Sleep is vital for physical and mental wellbeing and I’ve also read that quality sleep is an important component of weight loss. A few months ago I read an article about Sleep Hygiene (read more here) and it gave me much food for thought. Sleep hygiene is a variety of different practices and habits that are necessary to have good nighttime sleep quality and full daytime alertness.

Sleep was never an issue for me, my head would hit the pillow and the next conscious thought I had was when the alarm clock would ring. Not so in recent years, it could be an age thing, perhaps it’s health thing! I can usually fall asleep without too much difficulty but I can wake after an hour or two and can’t get back to sleep again.

Having read about sleep hygiene, I believe the greatest contributors to my sleep disruption is poor routine and overuse of technology. And so week four’s habit are chosen with the aim to improve my sleep quality.

The habits I hope to adopt starting this week come in two parts. Firstly, I have decided I will turn of my phone and computer etc. by 9pm and not bring it to the bedroom at bedtime. Also to establish a routine I will begin preparing for bed around 10pm with an aim to have the lights out before 11pm wherever possible. By adopting these habits, I hope to have time to wind down before bedtime and establish good sleep hygiene.

Last weeks inclusion of 2 litres of water per day went well. I have a  1 litre bottle and I try and drink one by lunch time and another before bedtime. It is helpful to be able to measure my progress throughout the day using the water bottle and so far it hasn’t been too difficult.

Week 1: Eat fruit and/or vegetables at every meal or snack
Week 2: Exercise of 15 minutes per day
Week 3: Drink 2 litres of water per day and go easier on the voices in my head!
Week 4: Turn off technology at 9pm and start preparing for bed by 10pm, lights out by 11pm wherever possible.

Coming up next week….a month in progress report!