Sleep hygiene is a name coined by sleep experts to describe the wide range of habits and behavior that affect our sleep.
When I first heard this term, I was a bit taken aback. Insomnia never struck me as being a cleanliness issue…
But then I looked up the word and found that “hygiene” includes all practices conducive to maintaining health, not just the washing up part. So OK then… it makes good sense now. If you’re not as ignorant as I, you probably know this already. Anyway, to continue…
So what is good sleep hygiene? Here are the basics, most of which I’ve already covered in the Insomnia Tips section:
- Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
- Avoiding daytime naps – at least when you are experiencing insomnia.
- Having a regular exercise program, and…
- Exercising early in the day, leaving a minimum of five to six hours before you go to bed.
- Avoiding heavy meals at dinner and avoiding late-night snacks.
- Avoiding foods and drinks that contain caffeine, such as coffee, chocolate, certain soft drinks and so on.
- Reserving your bed for sleep and avoiding activities such as reading, working, or watching TV in bed.
- Making your bedroom a quiet, soothing, relaxing place.
- Getting adequate exposure to sunlight. (If you are a nightworker, using bright-light therapy can help if you’re not sleeping well.)
- Establishing a pleasant pre-sleep routine.
- Avoiding all activities before bed that could upset or excite you. This could include watching movies, TV, or local news coverage. It could also mean having arguments or even lively discussions.
- Keep a sleep diary so you can better understand what is causing your insomnia and how you’re reacting to it.
It’s important to understand that it’s the collection of all sleep-related habits and behavior that needs attention. Don’t expect to just do one thing and cure your insomnia. It is only when you do everything on the list that you can expect to see changes.
The Problem with Sleep Hygiene
While sleep hygiene makes a lot of sense, it’s really only part of the cure for insomnia. The mental and emotional causes (except for avoiding upsetting or exciting activities before bed) are not addressed. Yet these are often the most important causes of insomnia.
Another thing the professional websites tend to leave out:
All the behavior you now have developed over a period of time. It might take the same amount of time to change it.
So if you get started on a sleep hygiene program and then slack off, you could very well say to yourself “well, this isn’t working!” and give up.
There are a lot of lifestyle habits, along with thinking habits, that interfere with a good night sleep. You have to commit yourself to change, and give it the time and effort it requires.
Another problem I have with the sleep hygiene people is, while they tell you what to do, they don’t tell you how to do it. It’s very easy to give someone a to-do list. But implementing some of these practices requires not only effort and patience, but know-how.
And finally, you can practice good sleep hygiene and still find yourself tossing and turning at night because you haven’t discovered what could be the biggest causes of your insomnia, such as sleep anxiety, chronic worrying and hyperarousal of the nervous system.
So following such a program is not the full and complete answer to chronic insomnia.
But it’s a great start. And that’s fine… it is exactly why I am building this site and will continue adding more useful insomnia info, tips, techniques and thoughts as I discover them.
I like to think my site offers more depth and insight into the many and varied causes of insomnia and how to deal with each one as it comes up.
Of course it’s nice to be able to do this in a systematic, orderly way, not hit and miss. So the benefit of a good sleep hygiene program is to establish a series of steps to take in a 1-2-3 fashion… and cure your chronic insomnia for good!