When you think of hygiene what do you think of? Whether that be brushing your teeth, taking a shower, or even putting on deodorant. Your definition is self-explanatory. It is simply being clean. Well I am here to twist that vision. I am here to introduce you to the concept of sleep hygiene.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep hygiene is a variety of different practices and habits that are necessary to have good nighttime sleep quality and full daytime alertness. It’s so easy to be consumed by our day-to-day happenings, that we unintentionally neglect our bodies. And although these kind of conversations can become very redundant and mundane, and sometimes obvious, I am here to encourage you to take easy steps that eventually serve to improve your physical and mental health, and your overall quality of life.

I don’t need to be the one to tell you the importance of a well rested life because I am sure you are all very familiar. According to the the American Psychological Association (APA), most healthy adults are built for 16 hours of wakefulness, and 8 hours of sleep. However, this varies per person, some needing 10 hours of sleep in order to perform at their peak, while others only needing 7 hours. The APA also states that 40 percent of adults suffer from daytime sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a few days each month - with 20 percent reporting problem sleepiness a few days a week or more. This is harmful because when you aren’t well rested, you are statistically more likely to have a poorer diet, get into vehicular accidents, suffer academically, contract heart disease, suffer from depression and anxiety, and a have a weakened immune system. This list is literally endless.

Fortunately, there are simple, effective exercises that we can all do to improve our sleep hygiene, and in turn, the way we sleep and the way we live our lives.

It all comes down to having a healthy relationship with our bed - and there are certain things we shouldn’t be doing in bed, according to the Huffington post:

1. Eating: Solely for hygiene purposes, you should not be eating anything in bed. What you’re doing is training your brain to associate your bed for doing other things rather than sleeping.
2. Working: Working from bed — which 8 out of 10 young professionals and students do — it weakens “the mental association between your bedroom and sleep.”
3. Sweating: Optimal temperature for sleeping soundly is somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Using technology:

These glowing devices in our lives send out blue wavelengths of light, which can tamper with the natural release of sleep-promoting hormone melatonin. You should not be using any form of technology an hour before you go to sleep.

We need to start treating our brains like the psychological muscles that they are. Because by doing these things, you are associating your bed with doing other things beside sleeping. It is no wonder that our culture has a sleep-deprivation problem!

So I want you to visualize what your life can be when you enact good sleep hygiene habits into your life:

1. Daily productivity

The first sign of improvement is feeling less of a need to take afternoon naps. We rely so heavily on our afternoon naps to compensate for the lack of sleep we are getting nightly, that we often times end up falling into deep sleep; an intended 20 minute nap (which is the optimal nap length), can quickly become 3 to 4 hours, ultimately disrupting our nightly rest, and creating an unhealthy sleep schedule. A way to solve this problem is by setting alarms for naps and placing them on the opposite side of the room for the purpose of actually getting you up when you need to.

2. You get stuff done:

With good sleep hygiene, you help form a more productive day- having the energy and motivation to do things you wouldn’t normally do like, exercise, cook your meals, and maintain a cleaner and more organized lifestyle - for example you’ll probably notice that you’re folding your clothes rather than throwing them on the ground throughout the day or you'll notice that you are having an easier time accomplishing your daily tasks simply because you're prioritizing and delegating what needs to get done.

3. You watch your health improve

a. With productivity, comes the feeling of accomplishment, comes satisfaction, and in turn an improvement of your mental health. When you sleep well, your mind tends to follow.

b. With good sleep-hygiene habits, you have more energy, a higher likelihood of cooking your meals and exercising, and an overall improvement in physical health. You make wiser choices when it comes to your health choices.

So, I’d encourage you to start prioritizing your sleep. We are in the time in our lives where we get so little, that we unintentionally form harmful habits that have lasting consequences in our daily lives, simply because we think it’s normal. It isn’t and it shouldn’t be. Your sleep should be something you prioritize and deem worthy of your time. So take initiative, be intentional about your rest, and live better.