Sleep is essential for our mental and physical well being. Many people experience normal, short-term issues with sleep, often triggered by stressful events or major life transitions. Tossing and turning the night before a big event or following an argument or after making a big decision is normal.
In the majority of situations, issues with sleep will self-correct in a matter of a couple of days to a week or two. However, some individuals may find that they struggle with more persistent or chronic sleep problems that don’t resolve with time.
What is Insomnia
Persistent troubles with falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting restful sleep is known as insomnia. Insomnia may be related to a variety of factors including underlying physical health conditions, mental health conditions, stress, or environmental factors.
If you find that it regularly takes greater than 30 minutes to fall asleep, you wake up multiple times in the night for more than a couple of minutes at a time, or you wake up an hour or more before you intend to in the morning, you may be experiencing a form of insomnia.
For people who struggle with chronic or long-term issues with sleep, it’s best to discuss your situation with your healthcare provider to evaluate whether there is an underlying condition contributing to your sleep problems. Common physical health conditions that may contribute to insomnia include things such as obstructive sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome. Insomnia is also a common symptom in depressive disorders and anxiety disorders.
More often than not, people who struggle with sleep may benefit from making changes to environmental factors that may be negatively impacting their sleep. This practice is known as sleep hygiene and is a low cost and easy way to make some healthy lifestyle changes to improve your chances of a good night’s sleep.
Sleep Hygiene Practices
Create Consistency
Your brain likes predictability. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine and following it every night helps to clue your brain in as to when it’s time to start winding down for the night. Pick a consistent time that you want to lay down and close your eyes for the night.
Your bedtime routine should start 30-60 minutes prior to this and should include simple and calming activities to prepare your mind for rest. Examples include simple tasks to prepare for the next day, brushing your teeth and washing your face, changing into pajamas or comfortable clothing, and engaging in calming leisure activities while minimizing screen time.
Comfortable Environment
Make sure that your sleeping space is conducive to a good night’s rest. Comfortable bedding and clothing as well as climate control with use of fans or space heaters can help make your environment physically comfortable and relaxing. Limit as much light in your sleep space as possible. Use lamps when possible to reduce overhead light and create a calming ambience. Invest in window coverings that block as much outside light as possible.
There are cost-effective sun blocking curtains at most retail stores that can accomplish this. Try to limit distractions and noise as much as possible. Sound machines or white noise on a streaming app at a low volume are good ways to drown out noise from the neighbors or traffic.
Limit Screens
Try and limit the use of screens as much as possible in the hour leading up to bed. Electronic screens (phones, tvs, computers) can generate types of light that can interfere with sleep. Additionally, the content we consume from these devices generally tends to be stimulating for our brain instead of calming.
Engaging in quiet and calm activities before bed like reading, working on puzzles, or simple household tasks helps to prepare the mind for rest. Removing your tv from your room may seem like a challenge, but this is one of the biggest ways to limit your screen time. Ideally the bedroom should only be used for sleep and sex.
Fluids
It’s best to stop drinking caffeine about 6 hours prior to bed as this is how long caffeine can exert its effects on the body. While it’s good to stay hydrated with water and other beverages throughout the day, decreasing your fluid intake about 2 hours before bed can help to limit the number of bathroom trips you need to take at night.
While alcohol can act as a sedative and put you to sleep, the effects it has on the brain actually makes it so your sleep isn’t as deep and restful, so it’s best to limit your alcohol consumption right before bed as well.
Other Healthy Habits
Incorporating physical activity into your day can be a good way to burn off energy so you’re ready to fall asleep at bedtime. That being said, engaging in physical exertion too close to bedtime can actually interfere with sleep, so evening time physical activity should generally be a low intensity like walking, stretching, or yoga.
Eating at regular intervals during the day can help provide energy during the day. Try to avoid eating a super heavy meal right before you go to bed. Eating dinner at least an hour before bedtime will allow your body to enter into a “rest and digest” phase once you fall asleep. Additionally, eating too close to bed can cause issues with acid reflux which can be uncomfortable.
If you are someone who regularly wakes up halfway through the night and has a hard time getting back to sleep, eating a protein-rich snack prior to bed may actually help with sleep as this middle of the night awakening can sometimes be triggered by a dip in your blood sugar.
As you can see, there are a lot of things that can help or hinder your sleep. Listed above are action steps you can take today to promote restful sleep. If you’ve been consistent and tried some of these recommendations with little benefit, consider talking with your healthcare provider about your sleep to discuss other possible options. They may recommend further testing to assess for underlying issues impacting your sleep or specific treatments for insomnia such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) or use of certain sleep-promoting medications.
At Calming Currents we can provide an evaluation to help determine underlying factors contributing to issues with sleep, particularly if your challenges with sleep are related to mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. After an evaluation we can make evidence-based recommendations to get you back on track to a restful night of sleep.