep-can-affect-your-metabolism