6 Tips for a Good Night's Sleep

Sleep
Written By Nicky Angelone

It is estimated that up to 40% of Australians are not sleeping well.

Yet, sleep health awareness has been highlighted as needing the same attention as nutrition and exercise.

Why is sleep so important to physical & mental wellbeing?

Numerous studies have shown that sleep is essential for life. The benefits of a good night’s sleep include: 

  • Provides time to heal and restore

  • Boosts immunity (1)

  • Supports heart health (2)

  • Improved relationships (3)

  • Regulation and expression of emotions (4)

  • Supports mental function, and likelihood of depression (5)

  • Memory (6)

  • Weight (7)

  • Safety: including attention and concentration for driving and in preventing falls (2)

6 keys to a good night’s sleep

Often referred to as ‘sleep hygiene’, below are 6 habits that encourage a sound night’s sleep.

  1. Routine 

  2. Environment

  3. Limiting stimulants

  4. Ditch daytime napping

  5. Wind down time (including a breathing practice to support this here)

  6. Don’t fight your body

1. Routine

‘Consistency is key to good sleep’.

Having a consistent sleep schedule, where you rise and retire at the same time, helps set your body clock for quality sleep. 

It can also be helpful to go to bed when your body tells you it’s tired. 

Exposure to light in the morning also helps to set the body clock and help with waking up - so pop the blind up or put the light on.

2. Environment

On retiring:

Ideally your sleeping space will be:

  • Quiet

  • Dark

  • Cool

  • Clear of any clutter.

Try not to use electronic devices, as they emit light that stimulates your brain to think it’s ‘awake time’.

If you’re unable to control external noise, consider using ear plugs. 

A goldilocks mattress and pillow (that’s ‘just right’ for you) will help too. And try turning the alarm clock to the wall – so you’re not watching the minutes tick by if you wake up.

On rising:

Get up when the alarm goes off, or when you naturally wake (morning time). If you press snooze or go back to sleep, you will enter another sleep cycle. This means you’ll most likely get up mid-cycle and be less alert and awake as you would have been if you got out of bed initially.

Open Blinds up or Lights On

15 minutes of morning sunlight helps regulate melatonin – your sleep hormone.

3. Limit or avoid stimulants

Avoid caffeine (coffee & tea), nicotine (cigarettes) and chocolate, coca-cola for energy drinks or 4-6 hours before retiring. 

While a ‘night cap’ of alcohol may initially help you get to sleep, it worsens your quality of sleep and can keep you from staying asleep. That’s because, while not a stimulant initially, alcohol keeps you from reaching the deep stages of sleep, dehydrates you and wakes you in the night due to these reasons. While your NREM sleep (stages 1 & 2) are increased, your REM sleep is reduced. REM is critical in helping the brain organise and store memories.

Eating too close to bedtime (particularly heavy, spicy, or rich meals), can also disrupt sleep and contribute to heartburn, reflux and the need to go to the bathroom. 

Exercise – is great for sleep, just not too close to bedtime – at least 4 hours before bed – as it revs up the body and can keep you awake.

4. Ditch Daytime Napping

If you nap during the day you reduce your ‘Sleep Drive’. 

Sleep drive is a term used to explain that the longer we are awake, the stronger our drive to go to sleep. 

Taking a nap relieves the desire to sleep, but then also reduces the drive to sleep later on. 

Sleep experts advise that if you’re getting sufficient sleep of good quality, you shouldn’t need a nap. If you’re consistently napping, consider speaking to your GP about this, for a health check.

5. Wind Down Time

This is your opportunity to be creative and set up a wind down routine that suits your personality and living situation. 

Including some quiet activities before sleeping helps the body transition to sleep, and builds an expectation that sleep time is coming. 

Some ingredients to consider in your bedtime routine recipe:

  • Reading

  • Relaxing music

  • Diffusing essential oils

  • Writing in your journal

  • Meditation 

  • Breathing practices (refer to this blog for some practices to try, including abdominal breathing and progressive muscle relaxation)

  • Other stillness practices

  • Sleep stories or an audio book 

Having a hot shower or bath - about 90 minutes before going to bed can also help. This is because your core body temperature will heat up and then reduce towards bedtime, naturally producing melatonin – the hormone that regulates the sleep–wake cycle.

“When you’re in bed and unable to sleep, the best thing to do is to go back to your breathing.”
— Thich Nhat Hahn

6. Give up the fight

Don’t fight your body. 

If you’re experiencing insomnia… don’t lie there struggling. This can result in the body/mind associating bed with anxiety and difficulties. 

Instead, after 15 minutes of not being able to sleep, get up and do a quiet activity in another quiet place until you feel sleepy; then return to your bed to sleep. If you have a busy mind – write down what’s coming up. Acknowledging it can help your mind to ‘park’ these thoughts. 

Worrying about not being able to get to sleep can become a vicious cycle. Instead, we want to create a mental association between feeling sleepy and bed.

Top Tip: Use the time you are awake to do some relaxation – for example, breathing or a body scan. Using this opportunity for some active relaxation of your body and mind can be the next best thing to sleep.

These are some of the core tips to help with getting a good night’s sleep. However it’s by no means an exhaustive list and there are many other tools and strategies that can help during a wakeful night. 

Please get in touch if you’d like to work one on one with me to individualise the approach to support your sleep. 

Sleep tips for shift workers

If you’re a shift worker and finding sleep challenging, read here for some additional tips.

Long term sleep issues

If you are experiencing long term sleep issues please do firstly visit your GP to be checked physically. Following this I encourage you to reach out for support from a counsellor or psychotherapist to work through practical strategies customised for you, or to explore mental, emotional and psychological impacts on your sleep quality.

Please seek professional help if you are:

  • Regularly experience difficulty sleeping

  • Often tired during the day even though you slept 7 + hours 

  • Daytime activity performance is reduced or impaired

  • Feel like falling asleep while driving

  • Struggle to stay awake when inactive (eg TV, reading)

  • Have difficulty paying attention or concentrating 

  • Others often say you look sleepy

  • Have difficulty with your memory

  • Have slowed responses

  • Have difficulty controlling your emotions

  • Need to take naps almost every day.

If you’re wanting some support to manage getting to sleep, getting back to sleep, or working through issues which are keeping you awake at night please do get in touch for a 1:1 counselling or mindfulness meditation session. We can work together on an individualised approach to your needs, with strategies that suit you and your lifestyle.

Along with individual sessions I offer corporate mindfulness and wellbeing workshops and programs both in person and online.

Nicky Angelone https://www.flourishmindfully.com.au
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