Sleep Hygiene - Part 1

To sleep well, you need to have your sleep pressure regulated.

If you don't remember what sleep pressure is and how important it is for good sleep, take a look at this link.

To regulate your sleep pressure, here are some golden tips!

If you already have these 3 habits and fully understand how they help with sleep, then it's up to you whether you want to continue reading this text or not. If you're curious, come with me!

Sleep 🛏 only as much as necessary to have energy during the following day.

Why does it help?

From the moment you wake up, you start building your sleep pressure. If by chance you decide to sleep much more than necessary on a given day (you know those weekend days when we stay in bed too long?), you'll probably take longer to feel sleepy again, affecting your following night's sleep.

How can I use this to my advantage?

Follow sleep restriction correctly. It consists of improving sleep by increasing the time you stay awake and reducing time in bed.

Although it's tiring in the short term, after the first few weeks of sleep restriction, you should feel more rested and be spending less time in bed.

Wake up at the same time ⏰ every day (including weekends!)

Why does it help?

Do you remember when we talked about Pavlov's conditioned dog training research?

This tip falls into the same category. Your body is continuously being trained on when to sleep and when to wake up. Going to sleep around the same time and waking up with an alarm at a fixed time has conditioning effects, so that over time, your body "learns" when to wake up and when to sleep.

Another explanation is that we have our biological clock programmed to function in 24-hour cycles (see more information here). Every time you decide to change the period of time you're sleeping, your body falls out of hormonal sync. Waking up at the same time always ensures that your body is aligned with the production period of the sleep hormone (melatonin) and the regulation of your body's mechanisms.

Similarly, every time you wake up at very different times, your body becomes dysregulated with the sleep hormone, making it harder to sleep on subsequent nights.

Will I have to do this for the rest of my life?

No! This is a matter of training and body alignment. While you're training and regulating your body, it's important to be somewhat strict, but once trained, things can be relaxed.

How long do I need to maintain this strictness?

We suggest you adopt this tip strictly during the CBT-I program until you feel your body is regulated (especially waking up at the right time), but ideally you would maintain this regularity for a subsequent period of 1 to 3 months, trying not to vary your wake-up time by more than 1 hour from one day to the next.

What if during the program I have commitments and want to go out at night?

No problem, the golden rule here is that it's more important to wake up at the same time than to go to sleep at the same time (after all, we have less control over when our body wakes up than when it falls asleep!). So even if you went to bed late on a given day, try to always wake up at the same time.

What if I'm very tired and decide to sleep a little longer, what do I do?

If you want to sleep an hour longer, that's fine, but you should delay your bedtime the following night by one hour. This way, you maintain constant sleep pressure for falling asleep.

Still, it's very important that you don't vary your wake-up time too much from one day to the next, after all, it's easier for you to regulate sleep pressure than to get in sync with your biological clock.

How can I use this to my advantage?

Just maintain consistency in your bedtime, and especially wake-up time, using an alarm clock! Just as bells helped dogs salivate, external sources, like the sound of an alarm, can be powerful allies in helping your body associate the sound with the time to wake up. This is also true for it to understand that if there's no sound, it's better to keep sleeping!

Exercise 🏃 regularly.

There is solid evidence that physical activity helps a person fall asleep faster, sleep longer, and sleep with better quality¹.

But there's still no consensus on what time of day you should exercise, as this varies depending on the type of physical activity, intensity, and the person's age.

That's why we encourage people to listen to their bodies to see how well they sleep in response to exercise.

Why does it help?

There's still no research that can understand exactly what mechanisms make physical activity improve sleep. Some research points to increased body temperature (during physical activity), others point to light exposure, and others even point out that exercise can also help stabilize mood and relax the mind².

However, the only real proof is that exercise does make the human body enter the deep sleep stages faster, which is when you rest the most.

But isn't exercising right before bed bad?

It's true that exercising very close to bedtime is not ideal, but that doesn't mean you necessarily need to exercise in the morning. Exercising in the evening is also possible as long as you respect some conditions:

• Aerobic exercise causes the body to release endorphins: these chemicals can create a level of brain activity that keeps some people awake. In this case, the recommendation is to exercise at least 1 to 2 hours before going to bed (or 4 hours if you tend to get very energized), giving time for endorphin levels to drop and for the "brain to calm down."
• As for the increase in body temperature, this depends on the intensity level of the physical activity, but the temperature usually drops after 30 to 90 minutes. The decline actually helps you fall asleep.

What type of exercise should I do?

Although most scientific sleep studies focus on aerobic activity, the general recommendation is to choose a physical activity that you enjoy and believe you'll have the most pleasure doing!

If you like going to the gym to lift weights or do yoga classes, they're already capable of increasing your heart rate, helping create the biological processes in the brain and body that contribute to better sleep quality.

How much exercise do I need to sleep better?

Here we wanted to conclude with good news!

Most research indicates that practicing 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise is already sufficient to notice a difference in sleep quality that same night! So don't worry, months or years are generally not needed to obtain this benefit.

Does less than 30 minutes also help?

Again, there are no studies focusing on the minimum time of physical activity to promote better sleep, especially because, as mentioned, the type of physical activity, intensity, and your age also play an important role in these considerations.

That's why the golden rule remains! Know your body and how you perceive that physical activity affects your sleep, since everyone responds a little differently.