Guide to Good Sleep

“Sleep like a baby”, as the saying goes. Ha! Most babies don’t sleep that well, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get a good night’s sleep. Most of us have picked up bad sleep habits throughout our lives that disrupt our body’s natural signal for sleep, especially over the last two decades with the development of cell phones and laptops. Good sleep habits are called sleep hygiene.

Some good sleep habits are intuitive, but we don’t really think about it. First of all, only sleep when you actually feel tired or sleepy. Only use the bed for sleep and sex. Make sure the bedroom is comfortable – not too hot and not too cold (just like Goldilocks). Sleep on a regular schedule, even on weekends and during vacations. If you can’t fall asleep after 20 minutes, get up and do something else so that you won’t associate whatever is keeping you up at night with the bed. Another tried and true sleep recommendation is to avoid napping during the day, even though it may be appealing. Napping will throw you off your sleep schedule.

The following are some ideas that you may not have considered. Avoid using the phone or computer and do not watch TV for 2 hours before sleep. The light from these screens wakes up your brain. If you just can’t give those up (I can’t either!) you can wear polarized sunglasses while engaging in those activities. Hey, you may look funny but it cuts down by half those lights that are keeping you awake. Just don’t trip and hurt yourself.

Avoid caffeine and nicotine 4-6 hours before sleep. They are stimulants and will definitely keep you awake, unless you are one of those rare people who can fall asleep right after drinking espresso. Also avoid alcohol at night since it interrupts the quality of sleep. I am not saying to avoid alcohol altogether, but try not to drink every night.

Try a few of these ideas and see how much better you sleep at night!

Dr. Zhang is a Family Medicine physician and works at Whole Family Integrative Health. In addition to traditional medicine she is also trained in Integrative medicine and is currently a Fellow under the direction of Dr. Andrew Weil.

She is accepting new patients, has evening and weekend hours available, accepts most private insurances and is in the Fox Valley Medicine HMO group. She also has hospital privileges at Rush- Copley Medical Center.