Prioritise sleep in your life

Our fast-paced “24x7” culture prioritises being awake and productive, pushing us to accomplish as much as we can. When things get busy and we need to make cutbacks in our lives, sleep is often the first thing to go. Perhaps we even think of ourselves as “lazy” for feeling tired or needing to get a full night’s rest.

We can’t live without sleeping and we spend nearly a third of our entire lives doing it. Yet few of us pay attention to the phenomenon of sleep or recognise its profound effect on our personal health and wellbeing. But research is showing more and more that healthy sleep is a vital component of a flourishing life.

In fact, sleep is as essential as food, and creating healthy sleeping patterns is just as important as following a nutritious, vitamin-rich diet. Learning to prioritise sleep in your life, creating healthy sleeping patterns and effectively managing sleep-related disorders can have a powerful effect on your overall wellbeing.

How to improve sleep
The good news is there are steps you can take to improve your sleep. The most important sleep hygiene measure is to maintain a regular wake and sleep pattern seven days a week. It is also important to spend an appropriate amount of time in bed, not too little, or too excessive. This may vary by individual.

Good sleep hygiene practices include:
Avoid napping during the day. It can disturb the normal pattern of sleep and wakefulness.
Associate your bed with sleep. Keep the laptop, phones and TV on their tables. The bed is for sleeping.
Ensure adequate exposure to natural light to maintain a sleep-wake cycle.
Stay away from large meals close to bedtime. Also dietary changes can cause sleep problems, if someone is struggling with a sleep problem, it's not a good time to start experimenting with spicy dishes.
Exercise can promote good sleep. Vigorous exercise should be taken in the morning or late afternoon.
Avoid stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol too close to bedtime.

By Dr Ramana Prasad V Velamuru