Improving your sleep hygiene: eight top rules and tips

Personal hygiene is about regular body care, which serves to protect and maintain the skin, hair, teeth, etc. in the long term. Sleep hygiene also includes certain principles that can help you to optimise your sleep in the long run.

In order to optimise your personal body care routine, it helps to know your skin type, for example. This is also the case with sleep hygiene: everyone sleeps differently and should know their personal preferences, such as their optimum mattress firmness or their personal sleep chronotype, which is based on biorhythm.

By combining individual preferences with some basic rules, you can develop a sleep hygiene regime that makes your sleep more regular and restful.

Good sleep hygiene consists of routines that you can organise according to your personal needs. In addition, there are a few general rules that improve sleep in every person equally. You can find out what these are and how to develop optimal sleep hygiene in our eight tips.

Our first tip is probably the most important one for improving your sleep: a regular sleep-wake cycle. In the long term, you become accustomed to this and it ensures that you start to feel tired at the same time every night and fall asleep faster.

You should adapt this cycle not only to your working hours, but also to your personal sleep chronotype if possible. While the lion chronotype naturally gets up early, the wolf likes to sleep until midday after a late night.

If your natural biorhythm is at odds with your working hours, it makes sense to find a middle ground or gradually shift your bedtime. If you haven’t slept enough at night, an afternoon nap can also give you an energy boost.

Seven to eight hours of sleep at night are considered ideal in order to be able to concentrate and function to your best ability during the day. If you rarely get this amount of sleep, you can recharge your batteries with an afternoon nap – but this should also be subject to regular sleep hygiene.

In order to fall asleep easier in the evening, experts recommend no more than 15 to 30 minutes of nap time. Especially if you don’t feel enough sleep pressure, i.e. tiredness, in the evening, you should actually take your nap at noon and not in the afternoon. This way, the time between naptime and bedtime is long enough and you can fall asleep easier in the evening.

In order to ensure a regular sleep-wake cycle, the time when you are awake should not be underestimated. Most people work during the day when it’s light outside. Make the most of the daylight during your lunch breaks or after work and spend as much time outside as possible. This allows you to adjust your sleep cycle to the light and dark phases of the day.

Going for a walk or engaging in physical activity out in the fresh air will ensure that you use up all your energy during the day and are tired in the evening, which is when you should allow for quiet activities that keep your heart rate steady. If you spend most of your time in the office during the day or if it is dark and grey outside, you can use a daylight lamp.

Practising a quiet evening routine is another step that contributes to healthy sleep hygiene. Give yourself about one to two hours before going to bed to do things that relax you and help you to unwind.

Journalling or meditating are the ideal way to end the day if your thoughts often keep you awake at night. Even a good book with a cup of tea or quiet yoga flows will lower your heart rate, and are therefore ideal as a bedtime ritual.

Dimmed light is best to prepare you for rest and darkness just before bed. This is the time to turn off daylight lamps or bright ceiling lights, and instead use candlelight or indirect light sources. Screens such as TV, laptop or mobile phone displays, on the other hand, tend to keep you awake due to their blue light. In addition, work emails, social media, etc. can increase stress levels and keep you from sleeping.

When it’s time to go to bed, the environment in the bedroom is also crucial for sleep hygiene. A tidy room without too many distractions is calming and helps you fall asleep faster. Work equipment, document folders, etc. should be banned from the room if you have problems sleeping.

Create a cosy, sleep-promoting atmosphere by dimming the light in the bedroom, too. Room fragrances such as lavender, vanilla or woody notes calm the senses. Choose your favourite scents, but don’t overdo it and air out the room again right before you go to bed. This helps to prevent headaches and ensures an ideal room temperature of between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius.

At night, your bedroom should also be as dark as possible. If you wake up during the night, you should only use very soft light sources or none at all. This helps you to keep producing the sleep hormone melatonin.

The optimum bedroom temperature of 16 to 18 degrees is difficult to achieve in summer. To avoid sweating in the warmer months, your choice of duvet and nightwear is of great relevance for your sleep hygiene. Thin summer duvets with light covers are the ideal compromise between a down duvet and a sofa blanket.

Meanwhile, high-quality nightwear made of natural materials regulates body temperature perfectly. While natural fibres have a warming effect in winter, they are ideal for absorbing moisture at high temperatures. If you want to be able to adapt to the seasons even better, simply change your sleeve and leg length or choose between a nightshirt and pyjamas.

To improve your sleep hygiene, there are also things you should avoid a few hours before bedtime. These primarily include stimulants such as caffeine, but also intoxicants such as alcohol, nicotine and other drugs.

Although many people feel that they can sleep better after drinking alcohol, the deep sleep stages are much shorter and you wake up more often – meaning the recovery effect is lacking.

Even the right evening meal can contribute significantly to sleep hygiene. It’s best to plan to eat dinner two to three hours before bedtime and then start your relaxing evening routine. In order to avoid putting too much strain on your stomach before going to bed, we recommend a light, protein-rich dinner.

Whole grains, vegetables, fish and legumes contain plenty of protein and healthy nutrients. Athletes should pay particular attention to their protein intake in the evening to promote muscle growth at night.

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