Guidelines to help you sleep better

Pillars to healthy sleep:

1. Quality: How deep is your sleep (REM)

2. Regularity: Do you sleep and wake up at the same time most days

3. Quantity: Are you getting 7-9 Hours depending on your activity/stress

4. Continuity: Is your sleep unbroken through the night

Aspects we’ll cover that impact your sleep:

1. Sleep Environment

2. Lighting/Natural Light

3. Screen Usage/Blue Light

4. Caffeine Consumption

5. Nutrition/Hydration

6. Physical Preparedness

1. Sleep Environment

1. Keep the temperature low (18C is good) - use a heavy blanket if need be

2. Block all light and keep the room as dark as possible

3. Keep your bedroom as clean and organised as possible

4. Use your bed only for sleeping. Keep it fresh and clean.

5. Remove extra noise if possible, white noise really helps.

2. Lighting/Natural Light

1. Dim your lights at least an hour before waking up

2. Try and wake up to bright light or get some sun in the first hour for atleast 10 mins

3. If no sunlight, use a ring light or bright lights in the room to wake you up

3. Screen Usage/Blue Light

1. Restrict phone/screen usage upto an hour after waking up

2. Restrict phone/screen usage until an hour before going to bed

3. Use blue light blocking glasses while using screens

4. Restrict screen usage in and immediately around the bed

4. Caffeine Consumption

1. Restrict caffeine upto 2 hours after waking up

2. Restrict caffeine consumption after 1-2pm or 7-8 hours before bed time

3. Limit caffeine intake to 250mg in the day

5. Nutrition/Hydration

1. Try to have your last meal at least 2-3 hours before bed time

2. Don’t have very big meals before sleeping

3. Have more water in the morning, then through the day and reduce to 3 hours before sleeping

4. Try and restrict water intake upto an hour/30mins before sleeping

6. Physical Preparedness

1. Stretch and light breath work before sleeping to calm the nervous system down

2. Write down any intrusive thoughts or things occupying your mind to tackle them the next day

3. Try and avoid high intensity workouts upto a couple hours before sleeping

4. Try and breathe through your nose as much as you can through the day, can use mouth tape at night if you’re a mouth breather

5. Make sure you feel clean and fresh before sleeping, a hot bath helps to relax

I understand all this can be overwhelming as you might be thinking to yourself I HAVE SO MUCH TO WORK ON. Don’t fret friend. You’ve survived till now, and you will thrive soon. Don’t try to change your life in one day. Pick one thing, the lowest hanging fruit. The thing that seems the easiest to do right now and drill it for days, weeks or even months till its’ a habit and then pick the next. Your life’s not a race, it’s a marathon.  Set yourself up for success. Take it slowly and steadily and you’ll get there. Progress is progress, 1% or 10% or 90%. Celebrate small wins and moving in the right direction. You got this and have a great NEW YEAR!