South Africa: Why Your Efforts to Improve Your Sleep May Be Keeping You Awake
[Daily Maverick] Sleep hygiene is one of the first things we reach for when we battle to get to bed. Yet, it is often undoing our coping with sleep loss that makes the biggest difference.
Sleep hygiene is often one of the first things people try when they struggle to fall asleep. However, it may be making sleep problems worse instead of better. Sleep hygiene is the idea of having a consistent bedtime routine - avoiding caffeine, not using screens before bed, exercising, or meditating. Many people think this is good advice, but often it doesn't help much with sleep troubles.
The term "sleep hygiene" was invented by Dr. Peter Hauri when he wrote the first rules of sleep hygiene. It sounds sterile and cold, just like the sleep remedies it suggests. So why does sleep hygiene seem to have little effect on getting a good night's rest? We might divide sleepers into two types: good sleepers and bad sleepers.
Good sleepers can have coffee after dinner, watch a scary movie, brush their teeth, and fall asleep instantly. But bad sleepers find their routine frustrating and easily disrupted. One small change in routine can send them spiraling into insomnia.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica Health's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
