There are many aspects of our lives that effect our sleep and, ultimately, our health. Diet, exercise, and sleep hygiene are the more common and easily adjusted factors of restful sleep.
Our diet impacts sleep quality and duration. Eating too close to bedtime can lead to sleep disruptions. Findings by the University of Michigan1 suggest that earlier timing of eating or drinking in relation to bedtime – between 4 and 6 hours – increases the likelihood of our best sleep.
Caffeine is notorious for making it more difficult to fall asleep. Caffeine can block different adenosine receptors in the brain.2 Caffeine can increase alertness by blocking the A1 receptor, which promotes sleepiness when activated. Therefore, most health experts recommend avoiding caffeine prior to sleeping to promote our natural cycle of sleepiness.
Turn off your screens more than an hour before bed. Experts3 noted that lighted screens, specifically from smartphones, adversely affects sleep duration and sleep quality. Longer average screen-time can cause shorter sleep duration and worse sleep-efficiency. Longer average screen-times during bedtime and the sleeping period can cause poor sleep quality, decreased sleep efficiency, and longer sleep onset latency. By allowing our brain to rest from screens close to sleep time, we are signaling to our brain that it is time to rest.
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1. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114521003597
2. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-006-0341-3
3. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165331