Healthy sleep is essential for both physical and mental wellbeing; obtaining healthy sleeping patterns helps to promote overall energy renewal, productivity, and quality of life. Did you know that poor sleep is linked to excessive inflammation in the body and recieving enough sleep is linked to improved immune function. So it is essential that improve the quality of our sleep by obtaining a strong sleep hygiene and building consistent sleeping habits; this is possible by adjusting our daily routine and environment accordingly.
The goal of good sleep hygiene is to sleep soundly throughout the night and wake up feeling re-energized and well rested. Acknowledging that your environment and habits can be optimized in order to obtain good sleep is the foundation to building a better routine. Additionally, it is always important to recognize that the ideal routine varies between persons. Here are some of our top suggestions for building a healthy sleeping pattern but of course, feel free to adjust according to your body and lifestyle needs!
Avoid eating heavy or fatty meals before bedtime
In Ayurveda, it is suggested to leave a 2 hour gap before your last meal of the day and bedtime. The ideal dinner time is around 7 p.m. However, if you’re caught eating a late dinner, try to keep it light! Avoid eating heavy or excessively fatty meals before bedtime. It can be hard on the body to digest heavy meals while at rest so you want to give your body enough time to process the meal before heading off to sleep. Additionally, we would also suggest limiting any caffeine, alcohol and/or drug usage before bed.
Stabilize your circadian rhythm by waking up and sleeping around the same time each day
In Ayurveda, it is strongly suggested to sleep before 10 p.m and to wake up 1 hour and 36 minutes before sunrise. This may not suit everyone’s busy lifestyle. Our modified suggestion is to aim for at least 7 hours of sleep, while sleeping and waking up around the same time each day. If you sleep at 11:30 pm, aim to wake up at 6:30 am! The body will learn to reset and stabilize to this pattern so that eventually you will no longer need an alarm clock to do so! The goal is to eventually be able to wake up without the need for an alarm clock. We want to avoid shocking our nervous system the first thing in the morning because ideally, we want to wake up with just as much peace as we fell asleep with!
Engage in relaxing activities before bedtime
Avoid strenuous activities such as exercising for at least 1 hour prior to bedtime. Instead engage in more relaxing activities such as meditation, journaling, prayer, reading etc. Try cleaning your bedroom area, setting your room to a comfortable temperature and making your bed to include comfortable and clean bedsheets and pillows. Playing light music such as white noise, oceans sounds, or Solfeggio frequencies can all help to elevate your bedtime experience. Most importantly, avoid using electronic devices at least 30 minutes - 1 hour before bed.
And remember -- good sleep is just as important in the healing process as nutrition and excercise so make sure to listen to your body and rest when needed!
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