on an intuitive level, when we don’t get enough sleep or sleep well, we just know that we’ll be in a ‘bad mood’ the next day. clearly, there is an intimate relationship between our mental/physical health and our sleep health. when we sleep, our bodies go into the deepest mode of healing, repairing and regeneration. there are incredible immune health benefits of a good night’s sleep, not just the amount of hours but also the quality. 

here’s a few ways to get the most out of your sleep and why:

regularity – try to wake up and go to bed at roughly the same time each day. our body’s circadian rhythm aligns itself with sunrise and sunset. circadian rhythm is a 24 hour clock divided between 8 hours of sleep and 16 hours of wakefulness. this is what makes a healthy sleep-wake cycle. irregular sleep patterns can alter our circadian rhythm and levels of melatonin, which signal our brains to sleep.  

alarm clock – once you’re able to regulate your sleep, you’ll wake up naturally without an alarm. if you look at the cardiovascular response to an alarm, it’s a pretty stressful event. if you hit snooze, then you’re constantly attacking your cardiovascular system. 

temperature –  keep your room cool. cooling the bedroom temperature helps take our body into a space for good sleep.

darkness– exposure to light during the day is beneficial but nighttime light has the opposite effect. light at night tricks our brain into thinking it’s still daytime, which makes falling asleep a little more difficult. 

try to turn off overhead lights which resemble daytime. 

reduce blue light waves that are found in electronic screens such as phones, laptops and tv. 

use lights in warm tones that aren’t too iridescent, blue or sharp. 

bedroom – ‘a room for sleeping in.’ if you’ve been awake or trying to fall asleep for about 25 minutes, try to go to a different room until you’re sleepy. the reason is because our brains are so smart and make associations pretty quickly. you want to train your brain that being in bed means time to sleep. 

caffeine – i’ve always been one of those people who can drink coffee at night and i fall asleep and stay asleep no problem. that’s not necessarily true because caffeine stays in our system for a long time which decreases our deep sleep even though we are not consciously aware.  try to drink your coffee before noon. 

alcohol – have you ever noticed that you kind of have to mentally prepare to ‘waste the day’ after a night of drinking? alcohol fragments your sleep by waking you up throughout the night and blocking your REM sleep. although you might not necessarily remember waking up, the next day you wake up feeling unrefreshed. 

source: Why We Sleep (Walker, 2017)