What is Sleep Hygiene?
Sleep Hygiene refers to the rituals and preparations of your environment that promote regular, restorative sleep. Sleep hygiene is a combination of daily practices and an intentional set up of your sleeping environment to promote deep, restful sleep.
Why is Sleep Hygiene Important?
Sleep hygiene is not just an important part of health: it’s non-negotiable. Think about this for a moment: you take the time to shower or bathe each day, cleansing the body. You use the restroom each day to cleanse the digestive tract. You choose activities each day – whether television, reading, meditating, or exercising- to cleanse or distract the mind of your worries. So what is it that you do to cleanse your most important organ – the brain? That’s where sleep comes in.
The hours spent asleep are the most important time for not only ensuring that your brain remains healthy, but that it’s fully capable of handling all of the executive functions that it oversees on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the brain is the only organ in the body that does not have a way to communicate to us when it is in pain, or is needing attention. Therefore, it requires us to make decisions to support its health and function, making sure that we treat it with the respect that it deserves.
Just like you cart out your garbage for removal once a week, you brain has a specific process for its garbage removal too – it’s called sleep. Sleep hygiene is critically important for this process, because it is the time in which your brain, through cellular autophagy (which is the cleaning out/removal of cellular “junk”), cleans out the unnecessary build up from the cells, and allows for the mitochondria (the cellular powerhouses) in your brain to thrive. This process is believed to take place in the fourth stage of sleep, which is a part of the deep sleep cycle, before moving into REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. If your lifestyle or environment isn’t supportive to proper sleep hygiene, then you are likely selling your brain short on this essential time to repair itself.
3 Tips to Creating a Sleep Hygiene Routine
When starting any new routine, it is important to evaluate where you are starting from. When it comes to sleep hygiene, there are a few basic practices that you can start with, and build upon these new habits over time. There are many other factors that contribute to a productive night’s sleep, but first, let’s establish some basics.
- No light should be visible in your sleeping quarters at night.
This means all types of light – street lights, electronics, etc. Most people find that blackout curtains are necessary to block this light, but you can use any materials you have on hand to make sure that you are sleeping in total darkness, starting out. Blackout eye shades are also incredibly helpful, and quite inexpensive, if total darkness is not an option for you.
- Pick a sleep schedule, and stick to it.
This is one that seems to be the most challenging for people, because yes, it does include your weekends. Your body (down to a cellular level) has a circadian clock which needs to be able to rely on your behaviors to support it. Make sure that you are giving yourself enough time to cycle through the 5 stages of sleep, by getting an absolute minimum of 6 hours, but 7-9 hours is the ideal amount required by most adults in order to feel refreshed upon waking.
- The 2 S Rule.
You got it, folks. Your bedroom should be for 2 things only: Sleep and Sex. Just like you are habituated to know that when you get in the car, you will be driving somewhere, getting into bed is no different. Your bedroom is not the place to be answering emails, browsing social media, or watching television: it is designated for two things only. This will allow you to habituate yourself into the expectation that your bedroom means sleep, and will eventually make it so that you are able to fall asleep more easily when it’s time to rest.
Sleep Hygiene: Your New “Secret Weapon”
Understanding the importance of sleep hygiene is a critical first step in being able to optimize your life. Every system in your body is dependent on the function of your brain, and respect is a two-way street: treat it right, and you can be sure that it will return the favor.
Oftentimes, we hear the saying that “you can sleep when you’re dead”- while seemingly harmless, science is proving that this idea of trying to “work more and sleep less” is not only completely backwards, but actually dangerous to our health. If you want to be more productive, have a more stable and positive mood, and feel more vitality and energy in your daily life, then quality sleep is a requirement. Small changes add up to significant results, so pay attention to how you treat your brain, and start developing your personal sleep hygiene routine accordingly.
The Wealthy Living Method Approach
Sleep Hygiene is non-negotiable for anyone who is looking to create more health, wealth, and happiness in their lives. At The Wealthy Living Method, we dive deeper into your own sleep hygiene routines in order to optimize and modify what you are currently doing, ensuring that you get the most benefit from the hours you spend asleep each night. Life isn’t meant to be endured, it’s meant to be enjoyed.
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