5 Micro Habits For Better Sleep Hygiene
The famous Canadian writer and Leadership expert Robin Sharma in his bestseller ‘’The 5 Am Club’’ says,
“Take excellent care of the front end of your day, and the rest of your day will pretty much take care of itself. Own your morning. Elevate your life.”
All great and successful men are known to follow some amazing morning routine. My first thought after reading this book was to form an 8 PM Club so that one can join a 5 Am club. A minimum of 6 hours of quality sleep is a prerequisite to waking up early and reaping the benefits. Books are like lighthouses; they stand there and show us the way. We must reach the safe shores with our own efforts.
According to the ancient science of Ayurveda, one should wake up a little before sunrise and go to sleep by 10 Pm.
Who doesn’t love to wake up with the fragrance of a steaming cup of coffee, a few minutes of meditation, a relaxed morning walk, or a run on the treadmill first thing in the morning?
Most of our morning schedules are set in such a way that we make maximum use of our day in a productive way. Now we all realize time is more valuable than money. No one wants to waste a single minute. Our mornings are like ‘get up, dress up, and show up’.
Our days are packed with activities and deadlines to meet. In this run, we don’t notice the natural rhythm of our body the Circadian cycle. A healthy Circadian rhythm needs our body to follow a regular sleep-wake pattern. After 8 or 12 hours of hectic work, our body and mind need rebooting which is provided by a deep and invigorating sleep for a minimum of 6 hours.
Even after finishing the day’s work, we don’t slow down and call it a day! We continue to remain in work gear mode and fall asleep carrying the stress and burden of the day.
What we are thinking at the moment of falling asleep continues to play behind our minds even during sleep. This affects the quality of our sleep. We may even wake up with nightmares in the middle of our sleep.
Those who don’t get good sleep at night wake up in the morning tired and exhausted. Forget about any particular morning routines; they just drag themselves to yet another working day. Eventually, they get anxiety and other health problems due to sleep deprivation.
When the quality of sleep is compromised, we are compromising the quality of our waking hours.
Here are five simple habits to cultivate good sleep hygiene.
1. Unwind
Unwind with our dear ones at home once we are back to our nests in the evening or any time after work.
I have the habit of listening to bird calls when I go to the hills for my evening walks. These birds wake up with the sun and come back to their nests before sunset. They indulge in intimate and deep bird calls once they reach their nests. These shrill whistles fall silent after sunset.
I love to imagine the birds sharing the happenings of the day with their loved ones after returning to their nests. Isn’t it a beautiful practice to follow? A lovely lesson from nature!
Unlike birds, we have many more ways to unwind. Maybe slow-cook your dinner after some yoga stretches.
I love to slow cook my dinner on some evenings to unwind totally. The food reveals its inner self during these moments.
2. Have a light dinner.
Have your dinner two or three hours before your sleep.
Scientific studies show the ideal time to have dinner is between 5 Pm and 6 pm. Because human metabolism is at its peak during this time. Higher metabolism makes it easy on our digestive system and it can relax during sleep.
Ayurveda suggests ‘shatapaavli ‘’ means take 100 steps after every meal. An old Malayalam proverb suggests walking half a mile after dinner. A light-paced walk of 15 minutes after dinner is very helpful for good sleep and also aids in weight control.
3 . Keep a night journal
Write down everything that happened during the day. Write all those things which were snubbed and unspoken. Let it flow. Now you can dispose of this writing in the bin.
Take a warm shower. Feel yourself cleansed of the grime, dust, and stress of the day. For soft and glowing skin pamper your body with moisturizers if you like them. Washing your feet before sleep itself is good sleep hygiene.
4 . Practice bed zazen for five minutes.
Zazen is the zen practice of sitting quietly with a silent mind. Sit with an upright spine supported on a cushion or bed, and keep your eyes half-opened.
Things will unfold as they are around you. You will hear the dogs barking, and the screeching sound of vehicles or you may even witness a star-lit sky. Just listen. Don’t interpret. Sit quietly and melt into awareness.
Zazen is one of my favorite meditations.
5. Have pleasant thoughts before sleeping.
It is better to have a still mind with no thoughts before going to sleep. Having a still mind is next to impossible. Our choice is to have some pleasant thoughts at bedtime.
Remember the days when children were told bedtime stories by Grandma?
When I was small my Grand Pa was very fond of narrating ghost stories at night which had a terrible effect on my sleep for a long time.
Pick a good book for reading or listen to some relaxing music before sleeping.
“To book your next dream, read before bed!”
― Nanette L. Avery
Even with all these precautions, you may still have dreams and nightmares.
Just like thoughts appear during day time, you have no control over your dreams during sleep. So, allow them to come and go. Don’t try to recreate them after waking up.
“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end” — Robin Sharma
Let us all hope to become gorgeous at the end by adapting these micro habits into our beautiful evenings.
