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12 Tips for a Better Night’s Sleepby Gyandev McCord
from Yoga Therapy for Overcoming Insomnia, by Peter Van Houten, M.D., and Gyandev Rich McCord (Crystal Clarity, Publishers) |
- Exercise for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. Brisk walking is fine; exercising harder is even better.
- Avoid naps, especially late in the day, even if you are sleepy. Naps can make you less ready for sleep at bedtime.
- Avoid hot baths or vigorous exercise within 3 hours of bedtime; get your vigorous exercise earlier in the day. (A hot bath might make it easy to go to sleep, but the quality of your sleep may suffer.)
- Make your bedroom a beautiful, comfortable space. Reserve your bed (and entire bedroom, if possible) for sleep and sex only; go elsewhere to watch TV, read, pay bills, work at your computer, chat, use the phone, etc. (Hint: Leave your cell phone elsewhere—turned off—unless you’re awaiting an urgent call.)
- Choose a bedtime and an awakening time that fit your lifestyle and provide adequate sleep. Then, stick with these times faithfully—especially the awakening time—even when you haven’t slept your usual amount. Your “body clock” will adjust to help you feel like sleeping when it’s time to sleep, and awakening when it’s time to awaken.
- Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and stimulating drugs—completely if possible, but especially within 6 hours of bedtime.
- Turn off the TV and computer at least an hour before bed. Such bright light sources encourage your body to be alert and your mind engaged.
- If you need a bedtime snack, make it small: a banana or warm milk will promote sleep. Avoid starchy carbohydrates, sweets, spicy foods, and too much fluid.
- Practice quiet, relaxation, and contentment in your thoughts and movements as you prepare for sleep.
- Make your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet at bedtime. You can mask noise with a “sound generator,” a fan, or a radio tuned to white noise.
- If your bedroom has a clock with a lighted face, turn it away from you so you won’t “watch the clock” if you awaken at night.
- Soon after awakening in the morning, get some bright light exposure. 30–45 minutes is ideal; if sunlight isn’t available, use bright artificial light (ideally, from full-spectrum bulbs).
Yoga Therapy for Overcoming Insomnia offers brief, effective yoga routines for overcoming insomnia, plus more sleeping tips and explanations of why the above tips can help you. (Book)
Gyandev’s CD Ease into Sleep teaches you a number of brief, easy practices that have helped many people go to—or go back to—sleep. You learn them via the CD, but don’t need the CD always to guide you (although many people prefer to).