Synergy Sleep believes education is key when it comes to our patients. Understanding sleep terminology can be hard at times, have you ever heard of sleep hygiene? If you answered no, then you wouldn’t be alone, this article will assist you in understanding what Sleep Hygiene is and how you can start to achieve great Sleep habits and practices.

Much like general hygiene, we go through different habits and routines in the morning, midday and evening to ensure we are keeping good overall hygiene, such as our eating habits to our cleaning habits and our exercise routines, but did you know that this also applies to sleep?

Sleep Hygiene is much the same, completing different habits and practices that in turn provide us with good day time alertness and allow us to have a good night’s sleep.

What are good sleep hygiene habits?

Sleep effects our mental and physical health in many ways, having an understanding of what good sleep hygiene habits you can do to improve these factors will have you on your way to a balanced, refreshed lifestyle and a feeling of satisfaction that you are achieving an overall good hygiene plan for your mind, body and sleep.

Ten tips to get you started with creating your own sleep hygiene plan

1. Make sure the environment that you go to sleep in is inviting, pleasant, comfortable and dark so that light does not find a way to penetrate the room too early in the morning.
2. When we are young, we have our families to support us in achieving a sleep routine. A good sleep routine also applies as we get older. Start a plan to achieve a good bedtime routine, your body will start to recognise that it is time for you to go to sleep and react accordingly.
3. Limit the amount of screen usage before and when you go to bed, our devices are programmed to retain the information it is sent, so it will be there in the morning for you to read. Switch your phone, iPads and televisions off, don’t allow yourself to fall asleep to the device, take the control back, switch off and slow down, the devices will stimulate your brain making it harder for you to fall asleep quickly and easily.
4. This is a common one, avoid stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine
5. Try to complete regular exercise each day, don’t go to the gym right before bedtime, plan exercise and gym visits it into your sleep hygiene plan.
6. Try and limit your nap time during the day, a general rule of thumb is to nap for only 20-30 min max, limiting your nap time can assist in helping to improve alertness, performance and moods.
7. Limit the number of external factors that create noise such as pets, music, phones, TV’s etc.
8. Try to turn your thoughts to calming things such as a relaxing holiday’s or a calming place.
9. Don’t take your worries or stress to bed, try to deal with them before you go to bed or find a way to leave them until morning.
10. Think rest is good and don’t watch the clock. Be patient and don’t expect too much – you can’t force sleep.

Once you have established good sleep hygiene you will be able to easily determine poor sleep hygiene and adjust your plan to get you back on the right track.

Poor Sleep Hygiene versus Good Sleep Hygiene

Poor sleep hygiene can be determined by restlessness, lacking the ability to fall asleep quickly and easily leaving you with a feeling of fatigue throughout the day, these are just a few of the telltale signs that you have poor sleep hygiene.

Completing a sleep study with Synergy Sleep will show you just what your sleep is doing and the impact it is having on your physical and mental health.

As we mentioned at the start of this article, it is all about educating you. Participating in a sleep study is the first step to understanding poor sleep v good sleep. By adjusting a few simple factors to your sleep hygiene plan or routine, will make a big difference in the long run to achieving a good night’s sleep.

Synergy Sleep believe working together for healthier sleep is a partnership with our patients and our team strive to have you sleeping better in no time.

For more information about the importance of sleep, or to book an appointment, contact our specialised therapists on 07 3287 2385 and see how we can support and guide you in achieving good sleep hygiene well into your future.