Your daily activity impacts how you sleep
If you’re having frequent sleepless nights, how you spend your days might be the main culprit. Johns Hopkins sleep expert Rachel Salas, M.D. outlines some key ways you can improve your daytime activity to help with a better night’s sleep:
Morning routine: Make sure you wake up at the same time each day. This includes weekends and holidays.
Breakfast with a side of sun: Your first meal in the early hours while you’re getting ready for work or school plays a big role in setting the tone for your day. Dr. Salas suggests that you eat your breakfast by a window or outdoors if it’s nice weather — the sunlight can actually help reset your body’s circadian clock.
Exercise: Dr. Salas recommends that you try to fit in a workout during your lunch break. An early morning workout might mean you lose some precious sleep while people who exercise within three hours of their bedtime might stay up too late. Lunch workouts offer the best midday break.
Put down the coffee: Stop your coffee consumption by 4 p.m. If you’re particularly sensitive to caffeine, you might have to have your last cup by noon. It can affect you four hours or more after consumption, so make sure it provides an early boost to your day versus keeping you up at night.
Take a nap: If you have the opportunity at the office or at home, try to squeeze in a nap before 3 p.m. Naps should be 30 minutes or less.
Dim your lights: Use a dimmer on lamps and overhead lights — if it’s too bright, your brain will think it’s still daylight.
Bedtime behaviors: Be sure to turn off any mobile devices or laptops 30 minutes before heading to bed. The blue light emitted from these devices can affect your ability to actually fall asleep. It might also be helpful to have a light snack like yogurt before falling asleep, this can curb late-night bouts of hunger. As with the morning wake-up routine, stick with the same bedtime. If this is too hard, try not to have it vary by more than an hour night-to-night.