How can I improve the quality of my sleep?

Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Having healthy sleep habits is often referred to as having good sleep hygiene.

Good sleep practices can be divided into two main groups, one serving to stabilise the circadian rhythm or body clock, while the second is to minimise sleep disruption. Try to keep the following sleep practises consistently:

Stabilising your bedtime

The following pointers pertain to circadian issues and will help to stabilise our biological clock, thus enabling us to sleep well at night:

1. Avoid daytime naps. Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can’t fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help.
2. Limit time in bed to 8 hours. Many people tend to spend excessive hours in bed but the extra hours could be spent on other activities like resting or thinking about their problems.
3. Get daily exercises, preferably finishing at least 4 hours before bedtime. A decrease in core body temperature is associated with sleep, and body temperature decreases approximately 4 hours after exercise.
4. Keep regular sleep-wake cycle 7 days per week. Stick to a sleep schedule of the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. This helps to regulate your body's clock and could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night.
5. Avoid bright light in the evening or at night
6. Seek bright light in the morning

Reducing your sleep disruption

The following pointers serve to reduce sleep disruption:

1. Avoid large quantities of fluids in the evening
2. Minimise caffeine, a hot drink without caffeine may be beneficial
3. Avoid alcoholic drinks
4. Keep the bedroom quiet, dark, and at a comfortable temperature
5. Develop a relaxing bedtime ritual. Practise a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep.
6. Avoid worrying in bed by using tools such as list writing during the day
7. Do not use the bed and bedroom except for sleep and sexual activity. This serves to strengthen the association between bed and sleep.
8. Get assistance with pets and children
9. Avoid large meals soon before bedtime. Eating big or spicy meals can cause discomfort from indigestion that can make it hard to sleep. If you can, avoid eating large meals for two to three hours before bedtime. Try a light snack 45 minutes before bed if you’re still hungry.
10. Pursue medical intervention for problems such as gastroesophageal reflux, pain, and nausea. Treating gastroesophageal reflux with antacids and histamine-2 blocking medication before sleep can be useful.

You may also benefit from recording your sleep in a Sleep Diary to help you better evaluate common patterns or issues you may see with your sleep or sleeping habits.

Winding down. Your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity such as reading. For some people, using an electronic device such as a laptop can make it hard to fall asleep, because the particular type of light emanating from the screens of these devices is activating to the brain. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid electronics before bed or in the middle of the night.