How to maintain good sleep hygiene

One of the biggest contributors to sleep loss is worry, and unfortunately there is a little bit to worry about these days. The problem is that when we aren’t sleeping well, it increases our worry further. Here we guide you through some top tips to reduce worry and sleep better.

• More time to worry (when we should be sleeping)

• Another thing to worry about (sleep loss)

• The brain stops working as well so can’t problem solve easily

• Reduces our immune function

1. Bed=Sleep

A) Bed is for sleep only

It is really important that we associate our bed, and the space that we sleep in with sleep, and not with other things. Avoid doing anything in bed that isn’t relaxing and won’t help you prepare for sleep. This includes:

• Working

• Taking difficult phone calls with people you’re worried about/really miss

• Reading the news

• Working out budgets/searching for work

• Eating meals

• Watching scary or upsetting films

• Complaining/arguing (if you share a bed)

• Screen time

If you share a house, this means that you might need to set up a work/jobs area in your room, or elsewhere in your house. You could:

• Ask your housemates if you can use the kitchen table and have a pile of things that you set up at the beginning of each working day and pack away again at the end.

• Invest in a small desk for the corner of your room

• Prop cushions against the wall to make a seat and use another cushion or a few big books to prop your laptop up to work from

• Do a room swap with your housemate so that your room remains your ‘sleep space’ for you

B) Make the environment conducive to sleep

For example:

• Keep your bedroom tidy and clean, so that it is associated with order and calm

• Have some nice scents in there or play relaxing music in the evenings

• Minimise noise from outside with draft excluders or even earplugs if you live in a big/noisy house

• Make sure your room stays dark while you are sleeping (if people tend to put lights on outside get black-out blinds, make cardboard covers for your windows, or get/make an eye mask)

• Make sure your room is the right temperature overnight- most people prefer the room to be slightly cooler overnight than during the day

C) Don’t stay in bed fretting about not sleeping

Finally, because we want to associate bed with sleeping and not restlessness or worry, if you have been in bed for over 20 minutes and have still not fallen asleep, get out of bed to do something else that will help you to wind down and prepare for sleep. You could:

• Listen to some music in a chair/sat on the floor with cushions

• Do some colouring or a jigsaw

• Read a few pages of a book (not one that is scary or action-packed)