Blog Post 21: More Healthy Sleep Habits

Given how many people suffer from insomnia, we want to devote another post to healthy sleep. Believe it or not,  33% to 50% of the adult population experience intermittent or constant insomnia symptoms! You are not alone in your suffering, and the good news is there are a lot of great strategies to experiment with, as we discussed in our last post. 

Interestingly, according to the Sleep Foundation, women have a lifetime risk of insomnia that is as much as 40% higher than that of men. Perimenopause and menopause play a role. As women age into their late 40s to early 50s, the number of women reporting sleep complaints rises! Sleep affects our mental and physical functioning, our ability to fight disease and develop immunity, and for Type C - our ability to control our emotions and behavior. So, it’s worth the effort to improve sleep quality as much as possible!

Here are a few more sleep strategies worth trying:

•  Don’t wear a sleep tracker. Research shows they are not accurate, and can make you worry more about sleep

• Turn phone notifications off for bedtime; put phone across the room; if possible, try not to look at the phone 20 to 30 minutes before bedtime

• No naps, no caffeine (coffee or tea) after noon, limit alcohol

• Regular wakeup and bedtime throughout the week

• Increase daylight during the day and darkness at night

• Stay out of bed unless ready to go to sleep; use bed only for sleeping or sex

• Be more active during the day - exercise, take stairs, walk more, use a standing desk

• Keep your bedroom temperature comfortably cool 

• Make unwinding at the end of the day a priority. Stop the to-do list. Give yourself an activity that lets your adrenaline levels drop, like reading, listening to an audio book or a crossword puzzle. These are actively relaxing -- unlike TV or phone scrolling, which are fine activities for earlier in the evening before you begin your winddown routine