As the days shorten and autumn takes hold, establish a calming bedtime routine to improve sleep quality during the cooler nights.
So as you crawl into bed, and your body starts to shut down – this is actually an important time for your body to rest and restore!
When asleep, the brain can attend to other issues, such as releasing hormones that can encourage tissue growth and repair damaged or sore muscles. Your body can also make more white blood cells whilst sleeping, which may help attack viruses and bacteria.
For adults, seven to nine hours per night is the optimal amount of sleep – that’s almost a third of our lives!
There are many factors that may play into whether we get a good night’s sleep. “Sleep hygiene” means habits we may adopt throughout the day or before bedtime to optimise our sleep.
Here is a list of tips to get you started:
Set your sleep schedule
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A fluctuating sleep schedule keeps us from getting into a rhythm of consistent sleep, so try to wake up at a similar time every day, whether on weekdays or weekends!
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Figure out a target bedtime based on your wake-up time and do your best to get to bed around this time every night.
Stay away from stimulants close to bedtime
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Stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine should be avoided in the hours before bedtime. Caffeine has a half-life of six hours, meaning a 3 pm coffee will still have half of its caffeine content hanging around in your system at 9 pm!
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Bluelight from TVs, laptops, smartphones, and other artificial light is another form of stimulation, and it’s best to minimise these within an hour or two of bedtime.
Sleep environment
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Have a comfortable pillow and mattress. Osteopathy Australia endorses the DrRest sleep system.
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Try to use your bed for sleep and sex only – avoid watching TV in your room.
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Have your bedroom as dark as possible and a cool comfortable temperature.
Exercise
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Physical activity can improve your sleep quality and sleep duration
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Exercise has the added benefits of reducing stress, controlling your mood and giving you more energy.
We hope some of these tips will help you to get better quantities and quality of sleep!
This blog first appeared on the Summit Osteopathy website in December 2020.