How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep #2
3 external factors to support good sleep
Welcome to this second sleep themed blog on how to sleep soundly. In this mini-series addressing ways to get a good night’s sleep, my hope is that I can give some insight into the role and function of sleep for physical and mental health and wellbeing, and to provide some simple self-help strategies around sleep. In the first blog, we explored the purpose and the function of sleep, and how your sleep cycles operate. In this blog, I’ll share with you what helps and hinders your sleep and some research-backed methods and practical techniques you can implement within your sleep environment to help you feel more satisfied with your sleep, so you can feel better in yourself – physically and psychologically. In other blogs, we’ll focus on internal factors that impact your sleep; finding support if you have nightmares and how to get help for insomnia.
If you struggle with sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep is likely to be something you dream of.
Connecting with your own wisdom around sleep
So, before we dive into some research backed sleep strategies, I want to offer you the opportunity to connect with what you already know about your own relationship with sleep. In my counselling work with clients, I encourage people to connect with their own wisdom and existing awareness. Often, deep down, we already have a sense of what works for us, and what does not help.
So, consider the following questions:
What helps you relax and unwind?
Where is your preferred sleep space? Can you describe your “ideal bedroom”.
What are the factors that make it more likely you’ll sleep well.
What do you already know is your sleep “kryptonite”?
Visualize yourself waking from a good night’s sleep – how do you feel?
Factors that help and hinder a good night’s sleep:
When we consider what helps and what hinders a good night’s sleep, we can differentiate between internal and external factors. Internal factors relate to our own thoughts, and our mindset towards sleep, as well as how we feel in ourselves - physical pain, stress and mental health issues can all impact our sleep. External factors include a poor sleep environment, your sleep schedule, the impact of caffeine and alcohol on your sleep, and certain foods that can support or interfere with quality sleep.
In this blog, we’re focusing on the steps we can take to minimize the negative effects of external factors that can hamper sleep, and how we can utilize external factors that can help sleep. We’ll pick up on internal factors in the next blog in this mini-series.
Sleep can be impacted by external factors
Your sleep environment, sleep schedule and diet will all play a role in how good a night’s sleep you’re getting.
Self-Help for Optimal Sleep
Self-help for sleep is often referred to as “sleep hygiene”. To understand what we mean by sleep hygiene, it is usually to consider other forms of “personal hygiene”. Dental hygiene refers to the things you do or don’t do to care for your teeth, and you will have personal hygiene routines where you care for your body. In a similar way, you can implement a sleep hygiene program where you adopt healthy habits, behaviors, and choices to help you experience good quality and enough sleep. Many of these healthy habits relate to external factors. There are plenty of self-help and self-support sleep hygiene strategies you can implement regarding these external factors to give yourself the best chance of regular and restful sleep.
Let’s look at the external factors of your sleep environment, your sleep schedule and your diet to see what steps you can take to support yourself in getting a good night’s sleep:
1. Your sleep environment
For good sleep hygiene, you are taking steps to make the place you sleep an optimal environment for rest.
Avoid Tech
Take a break from tech and social media when you’re in your sleep space, and ideally for at least an hour before retiring to bed, Mobile phones and other screen-based tech emit blue light which impacts your levels of alertness and can interfere with your sleep cycles by suppressing the body’s release of the sleepy-hormone, melatonin. Bedtime use of media devices has been associated with inadequate sleep quantity; poor sleep quality; and excessive daytime sleepiness (Carter et al., 2016).
Replace scrolling on gadgets at bedtime with a bedtime book
(And a non-caffeinated drink).
Create a comfy space that is for sleep and sex only
If your sleep environment is uncomfortable, or a place you find it difficult to relax in, you’re less likely to sleep well. Avoid sleeping in a room or space that you use for other tasks, such as home working. Dark, quiet, and cool spaces are optimal for sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene experts often encourage us to make sure our bed is a place solely for sleep and sex. Other activities, such as eating, working, or watching TV are to be completed locations other than the bed. This supports your brain to make the link between bed as a place of sleep.
Try listening to sleepscapes or bedtime audio books for a calming way to settle to sleep
Create a comfortable and relaxing sleep space
It’s helpful to reserve this space for sleep and sex only - no working in bed, or watching TV in your bedroom.
Changing location if you find it hard to drop to sleep
If you find you are lying there for significant amounts of time without falling asleep, or If you do wake in the night and find yourself alert and unable to drop back to sleep, it can be helpful to change location for a while. Rather than lying in your bed ruminating or scrolling through social media, try getting up and out of bed and moving to a different space to read or do some simple (non-screen based) activity. Return to bed when you do feel sleepy. Again, this supports sleep hygiene by reinforcing that bed is for sleep and sex – not for other activities.
