Sleep hygiene is an overlooked yet crucial component to overall health and wellness. Dr. Carrie will share tips to improve your sleep hygiene so you can catch some great zzzz's at night.
Sleep hygiene has become kind of a buzz topic lately. It impacts every single body system because every part of your body needs rest. It's actually a sign of burnout when you're not sleeping. If you struggle with IB's, sleep might be one of the answers.
If you sit in front of screens all day, it is going to impact your sleep. Blue light blocking glasses, easy to get on Amazon, make a huge difference. Instead of going for caffeine, try drinking a bottle of water. When you're hydrated, it helps everything else in your body work well.
Research shows bed should only be used for sleeping. Waking up at the same time every morning makes a huge difference in your quality of sleep. The more activities you do in your bed, screen time, reading, everything else, it really does hinder your ability to get adequate sleep.
How are you sleeping at night? Is your sleep restful? Is it not? How many hours are you getting? Now I know sleep hygiene has become kind of a buzz topic lately, but there's a reason it is so important our bodies rest when we sleep. And we're not just talking like rem sleep, things like that. Like literally every single part of your body needs rest. We were designed this way. And so at the cellular level, if you allow yourself time to rest and if you actually get adequate sleep, you are restoring every function in your body.
If you struggle with things like IB's, sleep might be one of the answers for you. It impacts every single body system because every part of your body needs rest. You need to activate that parasympathetic nervous system and allow things to slow down and almost shut down when you're sleeping. And then it allows your brain the cognitive rest that it needs so that you can perform in the best way possible. The people that are high performers, athletes, CEO's, really successful people, they probably have a sleep hygiene practice and if they don't, they are bound to burn out really quickly.
It's actually a sign of burnout when you're not sleeping because you're not actually giving yourself the, the rest that you need and that your body deserves. So I want to talk about some just really basic tips about sleep hygiene. Now, before you roll your eyes at me and say, I can't do any of those things, maybe pick one. I know if you've got little kids and you've got a really busy schedule and all these things, there's a lot of reasons why people don't get adequate sleep. But there are some key things, some behavior modifications that you can do that will make a huge difference.
And some of these I've tried and had major success with. Like, I didn't even realize how much screens impacted my ability to sleep until I got blue light blocking glasses and started wearing them all day at work and then would make sure that I turned screens off at a certain time at night and I actually started sleeping better. And I. So I've tested these theories and they work. So that's tip number one. If you sit in front of screens all day, it is going to impact your sleep, whether you're aware of that or not.
Blue light blocking glasses, easy to get on Amazon and wherever you want to get some, you can get fancy ones, you can get stylish ones, but they make a huge difference. You can also say to yourself, I'm going to shut electronics off at this time of night. Now not a lot of us like to do that because we veg up by watching the tv or scrolling through Facebook. But just know that it really does impact your sleep when you spend that much time on screens. So it could be one of the key things that you could try to reduce your number of hours on a screen per day.
Secondly, caffeine. We get in these cycles of needing caffeine in the morning because we're tired and we drink it all day and it impacts our ability to sleep, which makes us not sleep very well. And then we wake up and we need more caffeine and we start it all over again. Again. As somebody who used to work night shift, I understand that needing caffeine sometimes is a basic human survival. So you might need caffeine, but really monitoring how much you're taking in is a huge factor. If you need to cut back, don't go cold turkey, don't quit, but maybe you need to start replacing it with things.
Another key thing that people forget is a lot of times the reason you're tired is because you're dehydrated. I've started drinking a ton more water and I'm not a huge fan of drinking plain water unless it's in a water bottle. I know that's quirky, but it works for me. So I started buying bottles of water even though I have a Brita filter and my water isn't that bad. I just drink a lot more water when it's from a bottle and it tastes better. So I'm sucking up the bottle, whatever I'm paying for it and realizing that it's impacting my overall health and my overall energy level.
So then I also sleep better at night because I don't have to consume as much caffeine. So if you're tired, instead of going for caffeine, try drinking a bottle of water and see what happens to your energy level. Also, when you're hydrated, it helps everything else in your body work well, so you're going to be able to rest better. Lastly, I want to talk about the things you do in bed. There are some schools of thought out there, some research that shows bed should only be used for sleeping. Now, you might be the type that watches tv in bed.
Horrible combination. I'm sorry to tell you, but it's not going to help your sleep. If you want to watch tv, watch it on the couch. Get in bed. Your body is made to be habitual, like we are habitual creatures. And so if you can train your brain to realizing that the second you walk into the bedroom and it's sleep time. Even if you can't seem to go to bed at the same time every night, which is the last tip I was going to give you, is going to bed at the same time every night. Waking up at the same time every morning makes a huge difference in your quality of sleep.
But if that's not feasible for you, make sure that your bed is reserved for sleep. The more activities you do in your bed, screen time, reading, everything else, it really does hinder your ability to get adequate sleep because your body doesn't know what to do with that information. Right? It's trying to form a habit and realize, do we sleep when we get into this place or not? I've always been somebody who's like to have a bedroom, but I've lived in studio apartments, which again, makes it a little bit more challenging to have a designated sleep zone.
But you can do it as long as you reserve that bed for sleep only. So those are just a few tips. I would love to hear how this goes for you. If you guys have any other tips, just remember sleep hygiene. Even though it's a hot topic, it is a super important one because sleep impacts your ability to do everything for the rest of the day and you will know when you are too tired to function. And at that point, it's probably been too far. It's gotten too far gone that you haven't had enough sleep. So I hope these tips help you.
Have a great day, guys. Bye.
