The 5 Best Practices to Ensure You Get the Best Quality Sleep

The 5 Best Practices to Ensure You Get the Best Quality Sleep

The quality and duration of your sleep are just as important to your health and well-being as the number of hours you spend in bed each night. The right combination of temperature, lighting, noise levels, and other personal factors can have a huge impact on how well you sleep. Inadequate rest has been linked to many negative consequences including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, chronic pain and heart disease. While some individuals are genetically predisposed to insomnia or other sleeping disorders, most people struggle from time to time with getting enough rest. If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that getting enough sleep is something that concerns you from time to time. Stay with us as we explore some strategies for improving your quality of rest so that it no longer feels like a struggle.

Know your sleeping habits and environment

A great way to improve your sleep is to become aware of your sleep habits. What time do you go to bed, how many hours of sleep do you get each night, and what factors affect your quality of sleep? If you have trouble falling asleep, keep a journal of your sleep habits. This will help you identify patterns and potential causes of your sleep issues. Identify which factors in your life might be impacting the quality of your rest including daily habits, foods, drinks, medications, and exercise. To get a bigger picture of your sleeping environment, spend a week keeping a sleep diary. Make a note of the following: temperature, light, noise levels, and other factors that might be impacting your sleep. This information will help you identify areas of improvement to help you sleep better.

Create a routine before bed

A good way to ensure you get the best rest possible is to create a sleep routine before you go to bed. This can help with falling asleep and staying asleep, and will also help you to relax and unwind for the day. A common method of creating a sleep routine is the 3-step process outlined in the infographic below.

• What to eat and drink

Consuming certain foods and drinks before bed can have a positive effect on your sleep quality. But others can have the opposite effect. Avoid eating large meals or consuming stimulants before bed such as caffeine, nicotine, and high-fat foods.

• What to do

Create an atmosphere conducive to sleep. Lower the temperature in your room, avoid caffeine, and stop looking at bright screens.

• What to wear

Wear loose-fitting clothes to bed. Avoid wearing materials that might cause itching or irritation, as these can lead to interrupted sleep due to discomfort.

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Turn off all electronic devices

As mentioned above, consuming caffeine, nicotine, and large meals, and looking at bright screens prior to going to sleep can disrupt your sleep cycle. But another technology that poses a threat to your sleeping habits is the use of electronic devices in general before bed. Electronic devices emit blue light, which is known to negatively affect your sleeping patterns. And extended use of these devices has been shown to have a significant impact on your sleep quality. Electronic devices include phones, tablets, computers, and TVs.

• What to do 

Avoid using electronic devices in the hours before bed. When you need to use a device, consider changing the display settings to reduce blue light. This will help to minimize negative effects on your sleep.

• What to wear 

Consider investing in specially designed blue light blocking glasses or headsets to help protect your eyes and avoid sleep disruption.


Install blackout curtains

Apart from the blue light emitted by electronic devices, natural light can also intrude on your sleep. This can occur if your bedroom is not fully blackout. Natural light, even on a cloudy day, can be enough to disrupt your sleep. This can also be a problem if you live in a noisy neighborhood. Blackout curtains provide a simple solution to help you sleep better. They come in both fabric and vinyl. They allow you to keep your bedroom fully dark and quiet, which can help with falling and staying asleep.

Use a breathalyzer device to breathe easier

Sleeping with a stuffy nose can make it difficult to sleep. You can use over-the-counter decongestants to help unclog your nose, but they can have side effects and should be used sparingly. A better option is to use a breathalyzer device that can measure the amount of mucus in your nose and determine if you need to unclog it. Once the device detects the level of mucus in your nose, it dispenses a controlled amount of saline to break up the mucus so that you can breathe more easily. These devices are particularly helpful if you have allergies and need to use decongestants regularly. They can be an effective alternative to over-the-counter medication and can be used every night. The device can be set to dispense saline at a certain time each night so that you can fall asleep without having to think about it.


Getting enough sleep is essential for your health and well-being. Poor sleep has been linked to many negative health consequences including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, and heart disease. While some individuals are genetically predisposed to insomnia or other sleeping disorders, most people struggle from time to time with getting enough rest. If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that getting enough sleep is something that concerns you from time to time. Stay with us as we explore some strategies for improving your quality of rest so that it no longer feels like a struggle.