Your routines, behaviours, lifestyle and environment play an important role in sleep. In this post, I discuss what sleep hygiene is and six sleep habits that can impact your sleep.

Table of Contents

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep hygiene, also referred to as ‘sleep habits’, are behaviours that can improve your sleep.

They are usually most effective when used alongside other strategies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.

Sleep habits are practices that support good sleep but are not a requirement for it. In other words, the behaviours increase your chance of better sleep, but if you don’t do them, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to sleep.

Looking at sleep habits can be a good place to start if you struggle with sleep. You might find that making a relatively small change can make a big difference to your sleep quality and duration.

Habits for Better Sleep

There are multiple factors that affect sleep. Below are some that I consider to be most impactful and modifiable, but there are several others.

1 - Caffeine

Caffeine is a stimulant consumed by roughly 80% of the world’s population. It is not only found in coffee - products such as tea, dark chocolate and energy drinks also contain caffeine in varying amounts.

Caffeine reduces sleep pressure, which is what makes you feel sleepy at night. It has an average half-life of 5 hours. This means that 5 hours after consumption, half the caffeine you consumed is still in your body, keeping you alert and awake.

The effect caffeine has on you will be individual and can vary quite a lot between people.

But research has found that the closer to bedtime that high doses of caffeine are consumed, the bigger the reduction in total sleep time.

It was also found that, due to typical caffeine content, a cup of coffee would need to be consumed at least 8.8 hours before bedtime to avoid reductions in sleep time.

Additionally, consuming caffeine increases the time taken to fall asleep and night-time awakenings. It also increases the amount of light sleep and reduces the amount of deep sleep experienced.

Overall, it is best to keep caffeine consumption to the morning and avoid drinking coffee or other high caffeine products in the afternoon.

2 - Exercise

Although exercise during the day is beneficial for your sleep and overall wellbeing, it is best not to do intense exercise close to bedtime.

High intensity workouts will increase your heart rate when you want to be slowing down and relaxing before bed. Activities such as gentle stretching or yoga may be more suitable for your evening routine.

Intense exercise is best done early in the day and avoided within 3 hours of bedtime.

3 - Relaxation and Stress Management

It is important to allow yourself time to relax and unwind at the end of the day. Relaxation practices, such as breathwork and yoga, can help your body get into a ‘sleep-ready’ state.

But consider what activities you personally find relaxing too. For example, listening to a podcast, doing a crossword puzzle, watching comedy on YouTube or reading a good book. How can you incorporate this into your evening routine?

Additionally, addressing any worries and stresses during the day means they are less likely to bother you during the night.

4 - Alcohol

Alcohol may help you fall asleep quicker, but it is actually a sedative that severely disrupts your sleep quality and sleep cycle.

Even a couple of drinks can fragment your sleep and result in you spending less time in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. It also increases the number of awakenings during the night. This leads to you to waking up in the morning feeling less refreshed.

It is best to avoid drinking alcohol close to bed, to allow it time to be metabolised by your body. It takes about 1 hour for your body to process one unit of alcohol. It is also helpful to stay hydrated, alternating between alcoholic drinks and water.

Everyone processes alcohol differently though, so be aware of how it affects you as an individual. Some studies have shown that your sleep can be disrupted even when alcohol is consumed six hours before bedtime.

5 - Wake-Up Time

Establishing a regular wake-time is key to improving your sleep as it regulates your body clock. By waking up at the same time you help your body get into a healthy rhythm. Doing this eventually leads to a regular sleep time too.

You might be tempted to lie-in at the weekend or to try and catch-up on sleep if you’ve slept badly. This is not as helpful as it may seem as it reduces your sleep pressure.

As I mentioned earlier, sleep pressure is what makes you feel sleepy. It builds the longer you are awake and reduces when you sleep.

By lying-in you have less time for sleep pressure to build up before your usual bedtime. This means you won’t feel sleepy until later at night, delaying that night’s sleep onset, which can disrupt your sleep further.

The key takeaway here is to stick to a regular wake-time to avoid confusing your body and help establish a healthy sleep rhythm.

6 - Environment

There are several environmental factors that can affect sleep. My top tips for improving your sleep environment are:

Dim the lights in the evening and ensure your bedroom is dark when you are sleeping. A blackout blind might be helpful.
Get outside and view sunlight as soon as possible after waking. This helps regulate your body clock.
Make sure the bedroom is not too hot or cold.
Ensure you have a comfortable mattress, pillows and bedding.
Avoid going on your phone an hour before bedtime. If you do go on your phone close to bed (because let’s be honest we all do sometimes), try to use it for something relaxing & non-work related, such as watching a calming episode of a TV show or listening to a podcast.

As you can see, there are several ways you can tweak your behaviour and lifestyle to promote better sleep. This is not a comprehensive list but hopefully gives you an introduction to some of the key factors that can affect your sleep.

If you are planning to make any changes, I recommend picking just one or two things to start with. Starting small makes change more achievable and it is more likely you will stay consistent with your new habit. Remember that sleep habits are just one factor that can affect your sleep.

Further Support

Improving sleep hygiene or habits is often the main advice given to help people sleep better, but the reality is that it is unlikely to fix a chronic poor sleep or insomnia.

As a sleep therapist, clients often come to me feeling like they have tried everything, yet they still can’t sleep. Instead of offering more sleep hygiene advice, I help my clients to address the specific factors maintaining their trouble sleeping, such as unhelpful coping strategies or anxiety around sleep.

Using evidence-based therapeutic approaches, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, I teach them the knowledge and skills to support their sleep for life.

To find out more about 1:1 sleep support, click here.

References

Bupa. How does alcohol affect your sleep? https://www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/health-blog

Colrain, I. M., Nicholas, C. L., Baker, F. C. (2014) Alcohol and the Sleeping Brain.

Drake, C., Roehrs, T., Shambroom, J., Roth. T. (2013) Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed.

Drinkaware. Alcohol and Sleep. https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/lifestyle-effects/alcohol-and-sleep

Gardiner, C., Weakley, J., Burke, L. M., Roach, G. D., Sargent, C., Maniar, N., Townshend, A., Halson, S. L. (2023) The effect of caffeine on subsequent sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Thakkar, M. M., Sharma, R., Sahota, P. (2015) Alcohol disrupts sleep homeostasis.

Sleep Hygiene: 6 Healthy Habits for a Better Night’s Rest