How to Get Better Sleep

Once you fall asleep, learning how to stay asleep is important for your body and mind. Sleeping too little is associated with health risks and impaired brain function.¹ Here are the key ways to get a better quality of sleep.

• 

  Move Your Body

  People who have high levels of recreational physical activity tend to have deeper, higher-quality sleep than those who don’t or are just very active in their house or lifestyle.² This means cleaning up the house doesn’t necessarily make for better sleep, but playing a round of tennis or walking the dog at a brisk pace could improve your depth of sleep.

• 

  Choose Comfort

  Sleeping on a worn-out mattress can negatively affect the quality of your sleep.³ Even when you can fall asleep quickly, the depth of sleep is what determines a fresh wake-up or a groggy start. Try out several mattresses and choose the one the best fits your body’s comfort needs.

• 

  Maintain Sleep Hygiene

  Your teeth and skin aren’t the only things that require hygienic practices. The quality of your rest depends on hygiene, too.⁴ To get your best sleep, stay well-hydrated throughout the day. Find the balance between avoiding thirst and drinking so much water that it may wake you at night. Limit noise in your bedroom and incorporate white noise if necessary to eliminate surprising outdoor noises. Keep a pen and paper next to your bed to jot down anything you might worry about later to avoid feeling anxious in bed.

• 1

  Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society Consensus Conference Panel. Nathaniel F. Watson, MD, MSc, Moderator; M. Safwan Badr, MD; Gregory Belenky, MD; Donald L. Bliwise, PhD; Orfeu M. Buxton, PhD; Daniel Buysse, MD; David F. Dinges, PhD; James Gangwisch, PhD; Michael A. Grandner, PhD, MSTR, CBSM; Clete Kushida, MD, PhD; Raman K. Malhotra, MD; Jennifer L. Martin, PhD; Sanjay R. Patel, MD, MSc; Stuart F. Quan, MD; Esra Tasali, MD.

• 2

  Consistently High Sports/Exercise Activity Is Associated with Better Sleep Quality, Continuity and Depth in Midlife Women: The SWAN Sleep Study. Christopher E. Kline, PhD; Leah A. Irish, PhD; Robert T. Krafty, PhD; Barbara Sternfeld, PhD; Howard M. Kravitz, DO, MPH; Daniel J. Buysse, MD; Joyce T. Bromberger, PhD; Sheila A. Dugan, MD; and Martica H. Hall, PhD.

• 3

  Quantitative effects of mattress types (comfortable vs. uncomfortable) on sleep quality through polysomnography and skin temperature. Hyunja Lee, Sejin Park.

• 4

  Relationship of Sleep Hygiene Awareness, Sleep Hygiene Practices, and Sleep Quality in University Students. Franklin C. Brown, PhD; Walter C. Buboltz Jr, PhD; Barlow Soper, PhD.