How to Sleep Better, Starting NOW

Summary

The text provides strategies for improving sleep quality, including maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, establishing a bedtime routine, keeping a cool bedroom, limiting daytime napping, using the bed only for sleep and sex, and minimizing exposure to blue light and electronics.

Abstract

The text emphasizes the importance of sleep for various bodily functions and mental health. It cites the National Sleep Foundation's guidelines for healthy adults to get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. However, many American adults struggle to meet this recommendation, with 35.2% regularly getting less than 7 hours of sleep. The text suggests several strategies to improve sleep quality, such as maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding stimulants, establishing a bedtime routine, and creating a comfortable sleep environment. It also warns against using electronics before bedtime and advises limiting naps to under an hour during the day.

Bullet points

Sleep is crucial for various bodily functions and mental health.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night for healthy adults.
35.2% of American adults regularly get fewer than 7 hours of sleep.
Set a consistent bedtime and wake-up time.
Avoid caffeine after 3 pm.
Limit alcohol consumption before bedtime.
Establish a bedtime routine.
Keep the bedroom cool, ideally between 60 and 67 degrees F.
Limit daytime napping to less than an hour.
Use the bed only for sleep and sex.
Minimize exposure to blue light and electronics before bedtime.

The fundamentals of sleep hygiene

Sleep is one of those things that we all need to survive. It serves several important functions and is vital for development, clearance of brain waste (yes, it allows the brain janitors to clear out the junk of the day literally to give you a fresh start tomorrow), energy conservation, immune response modulation, performance, concentration, and cognition.

National Sleep Foundation guidelines advise that healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development. People over 65 should also get 7 to 8 hours per night.

I think we can all agree that sleep is important, yet 35.2% of American adults get fewer than 7 hours of sleep on a regular basis with even more experiencing intermittent problems sleeping per the National Sleep Foundation’s research.

Here are some strategies to try right now to improve your quality of sleep:

Set a bedtime and stick to it — Preferably you would go to bed and get up at the same times each day (you could maybe get away with an hour or so fluctuation on the weekend if you insist, but the closer you stick to the same time the better). While it might seem obvious, deciding what time you need to be up in the morning and counting back 8 hours is the best way to do this.

Eliminate caffeine after 3 pm (or at least 8 hours before bedtime if you work other shifts)— Caffeine is a stimulate that is fast acting in our bodies but most of us don’t take into consideration that it lingers for a long time in our system. In fact, it’s half life is 3 to 5 hours. That means that half of the caffeine you consumed at 3 pm is still in your body in the evening and, since its a stimulant, it is working to keep you from feeling tired.

Avoid the nightcap — While alcohol might put you to sleep quickly, it disrupts the architecture of our sleep (the phases of sleep that are needed for optimal refreshment). To give it to you in a nutshell, while the alcohol levels in your blood remain high, you will sleep deep and probably without dreams, but as the substance metabolizes, it’s activating and then you will have short periodic sleep phases that will likely jar you awake between shifts. For a great explanation, see this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/well/mind/alcohol-drinking-sleep.html

Establish a bedtime routine — For those of you with children, you already know this works. Having a routine paves the way for an easier bedtime. It works for adults too. Decide what you want this to look like. For example, you might always change into pajamas, brush your teeth, and read a few Medium articles (with blue blocking glasses of course, see below).

Keep your bedroom cool — The Cleveland Clinic suggests the ideal temperature is between 60 and 67 degrees F.

Limit napping during the day — Sleeping too much during the daytime can prevent your body from winding down at night and be disruptive. If you choose to nap, keep it under an hour in duration.

Use your bed for only sleeping and sex — When we use our beds for other activities such as watching television then we are removing our body’s recognition that the bed is a cue saying “hey it’s time to sleep NOW.”

Limit your exposure to blue light and electronics — Not only are computers, tablets, and video games stimulating, they expose us to blue light which profoundly affects our circadian rhythms. According to researchers at Harvard, “While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully.” If you don’t want to give up your screens, blue blocking lenses can help or most devices also have settings that you can adjust to control your exposure.

Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).

If you still find yourself tossing and turning, go ahead and get out of bed. Remember the pointer above that you should use it ONLY for sleep or sex? If you haven’t fallen asleep after about 20 minutes, go ahead and get up and do a relaxing activity such as reading a book or doing some meditation. Allow yourself to have this time rather than berating yourself for not being asleep. Practice self-care for a short time until you feel sleepier and then try again. By implementing these suggestions, you should be sleeping better soon. If you are still experiencing sleep difficulties, seeking assistance with a sleep specialist might help.