Night, Night, Sleep Tight! A Shuteye Primer
Do you get the recommended seven to nine hours of shuteye every night? If not, you’re not alone. In a 2020 poll, the National Sleep Foundation found that over 30 percent of adults don’t get enough sleep and feel sleepy during the day at least half the week.
“We actually sleep one hour less than people did 100 years ago,” says Dr. Daniel Barone, associate medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine and associate professor of Clinical Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Most of us average about six hours and change. That’s not enough. We’d all do well to make sleep a priority.”
Want to bump sleep up higher on your list of priorities and get more quality shuteye? Here are a few tips to get started.
Bedroom Matters
Thankfully, winning the struggle for good sleep is often a simple task. Start by reconsidering your bedroom environment.
- Invest in comfort. A good, supportive mattress and comfortable pillow are essential for healthy shuteye. Talk with family and friends for recommendations. When possible, try a few different options before buying.
- Keep it cool. Keeping your bedroom temperature at 60-67˚F helps promote sleep. Sleep better during summer months by running an AC unit or fan in your bedroom. Cooling sheets can help you avoid overheating.
- Pull the shades. A dark room is ideal for sleeping. It may also protect against other health conditions. A study found that people exposed to moderate amounts of light at bedtime were more likely to be obese and have diabetes and high blood pressure. So unplug anything that emits light and use blackout shades.
- Silence technology. Listening to the radio or television or scrolling through social media affects your sleep. Turn off all devices for better sleep. To block out noisy neighbors or other sounds that may wake you up, wear earplugs or turn on a fan or white noise machine.
Good Sleep, a Matter of Routine
Making healthy sleep your normal routine requires healthy routines.
“People are staying up too late,” Dr. Barone says. He adds, “Make sure you’re getting up at roughly the same time every day.”
To help your bedtime schedule go off without a hitch, pay attention to what you do the rest of the day.
- Cut off the caffeine. While caffeine can help you focus and feel energized during the day, this same effect makes sleep difficult. Because caffeine can affect you for up to six hours, avoid it in the hours leading to bedtime.
- Eat well. Eat healthily and avoid overeating, which can lead to weight gain, a risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea. Also, be sure to stop eating two or three hours before lying down.
- Maintain a sleep haven. “Your bedroom should be considered almost a holy place, a temple where you sleep,” Dr. Barone says. “Nothing should desecrate that temple outside of sleep. Don't be on your phone in bed, watch TV in bed or do computer work in bed. Use that space and time for sleep and sleep only.”
- Put down the bottle. Drinking beer or other alcoholic drinks can help you fall asleep. However, alcohol-assisted sleep isn’t all Zs. Drink your way to sleep, and you may wake up and struggle to fall asleep.
- Stop smoking. Smoking cigarettes can disrupt your sleep, leaving you frustrated and awake in the middle of the night. Smoking cessation counseling can help you stop.
- Work out regularly. Squeezing exercise into your daily routine improves your slumber. It may even help reduce symptoms of any sleep disorders you have.
Follow the Sun
For generations, everyone went to bed and woke up with the sun. Thanks to electricity and constant access to entertainment, it’s now possible to stay awake any time of the day or night, negatively affecting your sleep.
Dr. Barone suggests following the sun’s movements to sleep better. “When the sun goes down,” he says, “we should start winding down too.”
To do this, trade in your screens at nighttime for old-fashioned entertainment options. Good choices include:
- Listening to calm music
- Practicing meditation
- Reading a book or magazine
- Talking with a family member or friend
- Writing in a journal
When it’s time to get out of bed, open your bedroom shades if the sun is out. Better yet, go outside. The sunlight can let your brain know it’s time to wake up and get going.
On long, dark winter days, you may need extra help falling asleep and waking up. These tools may help.
- Bright light therapy box. A small box exposes you to bright light that imitates the sun. Use it during the winter, and it may help mitigate seasonal changes in sleep and also improve symptoms of seasonal affective disorder.
- Light-based alarm clock. Unlike most alarm clocks, a light-based alarm clock gradually gets brighter over a predetermined amount of time. This can help you wake up more easily on those cold, dark mornings.
Recognize Serious Sleep Issues
Sometimes, you do everything right, but you still lie awake for hours at night or wake up feeling unrested. This may be caused by a sleep disorder.
While each disorder is unique, common symptoms include the following:
- Daytime sleepiness that leads to sleeping when you should be awake
- Feeling unable to move when you first wake up
- Frequent nighttime waking and difficulty falling back asleep
- Snoring, gasping for air or making other odd sounds while sleeping that may make your partner consider a sleep divorce
- Taking 30 minutes or longer to fall asleep
- Tingling or creeping arm or leg sensations that resolve with movement
If you have any of the symptoms above, talk with your primary care provider to find out if you would benefit from seeing a sleep specialist. You can also connect directly with the Center for Sleep Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. There, sleep experts use state-of-the-art technology to diagnose and treat various sleep disorders so you get the restful sleep you need.
“Often,” Dr. Barone says, “sleep disorders can be treated successfully.”