Sleep Hygiene

Poor sleep habits (referred to as hygiene) are among the most common problems people face today. We stay up too late, get up too early. We interrupt our sleep with alcohol, drugs, and work. We overstimulate ourselves with late-night activities such as the Internet and television.

Research Shows...

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco discovered that some people have a gene that enables them to do well on 6 hours of sleep a night. But the gene is very rare, appearing in less than 3% of the population. For the other 97% of us, six hours doesn’t come close to cutting it.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

• Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation
• Moodiness and irritability
• Reduced creativity and problem-solving skills
• Inability to cope with stress
• Reduced immunity; frequent colds and infections
• Concentration and memory problems
• Weight gain
• mpaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents
• Difficulty making decisions
• Increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems

Establish Personal Habits

• Fix a bedtime and an awakening time
  
• Avoid napping during the day
  
• Avoid alcohol 4-6 hours before bedtime
  
• Avoid caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime
  
• Avoid heavy, spicy, or sugary foods 4-6 hours before bedtime
  
• Exercise regularly, but not right before bed

Getting Ready For Bed

• Try a light snack before bed
  
• Warm milk and foods high in the amino acid tryptophan, such as bananas, may help you to sleep.
  
• Practice relaxation techniques before bed.
  
• Don't take your worries to bed.
  
• Establish a pre-sleep ritual.
  
• Warm bath or a few minutes of reading can help you sleep.
  
• Get into your favorite sleeping position.
  
• If you don't fall asleep within 15-30 minutes, get up, go into another room, and read until sleepy.

Your Sleeping Environment

• Use comfortable bedding
• Find a comfortable temperature setting for sleeping and keep the room well ventilated
  
• Block out all distracting noise and eliminate as much light as possible
  
• Reserve the bed for sleep and intimacy

Sleep Regulation

Sleep consists of a series of distinct cycles and stages that restore and refresh your body and mind. Minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, efficiency, and ability to handle stress. Quality of sleep directly affects the quality of waking life… mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight.

Average Sleep Needs*

• Newborns (0-2 months)  -- 12 - 18 hours
• Infants (3 months to 1 year) -- 14 - 15 hours
• Toddlers (1 to 3 years) -- 12 - 14 hours
• Preschoolers (3 to 5 years) -- 11 - 13 hours
• School-aged children (5 to 12 years) -- 10 - 11 hours
• Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years) -- 8.5 - 10 hours
• Adults (18+) -- 7.5 – 9 hours

*National Institutes of Health

Myths About Sleep

Myth 1: Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night won’t effect your daytime functioning.

Even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and compromise your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.

Myth 2: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules.

Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by 1–2 hours per day at best. It can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.

Myth 3: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue.

Not only is the quantity of sleep important but also the quality of sleep.

Myth 4: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends.

This sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, but will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Sleeping later on the weekends can affect your biological clock.

*The above information was adapted from Your Guide to Healthy Sleep - The National Institutes of Health