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You are in: Main Page / Medical articles / Lifestyle / Sleep Hygiene
Good sleep hygiene for children and adults ensures better quality of living. The article provides information, tips, rules, instructions and techniques that indent to avoid poor and inadequate sleeping hygiene and encourage you to take special measures and apply practices and habits that won't let insomnia into your life. You will learn what sleep hygiene is and how proper hygiene can be achieved.
Sleep hygiene
Some people claim that their hobby is sleeping. They believe so as sleep is a base for a good, productive day. No wonder people who suffer from occasional problems with sleep claim that they well-being has been lowered. They are irritable, have lower concentration levels and are more likely to have all kinds of accidents. Poor sleeping habits can have serious effects such as weak immune system or depression. Making sleep more restful and of better quality can even reduce the amount of disorders and illnesses you are able to suffer from. Appropriate sleep hygiene helps to avoid insomnia in later years of your life, it is also related to the school performance of children.
What is sleep?
Sleep is essential, no one doubts that. Even rats who were sleep-deprived live shorter, have weak immune systems. Experts claim that during sleep our brains have time to repair all the damaged done to cells and restore the energy essential for the day. REM phase of sleeping stimulates the brain part which is responsible for learning. There are three periods of sleeping:
1. Quiet sleep - it is also called a deep sleep
2. REM - Rapid Eye Movement - the brain is very active but the body is still, this is the period during which dreaming occurs.
3. Short periods of waking
Poor sleep patterns are usually caused by inappropriate diet e.g using caffeine, alcohol or nicotine before bed. Certain medications can cause side effects such as insomnia. Before taking any drugs read the information, especially if you're having sleeping problems.
Guidelines
Just by following several simple rules you can ensure yourself a good night sleep.
1. Go to bed at the same time every day
Creating a bedtime ritual is perfect for your body to let it know that you are approaching the bedtime. Simply brushing your teeth may let your organism know that it's high time for getting some rest. It's also good to have a warm bath which raises your body's temperature and makes you sleepy.
2. Get up at the same time every day
Getting up at the same time during the weekends helps you feel sleepy in the evening. Maker sure that your body clock is running smoothly. Get lots of morning sunlight which will help you wake up without problems.
3. Exercise
Getting some exercising during the day, a long walk or visit to the gym make you more likely to fall asleep easily. On the other hand, you should avoid exercising for at least 4-6 hours before going to bed.
4. Spend some time outdoors.
Contact with nature and huge levels of oxygen will make you sleepy and drowsy. Be sure to get enough fresh air and you won't complain of insomnia. You have probably noticed that after a long walk or hiking you feel sleepy and your sleep is much more effective than without outdoor activities.
5. Your bedroom should invite you to resting
You should reduce the amount of light and noise, create and make sure that your bed and pillows will be comfortable. Your surrounding should not be too cold nor too warm as it may affect your sleep.
6. Use bed only for sleep
It is not time for reading, watching TV or eating, remember to use your bed for sleeping and sex only. If you do it other way you may begin to associate it with other activities which will prevent you from falling asleep. If you can't go without reading before sleep choose a 'non-fiction' book which will force your mind to grapple with facts.
7. Don't make stimulating activities before sleeping
Don't do anything stimulating including drinking coffee. Caffeine present in coffee, soda, iced tea should be removed from your diet 4-6 hours before sleeping. Try to avoid coffee after lunch or if you have to, drink decaffeinated coffee. If you are a heavy coffee drinker you may face headaches that will prevent you from sleeping, try to avoid them. Limit the amount of noise, light and temperature that affect your sleep, you may be attracted to them too much.
8. Don't be hungry or too full
Both conditions: being hungry and full destroy the quality of sleep. Don't eat too much protein, it's better to consume carbohydrates before sleeping. Products which are famous for their sleep-inducing properties include: milk or dairy products. Milk and cookies are good to help you fall asleep. Don't exaggerate though, being full isn't helpful at all.
9. Don't nap in the evening
Although very short (max.30min) naps may improve your energy levels during the day the longer ones may disrupt your sleeping cycle.
10. Don't look at the clock all the time
Relaxation before bedtime is better than thinking about next day problems over and over again. You can take a warm bath, read a book or meditate. The last thing you should do is to observe the clock and concentrate on how much you can't sleep. If you can't sleep for about 30 minutes it means that you should get up and try to do something not stimulating, lying and getting frustrated about the lack of sleep won't help you overcome this problem.
11. Don't drink alcohol nor smoke
Nicotine is not relaxing at all even if it relaxes you during the day. During the 4 hours before going to bed reduce the number of cigarettes and avoid them 30-45. The same principle applies to drinking alcohol: it is a depressant which causes waking up and nightmares during the night. Your sleep quality will be worsened so you may wake up tired even though you sleep a lot.
12. Don't overuse sleeping pills
Using sleeping pills that are over-the-counter medicines is not a good idea at all. If you can't sleep contact your physicians.
Added by:
mary
not connected with health care system
Added on:
2008-04-29 14:29:07 ,
Updated:
2008-05-15 15:38:43
Bibliography:
“Sleep and Aging” The National Sleep Foundation http://www.sleepfoundation.org/publications/sleepage.html#1
- “The Principles of Sleep Hygiene,” by Loren Broch, Ph.D. and Rochelle Zak, M.D., New York Presbyterian Hospital at http://talkaboutsleep.healthology.com/focus_article.asp?f=sleep_disorders&b=talkaboutsleep&c=sleephygiene
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