Establishing a Good Sleep Routine

How does having a good sleep routine help your sleep quality?

A consistent, scheduled routine helps regulate your sleep drive so that you are ready at your preferred time of sleep. Without it, you may have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep despite being tired because your internal body clock is disrupted.

This box and the next few boxes will discuss the components for establishing a good sleep routine.

What are the key components of a good sleep routine?

1) Consistent bed-time AND wake-time: try to stay within an hour of that time every night and morning, including weekends.

Bed-time: The best schedule is one that allows you to go to bed when you are most likely sleepy and to awaken when you have had enough sleep. Think back over your history of sleep, when have you generally found it best to go to bed?
Wake-time: When do you feel best getting up in the morning? It may help to figure out your optimal wake-time and then, based on that, determine your bed-time by subtracting the 8-9 hours from there.

2) Optimal sleep length: Ideally, you should plan to sleep for 7-9 hours per night, consistent with recommended sleep guidelines for young adults.

For example: In this scenario, your bed time is 11:00pm and your wake-time is 7:00am. There is half an hour on either side of those times that you could fall asleep and wake up at while still maintaining your sleep routine (from 10:30-11:30pm and 6:30-7:30am).

A consistent bed-time and wake-time are not the only components of a good sleep routine. Your sleep/wake behaviors before bed time and during the day are also important factors.

3) Regular nighttime rituals:

Develop a sleep ritual with 30-60 minutes prior to bed-time to “wind down” by engaging in comfortable activities that help you decompress and focus on sleep (e.g. read a magazine/book, listen to music, meditate, take a warm shower).
This ritual can help to quiet the body by reducing the physiological arousal of being awake.
If you are tired before your bed-time, take measures to stay awake.

4) Limit technology:

Light from LED screens (e.g. laptop, smartphone, tablet, TV) tricks the sleep timer into thinking it’s daytime instead of time to sleep.
Sounds from these devices (e.g. alerts text messages) disrupt sleep as well.
Even if you sleep through these disturbances, they can make your sleep less restorative by shifting from deeper to lighter sleep.

5) Smart napping:

Napping can help you feel more alert and recover from a poor night’s sleep. The benefits of napping can be maximized by
- Having a brief, recharge sleep of 20-45 minutes OR going through a full sleep cycle of 90 minutes.
- Not sleeping too long to avoid disrupting your sleep clock. Naps should not exceed 90 minutes OR end later than 5pm.
- Trying to nap at the same time like your bed-time and wake-time
- Planning to engage in some invigorating activity after your nap and getting up right away to avoid napping too long.

6) Time management:

Sleep is often the first thing to get neglected when life is busy. To avoid being up late at night or all night working, plan ahead and avoid the temptation to underestimate the time things will take.
Minimize distractions. Consider distraction-blocking apps to help you stay on task.
Limit phone use and other technology. Schedule phone calls.
Break tasks down into smaller, manageable chunks. Then develop a plan to complete each chunk.
Set up rewards contingent on task completion to stay motivated.
Use timers to set up blocks of work.

7) How to handle being awake in bed if you can’t fall asleep:

Get out of bed after 20-30 minutes so that you do not associate being in bed with being awake and potentially stressed.
Engage in a non-stimulating, relaxing activity (e.g. reading).
Limit light exposure – remain in dim light and away from LED light and the lights of electronic devices.
Limit food and fluid intake.
Avoid substance use (i.e. alcohol).

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