Many things can positively or negatively influence your sleep. There are also many behaviors that you can incorporate into your routine that can help you practice good sleep hygiene. You will need to put in some effort throughout the day if you want to achieve healthy sleep.
Here are some of the best tips that you can use to improve the overall quality of your sleep.
During The Day
1. Get Physical
One very positive thing that you can do to improve your sleep is getting more physical. By staying active, you can get yourself higher-quality sleep. As soon as you are cleared by a health professional, you can begin to incorporate more moderate exercise into your daily life. Getting quality exercise into your daily life can help to improve your sleep drastically.
2. Get Outside
If you aren’t spending enough time outside, you will find your sleep getting negatively affected. Having a lack of vitamin D production can lead to many health problems including sleep disorders. Ideally, you want to increase your exposure to sunlight to improve your sleep quality.
3. Avoid Napping
You don’t want to fall into the habit of taking long naps throughout the day. This will only cause a disruption in your sleep at night. The more you nap, the less tired you’ll be at nighttime.
4. Avoid Smoking
If you’re someone that smokes regularly, it would be a good habit to quit. However, quitting may be difficult or impractical for some. Therefore, you should try to curb smoking later at night. This is especially true if you’re smoking cigarettes with nicotine as it acts as a stimulant.
5. Avoid Alcohol At Night
If you are someone that regularly drinks alcohol, it would be a good idea to avoid doing so at night.
6. Avoid Caffeine
The last thing you want to do is drink your coffee at night. Caffeine is a stimulant and you don’t want to get it into your body afternoon. Otherwise, you will certainly find it negatively affecting your sleep.
Before Bed
1. Get Enough Sleep
You need to be certain you are giving your body and mind the proper amount of sleep. Everyone’s optimal sleep schedule is different. Try to give yourself a minimum of 7 hours of sleep.
2. Set a Schedule
You want to ensure that you are setting a schedule that you can follow consistently. Having consistency with your sleeping schedule is very important to maintaining an effective internal clock.
3. Set The Right Temperature
Believe it or not, but having the right temperature in your bedroom can make or break your sleep quality. You need to keep your room somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees depending on your preference. You can always set it cooler than optimal temperature and add blankets if you get cold.
4. Create and Follow a Routine
You want to try to optimize your sleeping environment and set up a sleep routine that you can follow. Whether it be playing relaxing music, white noise, or reading before you go to bed. Anything you can do consistently that will signal to your body it’s time to go to sleep will help.
5. Get Comfortable
When you get into bed it should be comfortable and supportive to help you get a restful night’s sleep. A good quality mattress will help you to ensure that you are getting the sleep that you need. Read this helpful IKEA mattress quality guide.
