Beds Are for Sex and Sleep Only

On Sleep Hygiene

Author photo. 2024.

What is sleep hygiene and why is it important to maintain? Sleep hygiene describes good sleep habits. If I don’t get enough, which often happens during a depressive episode, my day will likely be a bad one. I don’t usually have trouble falling asleep because I take prescribed sleep medication. However, it doesn’t always work even if I take it at the same time every night.

What I mainly have trouble with is staying asleep. It’s normal for me to get up once in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and I always fall right back to sleep. But during those depressive episodes, even if I go to bed at ten p.m., I wake up between one and three a.m. And then I’m up. Can’t fall back asleep. Wide awake.

When this happens, my doctor said not to stay in bed only to toss and turn, but to get up and go about my day. This isn’t always easy during these periods because I rely on routine to keep mentally well. Waking up in the middle of the night is a disruption of that, and most people know that not getting enough sleep isn’t good.

My therapist suggested listening to a sleep meditation, which has helped, but it wakes up my husband so that was the end of that.

Here are some things I do to make sure I get a good night’s sleep:

• Use the bed for sleep and sex only. I never take my laptop to bed with me at night or during the day. I either work in the living room or at my desk.

• Stop watching TV or using any devices at least an hour before bed. I’ll admit this one is challenging for me, especially because I use my phone’s alarm so I take it to bed. But I set it on sleep mode, and only texts/calls from family will come through.

• I don’t like to sleep right after a meal anyway, so I stop eating by eight p.m. at the latest. I also do intermittent fasting, which for me means skipping breakfast except for a cup of black coffee and eating lunch at noon then dinner around six-thirty.

• Speaking of sleeping after a meal, I’ve stopped napping, no matter how tired I feel. For the past few months, I’ve been getting seven to eight hours of sleep, so I have more energy and don’t feel the need to nap anyway.

• I cut off my caffeine intake at four p.m. I usually only have a cup a day unless I work at a coffee shop, but I don’t have caffeine after four. If I do, it’s almost a guarantee that I won’t be able to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

• I go to bed and get up at the same time every day. I’m not always successful at this because I have a habit of shutting off instead of snoozing my alarm so I can get another half an hour or so. Anything past that cuts into my daily routine and the rest of the day may be off. On the nights I can’t fall asleep right away, I make an exception and use my Kindle to read. I set it on dark mode so it doesn’t bother my husband. That usually works, unless I’m really into the book and stay up later than I’d like.

I hope you find this post helpful, and get a good night’s sleep!