Sleep Hygiene

If you are like most people you have a night time hygiene routine that hopefully consists of washing your face, putting on lotion, using your Waterpik, flossing, and brushing with your Sonicare for two full minutes. Have you ever thought about sleep hygiene? What is it and why should I care? Well good sleep doesn’t always just happen and if you’re like me things can change. In the past few months I struggled with my sleep both to fall asleep and stay asleep. I knew I needed to focus on my sleep preparation in order to have a better sleep. 

Sleep hygiene is the preparation that you do for sleep and it’s an essential mental health skill. We frequently see patients that struggle with challenges related to sleep. This presents as having a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep or just feeling lethargic all the time. Getting enough quality sleep can make your brain function much better. Sleep hygiene means going through a routine that trains your body to know when to sleep. Like a muscle that strengthens with practice, sleeping is a skill we can develop. 

Good sleep provides us with essential memory processing, repairs our bodies, regulates our metabolism. Lack of sleep drastically affects our mood, creativity and brain function. I believe sleep plays a big role to positively affect all spectrums of living life to the fullest. 

Here are some sleep hygiene suggestions:

• Create a calm bedroom environment. Your bedroom needs to be your sanctuary, a space that is uncluttered where you recharge 
  

• Open your windows to let in cool, fresh air
  

• Tidy up a bit as we tend to feel anxious in a messy room. This includes making your bed in the morning so that when you are tired your bed is inviting. Remember a messy space is a messy mind.
  

• Use a diffuser with essential oils such as lavender.
  

• Get the right lighting. I use a salt lamp to prepare myself for sleep and they are said to purify the air. No blue light clocks or charging stations as they awaken the brain
  

• Listen to soothing sounds, there are many meditation apps or playlists that have sounds from nature. Turn it on low and fall into the music. Be still with music while focusing on breathing
  

• Inhale, exhale. Slow, steady breaths are powerful for meditating and winding down. Nasal breathing releases tension in our body while inviting the body to calm down and prepare for rest. 
  

• Resist screens. The bedroom should be for sleep and relaxation and connection. Scrolling social media, replying to a text message and watching tv while laying in bed signals our bodies to stay awake and suppresses melatonin which is the sleep hormone. Bright shiny light lowers your melatonin levels which makes flowing into a sleepy state more of a challenge. Screens ideally should be off one hour before bed. If you have to check your screen, consider getting blue light blocking glasses as a last resort. It took me about four nights of feeling that I had separation anxiety because I moved my phone chargers into another room but it was freeing in a way once I got used to it. 
  

• Keep a consistent sleep schedule as you can, even on the weekends. Can you stay up late or sleep in, of course! But try to keep it plus or minus an hour. Also, ditch the naps as they ruin your bedtime. If you’re compensating for a lack of nighttime sleep with an after work nap your making it difficult for your body to get to bed at a decent hour. Power through and go to bed a little earlier. Your body will thank you for it.
  

• Go easy on the caffeine. Many researchers suggest cutting caffeine off by 2 pm. This includes soda, lattes, green tea in addition to coffee.
  

• Move your body, preferably in the morning or at least three hours before you go to bed. This doesn’t include an evening walk but the high energy workouts shouldn’t be right before bed as the adrenaline will make it hard to wind down.
  

• No food or drink except for water two hours before bed. 
  

My routine looks like this: (½ hour before I want to be asleep)
~Face and oral care (I am a hygienist after all!)
~Turn down my temperature to 20 degrees for optimal sleep. 
~I open up my window for a few minutes for fresh air in my bedroom
~I tidy up my room 
~I turn down my lights, turn on my salt lamp and diffuser.
~My phone goes on the charger in the other room and I set my alarm for the morning.
~I start my 20 minute meditation playlist and put my mouth tape on
~I focus on my breathing and meditate until I am calm
~While my meditation sounds are going I do some gentle stretching and then get into bed. I find reading makes it hard for my brain to turn off so that doesn’t work for me but it does for many people. I find if I’m particularly anxious I keep a pad of paper by my bed and I journal or make lists to brain dump. At this point I've committed to sleeping and so I do this with the light from my salt lamp. 

If you wake up in the middle of the night try to remain in bed and focus on your nasal breathing, breathe low and slow. Try not to introduce the light of your phone. Staying asleep is where I was struggling. Dr. Mark recommended that I do a sleep screening and I did and together we analyzed the data and came up with a solution that worked for me. Along with a dental sleep appliance and myofunctional exercises to strengthen the back of my tongue, sleep hygiene has made a positive difference in my life. 

My suggestion is to start small until it becomes second nature. Commit to a routine and your body will develop muscle memory to form the habit for a proper sleep. I find it helps that my partner also made the commitment with me. You must work for yourself by creating a self soothing mindset and space for sleeping well. Remember that by practising these self love, self care regularly you are healing.

Sweet Dreams XO
Tiffany

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