Healthy Sleep Tips

Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Having healthy sleep habits is often referred to as having good "sleep hygiene."

Try to keep the following sleep practices on a consistent basis:

1. Stick to a sleep schedule the same bedtime and wake time, even on weekends. This helps regulate your body clock and might help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night.

1. Practice a ritual of relaxing bedtime. A relaxing routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make falling asleep more difficult, and get a deep sleep or staying asleep.

1. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid naps, especially in the afternoon. power nap can help you get through the day, but if you find that you can not fall asleep at bedtime, even eliminating short naps can help.

1. Exercise daily. Vigorous exercise is best, but even light exercise is better than no activity. Exercise at any time of the day, but not at the expense of your sleep.

1. Evaluate your room. Design your sleep environment to establish the conditions necessary for sleep. Your bedroom should be cool - between 60 and 67 degrees. Your bedroom should be free of noise that can disturb your sleep.Finally, your room should be free of light. Check your room for noise or other distractions. This includes sleep disturbances of a bed partner such as snoring. Consider using blackout curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, the "white noise machine" humidifiers, fans and other devices.

1. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. Make sure your mattress is comfortable and supportive. One you have used for years may have exceeded its life expectancy - about 9 or 10 years for most good quality mattresses. Have comfortable pillows and make it attractive and welcoming room for sleep but also free of allergens that might you and objects that could slip or fall if you have to get up during the night affect.

1. Use light to help manage your circadian rhythms. Avoid bright light in the evening and exposure to sunlight in the morning. This will keep your circadian rhythms in check.

1. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes and heavy meals in the evening. Alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine can disturb sleep. Eating large or spicy meal can cause discomfort of indigestion that can make it hard to sleep. If you can, avoid large meals for two to three hours before bedtime. Try a snack 45 minutes before bed if you are still hungry.

1. Relax. Your body needs time to switch to standby mode, so spend the last hour before bedtime to a calming activity like reading. For some people, using an electronic device such as a laptop, it can be difficult to fall asleep, because the particular type of light from the screens of these devices is the activation of the brain. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid electronics before bedtime or in the middle of the night.

1. If you can not sleep, go to another room and do something relaxing until you feel tired. It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment. Use your bed only for sleep and sex to strengthen the association between bed and sleep. If you associate a particular activity or item of anxiety about sleeping, omit your bedtime routine.

If you still have trouble sleeping, do not hesitate to talk to your doctor or find a professional sleep. You can also take advantage of recording your sleep in a sleep diary to help you better assess the models or the common issues you can do with your sleep or sleep habits.