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Looking after ourselves

Pebbles
Senior Contributor

Sleep Hygiene Benefits

I've been reading over information around sleep hygiene and the benefits of it for treating insomnia, it got me thinking of the benefits of general sleep hygiene for both physical and mental health too.

Research suggests everyone, from children to older adults, can benefit from practicing good sleep habits. I found a great sleep hygiene info sheet which can be found here and wanted to open it up to everyone in the land of the forum to hear others experiences around this.

I know for myself having no screen time for at least 30minutes before I go to bed, drinking chamomile tea and reading in bed before I turn out the lights are all helpful in assisting me to have a good nights sleep.

What's helpful or not helpful for you? 

I'd love to hear from you,

Pebbles 🙂

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Great topic idea @Pebbles! I think I could learn a thing or two here. I have shocking sleep hygiene! Caffeine all hours, sleeping during the day, relying on medications to sleep, too much screen time... etc. 

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Thanks @Queenie Great to hear from you.

Keep me posted about your thoughts after reading the info sheet or if you try out any of own new ideas. Good to recognise things first before we step towards changing them. 

I'm logging off the week now but I look forward to checking in again next week.

Take care 🙂

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Hi @Pebbles

What helps me? A nice warm cup of herbal tea (oolong tea) cuddled up in a warm blanket 

I tend to not use the computer just before bed which is a good thing.  I do use my phone a little, if i can't sleep i put on a meditation app and try to relax with that.  Otherwise it's phone off and I tend to relax in bed with some slow deep breaths and fall off to sleep.

I always go to bed first before my husband and I do enjoy that as it gives me some me time to relax and unwind.  I do need at least 7-8 hours of sleep.  I am hopeless if i have less sleep than that.

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

I have really been noticing how well I sleep after my yoga class. I think having no screen time for a while before bed also helps (although this is something I struggle with - darn Forum Land addiction. Smiley Happy). I also find it helpful playing super calm music. I search youtube for things like "music for sleep" or "meditation music."

Former-Member
Not applicable

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Hiya @Pebbles,

GETTING UP AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY.

 

EVERY DAY.

 

Sorry for the caps, but it is super, super important for me to get up at the same time every day to maintain a sleep pattern. I also have an alarm for when to go to bed, cause I will often get stuck into what I'm doing and not want to stop and go to sleep. But I find if I actually _stop_ and try to get to sleep I drop off okay, it's just _stopping_ that's the hard part. 

I mainly suffer from middle-late insomnia so for me it's really important not to do engaging or awakening things when I wake up at 1am, 3am and 5am...... every night. Mostly I now drop back off again withing 15min, but before I would be awake for an hour, then asleep for an hour, repeat. I find resisting the temptation to look at my phone the key to this, but I don't always succeed. 

Thanks for the tip sheet - it was really good!

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Which chamomile tea do you drink? 🙂

I have the Twinings one - it's with Spearmint

 

does it have caffeine?

 

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

I don't think chamomile tea has any caffeine in it. I also drink chamomile tea or a blend containing it @jamesle2015I use earplugs as I am super sensitive to noise at night.

No matter what time I go to bed or how disturbed my sleep is, I still wake up at the same time every morning. It just happens that way. Sometimes I think it would be nice to sleep in especially on the weekend but nope, I am wide awake before the sun rises. 

I like to exercise enough to tire me out and yes @Phoenix_Rising the yoga sessions have improved my sleep quality. 

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

Hi @jamesle2015

Chammomile tea is lovely, I really enjoy it 🙂 No caffine in that one!

Re: Sleep Hygiene Benefits

@Former-Member this is the sleep hygiene thread I was talking about 😉

Thank you for everyone's responses I've really enjoyed reading through what's helpful and not for you all. No screen time and exercise have big bonus points for me too! 

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