10 Ways to Get Better Sleep

Rest and restoration are critical components of your physical and mental health. Getting the right amount of good quality sleep can enhance your memory, reduce your stress and anxiety, strengthen your immune system and improve your productivity throughout the day.

Conversely, getting too little (or even too much) sleep can lead to chronic fatigue, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor concentration and more. Over time, poor sleep habits can negatively impact your health, relationships, job performance and safety on the job.

To be your best personally and professionally, practice healthy sleep habits — the activities you do prior to bed (also known as “sleep hygiene”), which can impact the quality of your sleep. Generally, experts recommend anywhere from 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep each night for the average adult. However, the amount of sleep you need depends on your age:

10 Ways to Improve Your Sleep Quality

1. Develop a sleep routine. Just like training for a marathon, we can train our bodies to follow a sleep routine. It’s as simple as going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day, including weekends. Our bodies rely on a circadian rhythm, which helps regulate our sleep and wake times and keeps us alert throughout the day.
2. Create a soothing sleep space. Experts recommend creating a relaxing environment in your bedroom that helps your mind and body wind down. De-clutter your space, keep the room temperature between 15.56 and 19.44 degrees Celsius/60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit, minimize light, turn your television off and restrict the use of other mobile devices.
3. Relax with these rituals. Practice relaxing activities such as deep breathing, taking a warm bath, listening to soothing music, reading or meditating before you go to sleep.
4. Create healthy habits. Reduce your caffeine, nicotine and alcohol intake, particularly as you get closer to your bedtime — each can disrupt your sleep by increasing serotonin or suppressing melatonin levels, which help regulate sleep.
5. Practice mindful eating. Avoid spicy foods and heavy meals before bedtime — they can be aggressive on your digestive system and disrupt your sleep.
6. Stay active. Regular exercise helps improve sleep quality and reduces the effects of sleep disorders, such as insomnia and restless legs syndrome (RLS). Avoid rigorous exercise before sleep, which can increase levels of serotonin and make it more difficult for you to fall asleep. Try stretching or simple yoga poses before bed and schedule your cardio or more intensive workouts for the mornings/afternoons.
7. Strengthen your connections to others and yourself. Poor mental health can lead to poor sleep, and poor sleep can lead to greater levels of anxiety, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to manage. Try to reduce your anxiety by building healthy relationships with others and being kind to yourself. If you need help managing any conflict, stress or anxiety you are feeling, call the GuidanceResources EAP to receive confidential counseling from a master’s or doctoral level clinician.
8. Avoid afternoon naps. Taking an afternoon nap can disrupt your circadian rhythm and interfere with your nighttime sleep. Avoid taking naps after 3 p.m., if you are on a nighttime sleep schedule.
9. Write it down. Start a sleep diary to reflect on each night’s sleep, your habits before bed and how you felt after waking up the next morning. After a few weeks, analyze your habits and try to draw conclusions regarding which habits led to a good night’s sleep versus which habits led to a poor night’s sleep.
10. Know your numbers and try to improve them. During the day, track your steps. During the night, track your sleep. Several smart watches have a feature or app to track your sleep by analyzing your nighttime movement.