What is sleep hygiene?
Sleep hygiene includes all of the things that we do, to take good care of our sleep.
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Why is good sleep hygiene important?
Getting a good night’s sleep each night is important for physical and mental health. Good sleep hygiene helps us to fall asleep easily each night (short sleep onset).
Everyone, from babies, to children & adolescents, to younger & older adults, can benefit from practicing good sleep hygiene.
How do I know if my sleep hygiene is poor?
These are some of the signs of poor sleep hygiene:
- Taking too long to fall asleep (more than 10-20 minutes after getting into bed).
- Waking up many times, throughout the night
- Not being able to fall back asleep quickly & easily
- Waking up too soon (well before needed or wanted)
- Not feeling refreshed or restored upon wakening
- Feeling sleepy throughout the next day
- Feeling generally irritable or cranky the next day “for no reason”
Some other signs of poor sleep hygiene are:
- problems with attention & concentration
- feeling hungry all of the time
- unexplained weight gain, or difficulty with managing weight
- decreased productivity & performance
- feeling depressed and/or anxious
- frequent infections
Wow, right?
How can I improve my sleep hygiene?
Click on the Slideshow below, to learn ways to improve sleep hygiene.
Good sleep hygiene leads to good sleep!
Denise Dixon, PhD @suffolkhealthpsy.com
SLEEP HYGIENE REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:
Please click here for links to references for this blog post, and here to access additional links and resources.
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YOUR TURN:
What do you think about this post? Do you think that your sleep hygiene is good, or poor? Really looking forward to reading and responding to your comments! Thank you so much!
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