Our Top 3 Tips for Restful Sleep

Because good sleep is not just for babies!

4 min readApr 20, 2021

“Death, so-called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep.”

― Lord George Gordon Byron

It’s true — nearly a third of our lives are spent asleep.

So why is it that for most of us, it’s becoming increasingly hard to get a good night’s sleep? We sleep too late, wake up groggy, and then repeat the cycle all over again, assuming we have the weekend to ‘catch up’.

While some people rely on coffee, tea, or an energy drink to jump-start their days, and we wrote an interesting piece on the effects of energy drinks recently, a full night of sleep is the best way to feel productive and energized. Improving your sleep hygiene works wonders for your physical and mental health.

What is sleep hygiene?

The term “sleep hygiene” is a little confusing — we aren’t talking about clean bedsheets, washing your face, or brushing your teeth before bed (we highly recommend ALL those too!) Sleep hygiene is a set of practices and habits that enable your ability to sleep well. It includes not only what you do at night, but also behaviors you can do during the day, your home environment, and even your diet.

But are you one of those that struggle to fall asleep? Do you find yourself tossing and turning, or distracted on your phone?

Here’s the good news!

Getting good sleep is easier than you may realize. Your routine and activities during the day, and especially before bedtime, can either improve or worsen the quality of your rest. Replacing activities and habits that disrupt your sleep with evidence-based healthy sleep practices can cause a day and night difference in your sleep habits.

Getting quality sleep is not just essential to keep you alert, it’s also important for your health: it strengthens your immune system, helps you maintain a healthy weight, and lowers your risk for serious health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. You can read more about the dangers of sleep deprivation in our previous blog. Good sleep also improves your mood and your memory (this is why it helps to get a good night’s rest before a big presentation or an exam!). While you sleep, your brain forms new pathways to help you remember information or a new skill like playing an instrument.

So how do you sleep better? Here are three R’s to help you get those Zzz’s!

1. Routine!

This means going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, give or take 20 minutes (including weekends!). When you create a routine, your body has a framework for its internal clock — it knows to expect rest at a particular, fixed time every day. Contrary to what might seem logical, even if you haven’t slept well during the night, it’s best not to allow yourself to sleep in later the next morning. Getting up at your usual time will heighten your “need to sleep,” and help you sleep better the following night.

2. Relaxation!

Whether it’s a warm bath, reading a book, or meditating — any relaxing activity about an hour before bed helps create a transition between wakefulness and sleep. We recommend adjusting your environment so that it is more conducive to relaxation too. If you are currently working from your bedroom, try and limit yourself to a certain portion of the room so that your ‘sleep space’ remains separate. Chalk out a few fixed activities you do when it’s time to wind down and follow them daily to help you relax.

3. Riddance!

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but we’ll repeat it anyway! Screens and sleep simply do not go together. Limit your use of screens at least an hour before bed. Besides the light disrupting your body clock, games, videos, work emails, and social feeds are designed to keep your mind active, which is probably why it’s 2 am and you still aren’t sleepy! Make it a habit to sleep with your phone out of reach, if possible, or consider putting it into “Do Not Disturb” or nighttime mode to block notifications from flashing or making your phone vibrate during the night.

Even if falling asleep before midnight may seem like an impossible dream for you — remember that good sleep is more under your control than you might think. By following these simple and healthy sleep hygiene habits, you can turn the seemingly pointless one-third of your life into the most productive one!

Remember, the only person who can keep YOU the healthiest is YOU.

DISCLAIMER: Dr. YOU aims to bring you the latest evidence-based science, and our content is for informational purposes only. The content is not medical advice or guarantee of an outcome. You should always consult a doctor or qualified healthcare professional if you need further clarification and before making any changes to your treatment plans and lifestyle, or that of others.

Dr. YOU is a one-stop platform to address the health information needs of health consumers. Our goal is to arm people with the information necessary to make meaningful decisions regarding their health and nudge behavior change.

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