Creating Healthy Sleep Habits

How To Get Better Sleep, Part 3

Developing good sleep habits is one of the first things to do when you're dealing with insomnia. When we get enough sleep at night, we are much more alert and productive during the day than others who don't get enough sleep. This is true for adults and children alike.

Here are three ways you can create healthy sleep habits for yourself and your family.

1. Establish a Sleep Routine

The first part of any sleep routine whould include training yourself to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This will train your body to know when it's time to sleep.

When your sleeping times and waking times are inconsistent your body gets confused about what it should be doing, and when.

That means no more sleeping in on weekends just because you can!

2. Establish a Pre-Sleep Routine

As important as establishing consistent sleeping and waking times is, it is just as important to set up a pre-sleep routine. This is the hour or two prior to going to bed where you should be relaxing and unwinding so that your mind and body are ready for sleep when you finally get into bed.

Some of the things you can include in your pre-sleep routine are:

Are you getting some ideas? There is no set pre-sleep routine, and no right or wrong way to do it. If you asked 100 people what they do to get ready for sleep, I can pretty much guarantee you will get 100 different answers. The point is, again, to train your mind and body to expect sleep at the end of the routine.

If you do the same things every night, it won't take long before you begin to associate your routine with sleep, and by the time you're done you will be ready to curl up and nod off.

3. Avoid Stimulants Before Bedtime

We're working backwards here, because this healthy sleep habit actually needs to start around six hours before bedtime.

Avoiding stimulants in the evening allows your brain time to slow down on its own. This includes the usual culprits such as caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol as well as non-consumable stimulants like television, computer games, strenuous exercise, and even surfing the internet! All of these will keep your brain active and contribute to increased sleeplessness.

Creating healthy sleep habits will contribute to a better night's sleep by making sure that you are as relaxed as possible when you finally crawl into your bed.

Here's to a good night's sleep!

Ruth

PS... In the next issue we'll tackle the dos and don'ts of midnight munchies.

PPS... For more information on healthy sleep habits, check out Perfect Sleep Secrets