How to Get Ready for Bed

Following a Before Bed Routine

Do not have caffeine four to six hours before your bedtime. Caffeine is a known stimulant that can be found in coffee, non-herbal teas, chocolate, soft drinks, diet drugs, and some brands of pain relievers. It takes your body awhile to process caffeine once you consume it. For example, if you drink a caffeinated beverage at 7 pm, about half of the caffeine will still be in your body by 11 am. To get a good night’s sleep, you should avoid consuming caffeine four to six hours before bed or try to eliminate caffeine from your diet completely. You should also cut down on the amount of alcohol you consume before bed. Limit your consumption to one to two drinks 1-2 hours before bedtime. Alcohol will only allow you to maintain a light sleep, causing you to possibly wake up and then have a harder time falling back asleep.

Shut down all electronics and distractions several hours before bed. Turn off your television, smartphone, iPad, and computer or keep all electronics in an area that is not your bedroom. These electronics emit a type of light from their screens that can stimulate your brain, reduce your brain’s ability to produce melatonin (which helps you sleep), and disrupt your body’s internal clock. Consider shutting down your computer on a schedule. This option will automatically sleep your machine and remind you to avoid working on your computer too late or too close to your bedtime. Your computer should have a sleep setting that you can activate and set for a certain time. Many computer sleep settings also allow you to set a startup time so your computer will automatically wake itself up in the morning.

Do a relaxing activity. Maybe you like to unwind by taking a warm bath, reading a chapter of a book, or talking about your day with your partner. Doing a relaxing activity can help your body to calm down and signal to your brain that it’s time to shut down and sleep. If you tend to toss and turn in bed at night, try to get up and go do a relaxing activity like reading or listening to music. This could then help you to fall back asleep.

Make your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. It can be difficult to get a good night’s sleep when your bedroom is loud, bright, and chaotic. Calm down your body and brain by putting up heavy curtains or shades to block out light from your windows. You can also cover any electronic displays like televisions or computers so the light from the screens does not cause a glow in your room. A sleep mask can also be useful to cover your eyes so you are not woken up by light. To keep your room cool, avoid putting space heaters in the room or using one heavy blanket. Instead, layer with blankets and sheets so you can shed layers when you get hot at night. If you have a hard time sleeping due to loud noises outside or a loud, snoring sleep partner, you may want to invest in good earplugs, or a noise machine.

Choose a comfortable sleep position. If you tend to snore at night, you may want to reduce your snoring by elevating your head with pillows. Use one to two pillows to raise your head four inches off the bed. This will help you to breathe properly as you sleep. You can also buy specially designed pillows to encourage proper breathing and relaxed neck muscles to reduce your snoring. Most people who sleep on their left or right side, with their legs bent towards their chest will not snore as much as people who sleep on their backs. Consider sleeping on your side rather than your back or your stomach to ensure your body is relaxed, comfortable, and breathing properly as you sleep. If you are pregnant, you should sleep on your left side with a body pillow and lots of supporting pillows. Lying down when you are pregnant should be done with care and awareness, as you do not want to put your body or baby at risk. Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about sleep positions during pregnancy. If snoring is an ongoing problem for you, then talk to your doctor. You might have sleep apnea, which can increase your risk for heart disease if left untreated.

Developing a Sleep Schedule

Go to bed at the same time every night. Maintain a regular sleep schedule by going to bed at the same time every night, even on the weekends or on your days off. This will ensure your internal sleep clock is set on a schedule that will make it easier for you to fall asleep at night. Though you may think that going to bed one hour later won’t affect your sleep schedule, any changes or shifts to your sleep schedule will have negative effects on your sleeping habits and can lead to oversleeping or a restless sleep. To avoid messing up your sleep schedule, you can set an alarm on your phone or computer to remind you it’s time for you to go to bed. Have your phone alert you 1 hour or 30 minutes before bedtime so you can prepare yourself for bed and stick to your sleep schedule. You can also set an alarm on your watch or ask the person you live with to give you a 1 hour heads up before bedtime.

Wake up at the same time every morning. Having a consistent wake up time every morning will also allow your body to adapt to your sleep schedule. To help maintain a set wake up time every day, you should avoid hitting the snooze button on your alarm or get rid of the snooze button completely. The snooze button will only throw off your wake time and throw off your sleep schedule. If possible, try to trigger your wake up time with lots of light. You could set a timer so the lights in your room turn on at your wake up time or the blinds in your bedroom go up. Exposure to light in the morning will help your body’s internal clock to reset itself every day and help you to avoid oversleeping.

Adjust your sleep schedule if you are traveling to a different time zone. If you are traveling to a different time zone, you will need to prepare your body for the time shift so you can get a good night’s sleep. It can take several days to a week for your body to adjust to a new time zone. If you are traveling eastward, you will likely experience more severe jet lag than when you are traveling westward. Traveling east requires you to shorten your day, making it more difficult for your internal clock to adjust to your new sleep schedule. Prepare your internal clock for the new time zone by getting seven to nine hours of sleep two to three days before your trip. If you are traveling west, you should adjust your sleep schedule by delaying your normal bedtime and wake time in 20-30 minute intervals. If you are traveling east, you should increase your normal wake time by 10 to 15 minutes a day two to three days before your trip and increase your normal bedtime by 10 to 15 minutes. To fight off jet lag and poor sleep in a new time zone, you should decrease your exposure to light when it’s time for bed and increase your exposure to light when it’s time for you to wake up. You should also spend more time outdoors so your body gets used to the light cues, such as the sun rising and falling, in your new time zone.

Maintaining a Full Night’s Sleep

Avoid napping after 3 pm. Napping before 3 pm will allow you to maintain your existing sleep schedule and not throw off your internal clock. Keep your naps between 10 to 30 minutes to prevent sleep inertia, which is when you feel groggy and disoriented when you wake up from a deep sleep. Naps any longer than 30 minutes and after 3 pm will likely throw off your internal clock and make it more difficult for you to go to sleep at night. It can also make it more difficult for you to wake up in the morning, leading to oversleeping.

Take sleeping pills only when necessary. If you struggle with getting to sleep or falling back asleep once you have woken up, you may depend on sleeping pills to get a good night’s rest. If you are taking sleeping pills for a short period of time and based on your physician’s recommendations, they may be useful. But they should only be a temporary solution for getting to sleep as sleeping pills can often make insomnia and other sleep issues worse in the long run. Only use sleeping pills for short periods of time and for specific situations, such as travel to a different time zone or recovery from a medical procedure. Taking sleep pills only when necessary, rather than daily, can also prevent you from becoming dependent on them. Make sure that you talk to your doctor before taking any medications to help you sleep. Your doctor will evaluate you to see if there are any underlying conditions, before prescribing treatment. Medical illness, stress, and psychological issues can affect your sleep.

Do not take over-the-counter medications that can lead to insomnia and sleep issues. Many over-the-counter medications have side effects that can negatively affect your sleep patterns. Common medications that can disturb your sleep include: Nasal decongestants. Cold and allergy medications containing an antihistamine. Aspirin and other headache medications. Pain relievers that contain caffeine. If you are taking any of these medications, try to reduce your dosage or switch to medications that do not have side effects that lead to interrupted sleep patterns. You can also research alternative methods to treat your condition so you no longer need to take these over-the-counter medications.