2. Your sleep schedule
For optimal sleep hygiene, be consistent with your bed and wake times. Going to bed at a similar time and rising at a predictable time each day has been shown to promote sleep hygiene. This can be thought of as a sleep schedule and helps to regulate your body’s circadian rhythm that supports sleep. Avoid napping in the day if possible. Even if you haven’t slept well the night before, aim to rise at your scheduled wake time.
Timing of Sleep:
Attend to your sleep schedule
A regular set bedtime and wake time can help you to get a good night’s sleep.
Your circadian rhythm, sometimes referred to as your “body clock”, helps to release hormones related to sleep. As well as governing the release of the sleepy-hormone, melatonin, your circadian rhythm also helps regulate cortisol - a stimulating hormone. When the sun rises in the morning, your circadian rhythm stimulates the release of cortisol to promote energy and alertness. As night falls and the lights dim, you will befit from the drowsy benefits of increasing melatonin triggered by your circadian rhythm. Therefore, having a sleep schedule that includes sleeping (or trying to sleep) between the hours of midnight and 4am means you will be sleeping or aiming to sleep when it is dark. That gives your body and brain the best chance of working with – rather than in opposition to your circadian rhythm and hormones. A consistent time for retiring to bed, and consistency with rising from sleep also helps to regulate your circadian rhythm.
Working Night Shifts:
If your lifestyle or work patterns mean you’re unable to have your period of sleep at night, you may notice your sleep is impacted. You’re less likely to benefit from the drowsy benefits of increasing melatonin as light levels dim. Finding other ways to support sleep hygiene is important for anyone who needs to sleep in the day and stay awake at night,
Avoid naps
If you find you are drowsy in the day, it can be tempting to take a nap. However, naps during your period of wakefulness - particularly later in the day - can impact whether you feel drowsy at bedtime.
3. Your diet
Sleep hygiene also includes paying attention to the impact of caffeine, alcohol and certain foods upon your sleep, and making appropriate adjustments. Usual tips include:
Limit caffeine
Try herbal teas for a no-caffeine bedtime drink
Some people find warm milk helpful too.
Moderate caffeine and energy drinks consumption, particularly in the later part of your day. Caffeine and other stimulants can disrupt sleep and are best avoided for the hours before settling to sleep.
Limit alcohol use
Alcohol has both a stimulant effect as well as a sedative effect. This means many people use alcohol to relax and aid sleep. However, alcohol can reduce the amount of time we spend in the deeper sleep phases and in the restorative REM sleep phase. Avoid or limit consumption of alcohol to promote sleep hygiene.
If you are aware that you use alcohol, caffeine, or other stimulants regularly, consider your reasons for using these substances. Having a better understanding of why you use these substances can then help you to make decisions that support sleep hygiene. If you feel stuck in relation to your relationship with food, alcohol or stimulants, you may find it helpful to seek professional support through your GP or by accessing counselling.
Eat foods high in tryptophan
Pay attention to your diet: consider eating foods high in tryptophan (an amino acid that can increase feelings of sleepiness). Sources of tryptophan include milk, canned tuna, turkey, oats, sunflower and sesame seeds.
Give yourself time to digest heavy meals before sleep
Eating close to the time you plan to settle to sleep can cause issues, as can overeating. After a heavy meal, your body will be digesting food. Laying down to sleep soon after a heavy meal raises the risk of heartburn. Avoid eating late in the evening to promote sleep hygiene. Some people find a glass of warm milk before bedtime supports sleep.
May you sleep soundly
Trying out some of the sleep hygeine tips in this blog is likely to increase you chances of “sleeping like a baby”.
My wish then, is that you can sleep soundly – and gain the mental and physical health benefits of a good night’s sleep. And, if you’d like to get some strategies and ideas about what you can do to support yourself towards that goal – please check out the next blog in this sleep themed series. Don’t forget, also, that therapy can be a helpful space to explore the stressors and the contributing factors that might be hindering your sleep, so you can better understand yourself and your relationship with sleep at a deeper level.
Get in touch
If you’re curious how counselling can help you with sleep issues, do make contact with me, Claire Law.
We can talk through how online counselling or face-to-face counselling at my therapy room in Preston can help with sleep issues.
References:
Carter B, Rees P, Hale L, Bhattacharjee D, Paradkar MS. Association Between Portable Screen-Based Media Device Access or Use and Sleep Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2016 Dec 1;170(12):1202-1208.