Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Hygiene

Hi it’s Jane and Nick from Gardenvale Chinese Medicine. A lot of our patients have problems when it comes to sleeping, either problems falling asleep, or trouble staying asleep.

Today we thought we would share some tips and tricks for good sleep hygiene. It’s a bit of a buzz word lately, “sleep hygiene”, but it’s very important.

Naps:

Try to Limit your naps to no more than 30 minutes. I think you all I know I love a good nap, I aim for 4 x 15 minutes naps a week. The key is, no more than 30 minutes when napping. Also, not napping too late in the day.

Avoid stimulants:

Most of us know we should avoid stimulants such as caffeine, and please don’t get us started about energy drinks…

Avoiding coffee altogether is best, but if you must, avoid it in the afternoon/evening.

Exercising:

Exercising can promote good quality of sleep, again avoid doing it just before bedtime.

Eating before bed:

It’s best not to have a big meal before bedtime. Nick even suggests going to bed without dinner over having a big meal. Jane reminds us that in Chinese Medicine, we are encouraged to have our biggest meal at breakfast, a smaller lunch and an even smaller dinner.

Natural light:

Allowing some natural light to flood your room in the morning is a great way to move and flow with the seasons. This is much preferred over bring florescent lights.

Bedtime routine:

Trying to go to bed around the same time and getting the screens out of the bedroom, no phones, no Netflix… curl up in bed and read a book.

Jane encourages us to try and be in bed by 9pm. According to Chinese Medicine, the hours between 9pm and 11pm are like bonus hours of sleep.

Ensuring you have a beautiful sleeping environment:

Investing in a good mattress and pillow. Remember we spend a third of our lives sleeping. The barefoot investor even notes the importance of a good pillow.