from uptodateQuote:
Sleep hygiene Sleep hygiene refers to actions that tend to improve and maintain good sleep [13]:
Sleep as long as necessary to feel rested (usually seven to eight hours for adults) and then get out of bed
Maintain a regular sleep schedule, particularly a regular wake-up time in the morning
Try not to force sleep
Avoid caffeinated beverages after lunch
Avoid alcohol near bedtime (eg, late afternoon and evening) [14,15]
Avoid smoking or other nicotine intake, particularly during the evening [15]
Adjust the bedroom environment as needed to decrease stimuli (eg, reduce ambient light, turn off the television or radio)
Avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens (laptops, tablets, smartphones, ebooks) before bedtime [16,17]
Resolve concerns or worries before bedtime
Exercise regularly for at least 20 minutes, preferably more than four to five hours prior to bedtime [18,19]
Avoid daytime naps, especially if they are longer than 20 to 30 minutes or occur late in the day
Sleep hygiene counseling alone has not been directly compared with no intervention or a sham intervention. However, numerous clinical trials have used sleep hygiene counseling alone as the control intervention and showed some improvement in sleep but less than that seen with pharmacotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy [20-22].
Stimulus control Patients with insomnia may associate their bed and bedroom with the fear of not sleeping or other arousing events, rather than the more pleasurable anticipation of sleep. The longer one stays in bed trying to sleep, the stronger the association becomes. This perpetuates the difficulty falling asleep.
Stimulus control therapy is a strategy whose purpose is to disrupt this association by enhancing the likelihood of sleep (table 3) [23]. Patients should not go to bed until they are sleepy and should use the bed primarily for sleep (and not for reading, watching television, eating, or worrying). If patients are unable to sleep, they should get out of bed and engage in a relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to soothing music, and return only when sleepy. Typically, this is within 20 minutes. Patients should not engage in activities that stimulate them or reward them for being awake in the middle of the night, such as eating or watching television. In addition, they should not return to bed until they are tired and feel ready to sleep. If they return to bed and still cannot sleep, the process should be repeated. An alarm should be set to wake the patient at the same time every morning, including weekends. Daytime naps are not allowed.
Patients may not improve immediately. However, accumulating sleepiness will facilitate sleep during successive nights.
Stimulus control therapy has improved sleep in randomized trials and its effects may be long lasting [24-26]. One study suggested that stimulus control therapy is more effective among patients who are not already taking medications for insomnia [27].
Came here to say this. All my sleeping problems have been cleared up with about 1 hour of vigorous exercise per day (along with about 90 lbs of fat).Ragoo said:
The answer is always exercise. Physically exhaust your body into wanting sleep.
hedge said:
Well I'm in the middle of my weight loss journey so I'm hoping my sleep will improve vastly once I hit my goal
Assuming the workout routine is relatively new IMO this is a temporary problem. Your body hasn't adjusted to the "new normal" from the exercise regimen. In mid-May I went from 3-4 bike rides per week to 2-3 rides and 3 Murph Challenge oriented workouts per week. I spent all of June exhausted with the change in routine but about July 10 I started to stabilize and have felt significantly better since that time.hedge said:
I've been jogging 2 miles about 5/6x a week, plus weights every other day. My sleep is horrendous right now, it was way better when I wasn't active and still eating like ****
You might want to try something unorthodox (in addition to following all of the info about sleep hygiene given above):hedge said:
Went to bed at 9:15, was exhausted. Woke up at around 11:45pm. Couldn't fall asleep til about 5am, even then sleep was light. Quite possibly worst sleep I've had since college
I was listening to a podcast and they were advertising WHOOP and the guy said that he's noticed on the nights when he reads, even for 10 minutes, before he goes to bed, his recovery is 10% better.OasisMan said:
from uptodate
reading in bed makes me sleepy
First I've heard of this. Wow, those things are pricey.500,000ags said:
I have been using a Chilipad for about 2.5 weeks and I have been falling asleep faster. I'm still waking up after 4-5 hours if I set the temp too cold, so still trying to get the temp right.
