How to Ditch Poor Sleep Hygiene

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsThe Importance of SleepHow Much Sleep Do You Need?Healthy Sleep Hygiene HabitsNext in Mind Over Mattress GuideYes, Our Sleeping Positions Can Actually Impact Our Well-Being

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

The Importance of Sleep

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

Healthy Sleep Hygiene Habits

Next in Mind Over Mattress Guide

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We often develop sleeping habits and patterns as children, and carry them forward with us over the years. If your sleeping habits are not serving you well, it can be helpful to work on developing healthier sleep patterns, also known as goodsleep hygiene, for better sleep.

This article discusses the importance of sleep, how much sleep you need, and some healthy sleep hygiene habits that may help yousleep better.

We sleep for approximately one-third of our lives. The brain is in fact quite active during sleep, while the body rests and recharges its energy levels.

These are some of the reasons why getting a good night’s sleep is important:

Furthermore, lack of adequate sleep is linked to several negative outcomes, including:

The Best Sleep Apps to Help You Get Some Shut-Eye, Tried and Tested

Theories on Why We Sleep

These are some healthy sleep hygiene habits that can help you get better sleep:

8 Tips for Getting Back to Sleep in the Middle of the Night

Bottom Line

Sleep is an important aspect of staying mentally and physically healthy. If you haven’t slept well, you may notice that you don’t feel good, your energy levels are lower, you’re unable to concentrate, you’re cranky and irritable, you find it harder to deal withstressors, and you’re more prone to catching a cold or falling ill.

Maintaining good sleep hygiene can help you relax and get a good night’s sleep. Performing a soothing bedtime routine can be aself-care activitythat you do for yourself.

13 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Sleep.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep basics.Worley SL.The extraordinary importance of sleep.P T. 2018;43(12):758-763.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Sleep and health.Reutrakul S, Van Cauter E.Sleep influences on obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of diabetes.Metabolism. 2018;84:56-66. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2018.02.010Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep for a good cause.Grandner M, Mullington JM, Hashmi SD, Redeker NS, Watson NF, Morgenthaler TI.Sleep duration and hypertension.J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(6):1031-1039. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7176Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How does sleep affect your heart health?Watson NF, Buchwald D, Delrow JJ, et al.Transcriptional signatures of sleep duration discordance in monozygotic twins.Sleep. 2017;40(1). doi:10.1093/sleep/zsw019Saghir Z, Syeda JN, Muhammad AS, Balla Abdalla TH.The amygdala, sleep debt, sleep deprivation, and the emotion of anger: a possible connection?Cureus. 10(7):e2912. doi:10.7759/cureus.2912Sprecher KE, Koscik RL, Carlsson CM, et al.Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults.Neurology. 2017;89(5):445-453. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000004171Chattu VK, Manzar MdD, Kumary S, Burman D, Spence DW, Pandi-Perumal SR.The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health implications.Healthcare (Basel). 2018;7(1):1. doi:10.3390/healthcare7010001Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How much sleep do I need?Additional ReadingCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep hygiene tips.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Twelve simple tips to improve your sleep.National Library of Medicine.Changing your sleep habits.Medline Plus.

13 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Sleep.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep basics.Worley SL.The extraordinary importance of sleep.P T. 2018;43(12):758-763.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Sleep and health.Reutrakul S, Van Cauter E.Sleep influences on obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of diabetes.Metabolism. 2018;84:56-66. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2018.02.010Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep for a good cause.Grandner M, Mullington JM, Hashmi SD, Redeker NS, Watson NF, Morgenthaler TI.Sleep duration and hypertension.J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(6):1031-1039. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7176Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How does sleep affect your heart health?Watson NF, Buchwald D, Delrow JJ, et al.Transcriptional signatures of sleep duration discordance in monozygotic twins.Sleep. 2017;40(1). doi:10.1093/sleep/zsw019Saghir Z, Syeda JN, Muhammad AS, Balla Abdalla TH.The amygdala, sleep debt, sleep deprivation, and the emotion of anger: a possible connection?Cureus. 10(7):e2912. doi:10.7759/cureus.2912Sprecher KE, Koscik RL, Carlsson CM, et al.Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults.Neurology. 2017;89(5):445-453. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000004171Chattu VK, Manzar MdD, Kumary S, Burman D, Spence DW, Pandi-Perumal SR.The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health implications.Healthcare (Basel). 2018;7(1):1. doi:10.3390/healthcare7010001Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How much sleep do I need?Additional ReadingCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep hygiene tips.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Twelve simple tips to improve your sleep.National Library of Medicine.Changing your sleep habits.Medline Plus.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Sleep.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep basics.Worley SL.The extraordinary importance of sleep.P T. 2018;43(12):758-763.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Sleep and health.Reutrakul S, Van Cauter E.Sleep influences on obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of diabetes.Metabolism. 2018;84:56-66. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2018.02.010Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep for a good cause.Grandner M, Mullington JM, Hashmi SD, Redeker NS, Watson NF, Morgenthaler TI.Sleep duration and hypertension.J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(6):1031-1039. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7176Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How does sleep affect your heart health?Watson NF, Buchwald D, Delrow JJ, et al.Transcriptional signatures of sleep duration discordance in monozygotic twins.Sleep. 2017;40(1). doi:10.1093/sleep/zsw019Saghir Z, Syeda JN, Muhammad AS, Balla Abdalla TH.The amygdala, sleep debt, sleep deprivation, and the emotion of anger: a possible connection?Cureus. 10(7):e2912. doi:10.7759/cureus.2912Sprecher KE, Koscik RL, Carlsson CM, et al.Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults.Neurology. 2017;89(5):445-453. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000004171Chattu VK, Manzar MdD, Kumary S, Burman D, Spence DW, Pandi-Perumal SR.The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health implications.Healthcare (Basel). 2018;7(1):1. doi:10.3390/healthcare7010001Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How much sleep do I need?

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Sleep.

Cleveland Clinic.Sleep basics.

Worley SL.The extraordinary importance of sleep.P T. 2018;43(12):758-763.

Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Sleep and health.

Reutrakul S, Van Cauter E.Sleep influences on obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of diabetes.Metabolism. 2018;84:56-66. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2018.02.010

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep for a good cause.

Grandner M, Mullington JM, Hashmi SD, Redeker NS, Watson NF, Morgenthaler TI.Sleep duration and hypertension.J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(6):1031-1039. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7176

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How does sleep affect your heart health?

Watson NF, Buchwald D, Delrow JJ, et al.Transcriptional signatures of sleep duration discordance in monozygotic twins.Sleep. 2017;40(1). doi:10.1093/sleep/zsw019

Saghir Z, Syeda JN, Muhammad AS, Balla Abdalla TH.The amygdala, sleep debt, sleep deprivation, and the emotion of anger: a possible connection?Cureus. 10(7):e2912. doi:10.7759/cureus.2912

Sprecher KE, Koscik RL, Carlsson CM, et al.Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults.Neurology. 2017;89(5):445-453. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000004171

Chattu VK, Manzar MdD, Kumary S, Burman D, Spence DW, Pandi-Perumal SR.The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health implications.Healthcare (Basel). 2018;7(1):1. doi:10.3390/healthcare7010001

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How much sleep do I need?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep hygiene tips.Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Twelve simple tips to improve your sleep.National Library of Medicine.Changing your sleep habits.Medline Plus.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sleep hygiene tips.

Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School.Twelve simple tips to improve your sleep.

National Library of Medicine.Changing your sleep habits.Medline Plus.

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