10 ‘Harmless’ Nighttime Habits That Are Secretly Ruining Your Sleep

We know the importance of habits.Many people try to develop good habits, such as eating healthier, reading more or sleeping more.

Unfortunately, sometimes we unintentionally set ourselves up for failure – especially when it comes to sleep.We don’t always realize that some of the things we do before bed can actually make us sleep worse.

Here are the habits to avoid:

1.Bedtime procrastination

We all lead busy lives and sometimes we can’t get our to-do lists done during the day.To make up for this, we try to catch up in the evenings.

Dr. Ashwini Nadkarni, an assistant psychiatrist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, said it increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and may have contributed to overall poor sleep quality.

Many people will use the last few minutes of the day to “catch up” on work, not only on work matters but also on family matters.

For example, in the last 30 minutes before bed, people might write down chores they need to complete, obligations they need to fulfill for their children, or respond to work emails they may have missed.This may feel like a way to relax, but in reality, it can trigger nighttime rumination and excitement about extra plans for the next day, which in turn affects sleep latency and reduces overall sleep quality.

2.Drinking before bed

We know that having a little bit of your favorite alcoholic beverage sounds like the perfect way to relax at the end of a long day, but it could also be the reason you can’t fall asleep.

Chelsie Rohrscheib, a sleep specialist and neuroscientist at Wesper, an at-home tool for diagnosing sleep disorders and improving sleep, says that while alcohol initially has a sedative effect, problems arise as alcohol is metabolized in the liver and broken down into new chemicals.

Alcohol breaks down into a chemical that affects the sleep centers of the brain, preventing deep sleep and rapid eye movement sleep, making you more restless in the second half of the night and causing frequent awakenings.

In addition, alcohol causes increased urination, so you may need to get up more often to go to the bathroom.Rohrscheib recommends having your last drink at least three to four hours before bedtime.

3.Interacting with technology

Even though we know we shouldn’t, it’s hard to resist picking up our cell phones, iPads or laptops while lying in bed.However, Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a double board-certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine physician, encourages people to give it a try.

These screens are both bright and blue-lighted, and are interactive to promote arousal.

Reading is better for sleep than playing on your smartphone until the last minute.In addition to helping you fall asleep earlier, avoiding interactions or stimulating stimuli before bedtime can also help deepen sleep throughout the night, as your brain begins to slow down just before bedtime.

Martin Reed, a certified clinical sleep health educator, adds that this also includes watching TV in bed.When we watch TV in bed, we can train ourselves that the bed is a place to watch TV, not a place dedicated to sleep.Additionally, watching TV at night can lead to continuous viewing – especially when watching Netflix programs, which tend to autoplay the next episode at the end of one – which can delay bedtime and reduce sleep.

Finally, if you can’t avoid looking at screens altogether, Dr. Deepti Agarwal, Director of Interventional and Comprehensive Pain Management at Case Integrative Health, suggests that you purchase a good pair of blue-light glasses.

If you don’t like wearing glasses, there are plenty of screen protectors or phone apps that block blue light.Then you can enjoy your favorite relaxing shows and avoid any negative impact on your sleep.

4.Doomsday Rolling

The act of swiping refers to the constant browsing of social media for bad news.But before screen-watching, people spend hours watching the news on TV.Both screen-swiping and “screen-watching” are bad for your mental health, but they can also affect your sleep.

Reading news updates two hours before bedtime can seriously disrupt sleep.

Today’s dreaded news cycle is a good example of a habit that can make falling asleep much more difficult.If we walk straight away from the intense emotional stimulation of breaking news and all the worry it triggers in our already overactive minds and lie down to try to fall asleep, we’re likely to lie down and not sleep.

5.Evening exercise

It’s generally recommended to avoid strenuous exercise at least 90 minutes before bedtime.While many people choose late-night workouts to “wear themselves out,” according to certified sleep science coach Stephen Wright, these workouts can keep people awake all night.

Avoid workouts that make you sweat an hour before bedtime.These workouts can be cardio, weight lifting or high intensity interval training.If you feel the need to burn some extra energy, you can opt for workouts such as Pilates, yoga or evening walks.Exercises that focus on relieving muscle tension can help you avoid aches and pains that make you wake up in discomfort.

6.No relaxation habits

To get a good night’s sleep, you need to be prepared, which means you need to get into the habit of relaxing and going to bed.Carrie Prendergast, a certified sleep science coach and sleep specialist, says that relaxation habits are important to get the mind and body ready for relaxation and optimal sleep.

Finding a relaxing habit will help the brain produce melatonin, which ultimately leads to sleep.People may need to get into the habit of going to bed at approximately the same time each night.This helps establish a circadian rhythm – the body’s sleep-wake cycle.Other soothing activities can include taking a warm bath, skin care, and reading a book.

7.Eat high sugar foods

It’s a good idea to avoid foods before bedtime that cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly.

When you have a rapid rise in blood sugar, once it is eliminated from your system, it can lead to a sudden drop in blood sugar.A sudden drop in blood sugar usually leads to hypoglycemia, which can wake you up in the middle of the night.If you need a snack before bed, then eat something with a low glycemic index, like oats, which will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the night.

8.Overheating

It may be tempting to crank up the heat or turn off the air conditioning, but overheated temperatures can harm the quality of your sleep.The brain and body need a slightly lower temperature to get to sleep and stay asleep.

When we feel too hot, our bodies have to work harder to cool down and stay cool, which is very bad for sleep.Try to keep your bedroom temperature between 66 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.During the summer months, use cooling techniques such as fans, opening windows, or using cooling pads to reduce the likelihood of overheating.

9.Stay in bed too long

The amount of sleep we allocate should be about the same as the average amount of sleep we get each night.This means that if you usually sleep about seven hours a night, it’s best not to allocate more than seven and a half or eight hours in bed.

Many people who have trouble sleeping allocate too much sleep in order to get more sleep.This sounds logical – after all, if you spend more time in bed, the more chances you have to sleep.

However, if you already have a hard time falling asleep, spending more time in bed may be counterproductive.

If you already have a hard time falling asleep, then spending more time in bed will only lead to an increase in the amount of time you’re awake, not the amount of time you’re asleep.This can lead to more tossing and turning at night and more worry, stress and anxiety associated with being awake.Over time, a connection is made between bed, worry and wakefulness instead of sleep and relaxation.This can make sleep more difficult.

10.Using the bedroom as an office

Finally, doubling your bedroom as an office space may cause you to have sleepless nights.

When we think of the bedroom as an office, we associate sobriety with awakening.Our beds are supposed to be a cue for sleep, so working in bed can weaken that connection.If you work in bed all day, you may have a harder time falling asleep because you may not be able to turn off your “work brain”.