Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Sleep!

Lack of sleep has been associated with everything from chronic pain states, decreased concentration/problem solving, and longer recovery periods for injuries. Needless to say, quality and quantity of sleep is very important!

1) Limit the amount of screen time an hour before bed

• blue light from phones/tablets has been linked with difficulty sleeping and poor sleep quality
• Use Night Shift on your Apple device

2) Limit caffeine intake in the late afternoon or early evening

• I love coffee! However, if I have a cup after dinner I toss and turn for several hours at night
• if this sounds like you and you have a habit of drinking 2-3 cups/day, try decreasing by 1 cup and see what happens

3) Prepare your bed!

• check out this Physio Answers post I wrote a while back on different and supportive sleep positions
• many who toss and turn or have pain at night have found the positions very comfortable

4) Exercise regularly

• regular activity, especially in the afternoon has been associated with better sleep
• some experts say not to exercise at night, but some have said that it helps them sleep 
  • I have found exercising at night keeps me up....for me: the earlier the better!
• regardless, if you have difficulty sleeping or falling asleep at night, try something new with your exercise routine, either change the time, or start exercising more (possibly less)

5) Get a good evening routine going

• I learned the value of a evening routine upon having a kid that did not sleep very well as a baby
• the same holds true for adults, don't expect to be able to fall asleep easily after exercising heavily, then spending an hour on facebook with the lights on
• listen to relaxing music, and start your wind down 1 to 1.5 hours prior to the time that gets you your ideal number of hours of sleep

There are a number of "life hacks" that improve sleep quality, but these are some of my favorites. Sleep quality is something I go after on patients that are having difficulty keeping their improvements between visits or are unable to return to training.

This post is an oldie, but a goodie from Erson at TheManualTherapist.com  (I added a little).  He has tons of great content, primarily for physical therapists, but also provides great information for patients.