To have good sleep hygiene and avoid suffering from sleep disorders, we must help our brain! It is he who sends the information and the hormones necessary to promote good sleep or, on the contrary, to deconstruct it completely.
Our biological clock can also be easily disturbed. Poor sleep hygiene inevitably leads to sleep disorders. Our behavior will directly help our brain and our biological clock to function well.
The following tips seem simple, yet their effectiveness has been scientifically proven. They help prevent sleep disorders or help reduce them. It’s your turn!
REGULAR SLEEP TIMES
Maintain the greatest possible regularity in your hours of sleep. First, set your waking time and go to bed at night when you feel the need to sleep. Even if it’s very late at night, bedtime will gradually become regularized.
REGULAR LIGHT EXPOSURE
The sleep-promoting hormone melatonin leaks light. Your biological clock responds very strongly to exposure to light. Maintain the greatest possible regularity in your hours of exposure to light and dark. Get as much daylight as probable during the day. Sleep in the dark and stay in the dim light at night if you get out of bed. An hour before going to bed, turn on the indirect lights rather than the ceiling lights.
AVOID SLEEPING
If you have insomnia, relax but avoid taking a nap if you experience significant fatigue during the day. In general, the nap reduces the sleep pressure: you will be less tired when you sleep at night. The nap disrupts your sleep/wake rhythm.
AVOID DRUGS AND ALCOHOL TO GO TO SLEEP
Even if they help you fall asleep, they have a major drawback that you may not realize. Under the stimulus of alcohol and drugs, the quality of sleep decreases.
We sleep, but badly, and we recover less well. It has been shown that by taking substances or alcohol, people fall asleep quickly, but their sleep is disjointed and of very poor quality. Result: we wake up tired and in bad shape, even if we slept a long time.
DON’T STAY IN YOUR BED
When you can’t fall asleep or go back to sleep, don’t stay in bed long: leave your room if you wake up at night and have trouble falling back asleep. Relax in the soft light of another room until you feel the need to go back to sleep.
Avoid stimulating activities (cleaning, work, email, Internet) in the middle of the night. The advice also applies in the morning upon waking. Hanging out in bed is a bad habit, as the brain again associates the bed with a waking state.
DO NOT WATCH THE TIME AT NIGHT
Strange advice, isn’t it? It is, however, scientifically demonstrated!!!
When you look at the time in the middle of the night, your brain cannot help counting the number of hours you have left to sleep, or those you have already slept. Result: this very subtly induces stress, anxiety over time, and this stress promotes insomnia.
Resist the urge to watch the time at night at all costs. Set your alarm clock to sound at the right time, and when you wake up in the morning, hiding the screen.
THE ATMOSPHERE OF YOUR ROOM MUST PROMOTE SLEEP
Your bedroom should induce sleep and promote its quality.
- It must be quiet.
- It must be very dark.
- It must be tempered.
- It must be well ventilated.
HEALTHY EATING HABITS
In general, what we have in our stomachs has a direct influence on the quality of our sleep.