WASHINGTON — Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to our overall health. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you may need to examine your sleep hygiene.
Health and wellness coach Rachelle Cannon talked about what you need to do to get a good night’s sleep.
First, you need to take a look at your bedroom to determine whether the room is conducive to sleeping well.
“You want the temperature down to around 68 degrees — a good cool temperature. You want it dark; have room darkening shades, if you need. Also, low light — not big, bright light. And electronics either turned off or turned down,” she says.
Mood music can also aid with relaxation, in addition to a properly fitted mattress and pillow.
Cannon says you can help your children prepare for a restful night with the same habits.
“Take the time to make sure that their room is cool, turn down the lights to be low … and take some time to read with them,” she says. “Kids enjoy that bonding time, and reading is a type of relaxation technique that works for a lot of adults and can definitely help with a lot of kids.”
If you’re feeling tired during the day, a power nap may be a good idea — as long as you do it correctly.
“When I say ‘correctly,’ I mean that we set an alarm for no more than 20 to 30 minutes … knowing that the purpose is not to get into a deep sleep, but to just slow down, let our body and brain do what it can to just relax for a moment,” Cannon explains.
It may be also be beneficial to keep a sleep diary, writing down things like what time you fell asleep, how long you think it took you to fall asleep, what time you woke up and how you felt about the quality of your rest.
Cannon says fitness trackers are another good way to keep track of your sleep patterns.
“They do a great job of showing you, in general, how long before you took to fall asleep, the number of times that you were restless — which is normal, our bodies naturally shift during the night,” Cannon said.
