Have you heard of Good Sleep Hygiene? 😴

Recently I feel like the term “sleep hygiene” has become a thing 💤 🛌

I feel I see this term in more and more places and that more people are discussing it recently.

So I thought it would be a good idea to put a summary together of what it is, comment on my personal best practices for good sleep hygiene, and also tie it into how it helps me manage brain fog.

2. A Comfortable Environment: It’s imperative that our surroundings are conducive to good sleep. We need to ensure we create a comfortable bed space, meaning comfortable pillows, mattresses, and linen. Additionally, outside of the bed, it is important to have good quality black-out curtains to ensure the room is as dark as possible, while it is kept as quiet as possible and at a cool, comfortable temperature. Some people also feel it necessary to use earplugs and relaxing background music or white noise. Creating the perfect environment is an investment that you can’t compromise on if you are seeking great sleep hygiene.

3. Get Regular Exercise: Regular physical activity is important to attaining quality of sleep. It is imperative however to ensure that your regime ends at least two hours prior to your bedtime.

4. Keep Your Bed for Sleep: Your brain needs to associate your bed with sleep and as such you need to avoid clouding that association by ensuring you don’t use your bed for work, gaming, watching TV, using your phone, and so forth.

5. Wind Down Before Bed: Practicing relaxing activities before bedtime like deep breathing or meditation can also contribute to good sleep hygiene. Additionally, warm baths, reading, and listening to soft, relaxing music also help.

6. Limit Blue Light: Our personal devices such as tablets and smartphones along with our computers all emit blue light. Blue light has the ability to inhibit the production of melatonin in our bodies which means it messes up our body clock and can throw our sleep patterns out of sync.

7. Watch Your Diet: Having a large meal before sleep time can impact your ability to fall and stay asleep too. It’s best to have a smaller meal to limit the chances of having indigestions through the night. It’s also good practice to avoid spicy and heavy foods too in addition to the pure volume of the portion.

8. Limit Alcohol Consumption: Despite alcohol usually making you feel drowsy initially, it can disrupt your sleep cycle and reduce the overall quality of your sleep.

9. Caffeine & Nicotine: Two popular stimulants that can affect your quality of sleep are caffeine and nicotine. Consumption should be limited, especially in the hours leading up to your planned, regular bedtime.

10. Limit Naps: Although a 20-minute nap once in a while can be refreshing to some, longer, more regular naps are not conducive to having a good night’s rest and can interfere with your body clock, making it harder to constantly fall to sleep at the same time daily.

11. Manage Stress: Practicing stress-reduction techniques, such as mindfulness or yoga, can help calm your stress levels and anxiety before bedtime.

12. Limit Liquid Intake Before Bed: Although it’s said consuming a small amount of salt prior to bedtime with reduce the chances of waking to use the bathroom during the night, it’s best to minimize the consumption of liquids close to bedtime. That will give you the best chance of not waking up for a toilet break.

13. Natural Light: During the day it’s important to spend some time outside to expose yourself to natural light. This will help regulate your sleep-wake cycle.

Don’t trade sleep. Prioritize your well-being by refraining from sacrificing sleep.

Many indulge in activities like staying up after the kids are asleep, texting friends or partners, scrolling through social media, binge-watching TV shows, and even unwinding with alcohol, all of which can compromise the quality of your sleep.

Consider the consequences on your next morning and weigh the value of feeling more rejuvenated against whatever it is you might be trading your sleep for.

Convincing yourself that a better morning trumps these nighttime activities is a worthwhile practice, allowing your body and mental state to demonstrate the benefits the following day. While it may be challenging, the mastery of prioritizing quality sleep proves to be immensely rewarding.

When I embarked on my journey of cleaning up my sleep habits I ensured I was consistent with #1 and #2 above initially. They were easy ones to start with for me. It was a big surprise the impact these two habits had on how rested I felt in the morning just days into the change.

Once I gained consistency here I was in a better frame of mind to move on to other items listed that I needed to work on which made it that little bit easier to progress. See what works for you and persevere with it.

It works, trust me!

This extensive list can be used as a guide to assist you with your sleep hygiene.

Making your sleep habits a priority can increase your overall physical health and well-being. On top of this, it can also significantly improve your mental performance, gaining mental clarity.

A clearer mind means better, well-thought-through decisions.

Good sleep hygiene plays a meaningful role in this.

As always, if you continue to have persistent sleep problems despite practicing good sleep hygiene, it's advisable to consult a healthcare professional.