Adults between the ages of 18 and 60 should get seven or more hours of sleep per night, but about 35% of adults in a 2020 survey reported sleeping less than that. The number is higher for high schoolers on both ends – teens should get eight to 10 hours of sleep, but almost 80% said they received less, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Sleep is important no matter your age. If you’re looking to improve your nighttime habits and feel well-rested, here’s everything you need to know about managing sleep hygiene:
What is sleep hygiene?
Sleep hygiene is a set of recommendations to form healthy habits for sleep. When you say you have good sleep hygiene, you’re following those guidelines and avoiding behavior that prevents a good night’s rest.
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Why is sleep hygiene important?
Not only is it important to get seven to eight hours of sleep per night, but it’s also critical to have good quality sleep, says Dr. Hal Alpert, a board-certified sleep medicine specialist.
Developing healthy sleeping habits is a critical step toward getting this quality snooze time.
“The most common reason for people to be tired and sleepy is that they’re not allowing themselves adequate sleep time,” Alpert says. “They’re not scheduling it.”
For night owls, especially students up late studying or socializing, it may seem logical to just sleep in on the weekend. But playing catch up with sleep is disrupting the healthy habits needed for good sleep hygiene, Alpert says.
“It takes almost two weeks to really make up for a sleep deficit like that,” Alpert says.
How to improve your sleep hygiene
Improving sleep hygiene doesn’t just happen at bedtime – your pre-bedtime rituals and daily routine can affect your sleep greatly.
1. Stay consistent
Consistency is key: a regular bed and wake-up time can help set your biological clock to become sleepy at the same time every day.
Alongside this, Alpert recommends limiting any daytime naps to a total of 30 minutes. Lengthy naps can cause your body to not …….
