According to the article, “Sleep Hygiene Promotes Better Physical and Mental Health—Here’s How to Improve Yours” by RealSimple, sleep hygiene is a set of habits and strategies that can improve sleep quality.
High quality sleep doesn’t just make us feel better the next morning, it is crucial for maintaining healthy blood pressure, cognitive functioning, and blood sugar control. Proper sleep may even reduce chronic pain and lower a person’s risk of cancer.
The article asserts that your bed should only be used for the three “S’s”: sleep, sickness or sex. This guiding principle helps reduce the risk of associating your bed with other activities, such as working or watching TV, that may lead to problems falling asleep and staying asleep when you do decide to go to bed.
Additional strategies for improving sleep quality include avoiding afternoon naps, limiting caffeine intake, getting regular exercise, and exposing your eyes to natural light soon after waking.
If you’re concerned about your sleep hygiene, don’t worry. Using a slow-and-steady approach can help break habits that don’t serve you, while incorporating new ones that do. Begin by choosing one or two habits and tweak them over time. To learn more about what good sleep hygiene looks like and how you can improve yours, read RealSimple’s full article here.