Sleep Hygiene

What is Sleep Hygiene?

‘Sleep hygiene’ is the term used to describe good sleep habits. Considerable research has gone into developing a set of guidelines and tips which are designed to enhance good sleeping, and there is much evidence to suggest that these strategies can provide long-term solutions to sleep difficulties. 

There are many medications which are used to treat insomnia, but these tend to be only effective in the short-term. Ongoing use of sleeping pills may lead to dependence and interfere with developing good sleep habits independent of medication, thereby prolonging sleep difficulties. Talk to your health professional about what is right for you, but we recommend good sleep hygiene as an important part of treating insomnia, either with other strategies such as medication or cognitive therapy or alone.

Sleep Hygiene Tips!

1) Routine, routine, routine
One of the best ways to train your body to sleep well is to go to bed and get up at more or less the same time every day, even on weekends and days off! This regular rhythm will make you feel better and will give your body something to work from.

2) Slow Down
Before your child's bedtime, get them to do something calming or boring. Sit quietly on the couch with the lights off (bright light will tell your brain that it is time to wake up), or read a story. Avoid doing anything too stimulating or interesting, as this will wake you up even more.

3) Bed is for sleeping
Try not to use your bed for anything other than sleeping and a book for bed. This will help your child's body to associate bed with sleep. If you use bed as a place to watch TV, eat, read, play their ipad or other things, your child's body will not learn this connection.

4) Sleep Rituals
You can support your child's sleep by developing rituals of things to remind your child's body that it is time to sleep - some people find it useful to do relaxing stretches or breathing exercises for 15 minutes before bed each night, or sit calmly with a book.

5) Bathtime
Having a hot bath 1-2 hours before bedtime can be useful, as it will raise your body temperature, causing you to feel sleepy as your body temperature drops again. Research shows that sleepiness is associated with a drop in body temperature.