Improve Your Sleep Habits With These Simple (But Powerful) Science-Based Strategies

The following is adapted from a new best-selling book, The Habit Mechanic, by Dr. Jon Finn.

Good sleep habits are crucial for wellbeing and success. That’s because sleep helps maintain the hippocampus (or hippocampi—as there is one in each brain hemisphere), which is the main part of the human brain that produces new brain cells.

On top of this, good sleep habits are the foundation for better stress management; spending less time thinking unhelpful thoughts; being focused to drive productivity, creativity, and problem-solving; building and maintaining robust levels of confidence; performing well under pressure; and better leadership for improved individual and team performance.

In other words, good sleep habits are the foundation for work-life balance. So, if you want to improve mental health, wellbeing, performance, and leadership in work and life, it’s important to implement some specific strategies (which I’ll walk you through here) to improve your sleep.

Sleep is Like a Bank Balance

Think of your sleep like a bank balance. If you don’t put enough in at the end of each day or week, you’ll end up bankrupt. A lack of sleep has serious consequences for everyone, especially people focused on performing to their potential and people on whom others depend.

Scientists think sleep has two core functions. It removes toxins that build up in the brain during the day, and it consolidates memories and learning.

Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep, says: “We are socially, organizationally, economically, physically, behaviorally, nutritionally, linguistically, cognitively, and emotionally dependent upon sleep.”

Sleep deprivation has some obvious and surprising consequences. For example, lack of sleep makes it more difficult to learn and develop. Plus, poor sleep habits lead to higher stress levels, and inadequate sleep compromises our judgments and decision-making.

Riding the Sleep Elevator

It’s important to ensure that you get proper sleep quality and quantity. To help you understand more about sleep quality, you can use the “sleep elevator” metaphor. Your sleep elevator travels over five levels. You move up and down between the five levels as you sleep.

At level 5, you are awake. At level 4, you move from being awake into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In level 3, you move from REM sleep to “Stage 1 non-REM sleep.”

Level 2 moves you from Stage 1 non-REM sleep to “Stage 2 non-REM sleep.” Finally, in level 1, you move from Stage 2 non-REM sleep to “Stage 3 and Stage 4 non-REM sleep,” called “slow-wave sleep.”

As you sleep, you move up and down in your sleep elevator. You start at Level 5 and slowly move down to Level 1, then slowly back up to Level 4, and so on. It is natural to arrive back at Level 5 during the night, meaning you wake up.

The most difficult sleep to achieve is probably Level 1. But you should aim to visit Level 1 in your sleep elevator three or four times per night.

Our Sleep Quantity Needs Vary

Although everybody’s need for sleep varies, modern science suggests that, on average, 3–5-year-olds need 10–13 hours. 6–13-year-olds need 9–11 hours. If you’re aged 14–17, you need 8–10. If you’re between 18 and 64, modern science suggests you need 7–9 hours. And, if you’re over 65, you need 7–8 hours.

Of course, these are averages. And you are not average; you are unique. So, do some personal research to work out how much sleep you need to be at your best every day.

Personally, I think about an ideal target for the week (e.g., approximately 55 hours). This means if I have a bad night’s sleep, I can catch up at the weekend and also use power naps to top up my sleep during the week.

Now that you have an understanding of what kind of quality and quantity of sleep to aim for, it’s time to implement some strategies to improve your sleep. Because everyone is different, try each of these out and see what works best for you.

#1: Develop Consistent Sleep Patterns

The time you get up has an impact on the time you can go to sleep. If you oversleep one morning (e.g., Sunday morning), it might be difficult to fall asleep early that night (e.g., Sunday night).

Keeping regular sleeping habits is important for good, consistent sleep. As flexible work becomes the norm, this can be more challenging.

I know that consistency is not always possible, and sometimes it is helpful to sleep in (to recharge your brain batteries). But aiming to be consistent will give you a better chance of being consistent, and improving your sleep.

#2: Watch What You Drink

Data shows that consuming caffeine six hours before going to bed has a negative impact on sleep, making it more difficult to get down to Level 1.

Alcohol can also affect your sleep. Although alcohol can sometimes make you fall asleep quickly, be aware that it reduces sleep quality. This will potentially lead to poorer brain function, higher stress levels, and lower productivity levels the following day.

Surprisingly, caffeine and alcohol aren’t the only drinks that impact your sleep. A research study in adults showed that people who drank two glasses of sour cherry juice per day achieved an extra 34 minutes of sleep per night. This study claimed sour cherries contain high levels of melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleepiness.

#3: Monitor Your Tech Use

Checking social media and emails before bed can make you feel anxious. When you feel anxious, it can make it difficult to fall asleep and get good quality rest.

Along with causing anxiety, technology can affect your sleep in other ways. For example, the light produced from smartphones, tablets, or laptops can make your brain think it is daytime and stop the release of melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleepiness.

So I would recommend that you stop using these devices one hour before you go to bed. Also, avoid the temptation to use them when you’re in bed.

#4: Build the Right Environment

Humans are designed to sleep when it is dark and quiet and you feel calm. Make sure your bedroom and sleeping practices promote all three. For example, some people use eye masks to block out light and help them sleep.

Also, remember that what you sleep on will impact sleep quality. If you are sharing a bed with your partner, is it big enough? Is the mattress helping you secure a great night’s sleep? Take time to invest in the best possible solution.

Finally, when you’re considering your environment, think about the temperature. Sleep is triggered as body temperature reduces. If your bedroom is too hot, it will be difficult to fall asleep.

Taking a warm bath or shower before bed is a way to deliberately increase your body temperature and subsequently induce a sense of sleepiness as your body temperature drops afterward.

Creating a Getting-to-Sleep Routine

While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, implementing these strategies can significantly increase your chances of getting a great night’s sleep.

To maximize the effectiveness of these ideas, create a personalized getting-to-sleep routine that includes the strategies that are most useful to you. For example, perhaps you only have three caffeine drinks per day and stop drinking caffeine at 4 p.m. Maybe you also decide to drink sour cherry juice as part of your daily sleep routine.

On top of that, perhaps you stop using your phone, tablet, and laptop at least one hour before bedtime and don’t use these devices in bed. Then, you create a good sleep environment, including dimming the light and making sure your bedroom is set to the right temperature.

Bottom line, you can improve your sleep habits. It may take some experimentation, but it will pay off in the long run.

For more advice on how to consistently achieve high-quality sleep, you can find The Habit Mechanic here.