How To Improve Your Sleep Hygiene For A Life Reset

Improve Your Sleep For Your Best Life Reset

As we were studying and learning to be Holistic Lifestyle Coaches Program the one thing that kept coming up is that sleep is the forgotten pillar of wellness in our modern world.

In fact, I have heard it said that if people just got more sleep so many of the chronic illnesses known today would disappear.
 
Sleep that de-stresses the mind and body in terms of both muscular activity and thoughts alike, is what is truly necessary for us to recharge, rejuvenate, and be able to continue to live and work well.
 
Sleep is one of the best things you can do for yourself yet is often overlooked. Too many people lose out on sleep or at least have a poor quality of sleep, assuming it is just something you do, and not at all important.
 
Your sleep quality can affect nearly every facet of your life, including your physical health, mental health, and so much more.
 
Know How Much Sleep You’re Getting
 
Before you can adjust your sleep routine, you need to have a starting point. Keep a sleep diary for a few days or weeks about what time you go to sleep and when you wake up. Note what are doing before going to sleep, if it was easy or hard to fall asleep, and how often you wake up in the night.
 
This can be written down in whatever way is easiest for you, from writing down notes in a journal or notebook, to tracking it on your phone. You can also create a simple spreadsheet that lets you track your sleep, including when you started getting ready for bed when you actually went to sleep, and when you woke up.
 
Why Are You Missing Out on Sleep?
 
Just by writing down your sleep routine, you have probably picked up on some habits that are keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep.
 
Not only will writing down your sleep habits show you how many hours of sleep you tend to get, but what your routine is like, and what bad habits are leading you to lose sleep. Include details like whether or not you had the TV on at night, if you were using your phone, if you read a book before bed, or if you had a lot of stress and that’s why you had trouble falling asleep.
 
Tips for Improving Your Sleep Hygiene
 
Proper sleep has a distinct and direct correlation with our memory, learning, and ability to retain information, and getting into the habit of practicing sleep hygiene or sleep practices absolutely can and will make a difference in how successfully we sleep.
 
Many sleep practices involve routines and habits that must take place long before you go to bed, including getting into the habit of taking care of certain activities or responsibilities first thing in the morning, as opposed to just before going to bed.
 
Stressful tasks or conversations that require extra thought and attention, such as paying bills, having intense discussions with your spouse or significant other, or basically participating in any activity that is likely to raise your blood pressure or trigger the release of cortisol and other stress hormones must be saved for the first part of the day, not the last.
 
Really, don’t do anything to get ramped up too close in proximity to the hour when you will begin to wind down the day and are getting ready for sleep.
 
Similarly, another habit that is beneficial to our sleep quality is reserving the place where you sleep for sleep only, as opposed to using your bedroom also as an office or a TV room.
 
If sleep is the only activity that your mind and body associate the bed with, then it will be easier to fall into a restful state when you do go to bed.
 
Also, the environmental factors of your sleep space, such as the lighting, temperature, and noise level, can all play major roles in affecting the quality of the sleep you receive.
 
Keeping the bedroom dark, quiet, and a few degrees cooler than the rest of the house will have a positive impact on your ability to truly rest.
 
Some other aspects that can affect your sleep are how recently you eat or consume alcohol prior to trying to go to sleep.
 
Food and alcohol will metabolize at different rates and eating or drinking too recently prior to going to bed can actually result in your sleep being interrupted right when your body is attempting to enter the “REM” (rapid eye movement) stage of your sleep and can interfere with your body’s ability to re-charge.
 
If you want to achieve your optimum productivity level throughout the day, then it is essential that you plan ahead for where, when, and how long you sleep.
 
Sleep hygiene and practices, such as the ones discussed here, are simple, easy, and guaranteed ways to ensure that your mind and body have the best chance at rejuvenation overnight.
 
Rest is paramount to our overall wellbeing, and discovering, practicing, and implementing good sleep hygiene and rituals that contribute to the quality of that rest is in turn paramount to our health, happiness and vitality.
 
Practicing these habits (and exploring others that you may find work individually for you), and simply just paying attention, by putting effort toward receiving good, wholesome periods of rest will result in you feeling and doing your best when you are awake.
 
What we found when we began to practice getting good sleep was that we felt better, had more energy and were definitely happier the next day.
 
Share any ideas that might be beneficial in improving good sleep hygiene and practices in the comments below.
 
Get in touch with us if we can help you.
 
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