Health Information

To regain a satisfactory sleep, it is important to adopt good sleep habits. Applied as a whole and consistently, and for a sufficiently long time (several weeks), these strategies are very effective.

1. Allow at least an hour before bedtime to unwind.

This period should not be overloaded with activities (physical or intellectual) is too intense to allow a transition to the level of stimulation of the day. This precaution also allows the state of sleepiness to be felt, sleep is a gradual process. Avoid therefore studying, problem solving, discussions too emotional.

2. Go to bed if and only if you are drowsy.

It is important to distinguish fatigue (subjective feeling of exhaustion does not necessarily sleepy) of somnolence (sleepiness, characterized by itchy eyes, yawning, his eyelids heavy). Increased sleepiness promotes sleep quickly, avoiding spending too much time in bed awake or awake before falling asleep (this opens doors to worry, to planning the next day, etc..). If you are going through a period of insomnia, more delay your bedtime.

3. If you can not fall asleep within 30 minutes, leave your bed.

Leave your bedroom and indulge in a relaxing activity (eg, reading a magazine, listening to soft music), promoting the return of drowsiness. Avoid the study, video games, cleaning … or the trap of sleeping on the couch. Return to bed when sleepy state will be felt again. If you are concerned about worries, put them in writing. Stay in bed when you’re awake or awake and try to sleep contributes only increase your frustration and creates performance anxiety.

4. Have a sunrise fairly regular basis.

Ideally, adopt a schedule that is as consistent as possible, week and weekends. As possible, do not adjust your time to lift in the number of hours sleep in the long run, this has the effect of disrupt your biological clock. Problems of circadian rhythms (sleep-wake timing) are often present among university students, due to the irregularity of their sleep patterns of (study night, party, etc..). Too get the weekend may cause a type of insomnia well known: the Sunday night insomnia. It can help you plan activities enjoyable and motivating the morning to help you out of bed.

5. Book your bed and your bedroom only for sleeping.

Compliance with this advice helps build a strong association between the bed, your bedroom and sleep. Ideally, your research department should be located outside your room. Otherwise, try to develop a good working area separate from your bed (especially, do not study, read, watch television in your bed) whether day or night.

6. Adjust the number of hours spent in bed as much as possible, the number of hours slept.

Insomniacs have the natural reflex to spend an excessive amount of time in bed, often in order to succeed in falling asleep to the desired time and achieve adequate sleep duration. This practice, however, entails a fragmentation of sleep (interruptions), a less restorative sleep and increases the risk of insomnia the night. In addition, spending too much time in bed did not lead to feel more rested and refreshed, but often even more amorphous. The sleep should be restricted to a limited slot in order to promote good continuity (if you consider sleeping seven hours per night, trying not to spend more than seven hours in bed). You can calculate your efficiency report sleep with the little formula sleep time / time in bed X 100. The average sleep efficiency of good sleepers is around 85%.

7. Do not nap during the day.

Although naps can be beneficial to recover, it helps reduce drowsiness at bedtime and the amount of sleep the following night. Naps taken late in the day (after 15 h) affect more sleep, because they consist of deeper sleep. If necessary, try to limit your naps to a maximum of one hour.

8. Adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Several factors can affect sleep quality, including the taking of stimulants the central nervous system. To adopt a healthy lifestyle , caffeine and its derivatives (eg, chocolate, coke) should be avoided four to six hours before bedtime, as nicotine.
Warning! Contrary to popular belief, alcohol is one of the substances most likely to interfere with sleep, although it may help you fall asleep quickly. However, later in the night, the phasing out of alcohol causes frequent awakenings and lighter sleep.
Do not overload your stomach before bedtime, although it is best not to bed hungry. Encourage foods such as dairy products and cereals (avoid fatty foods). Also limit the amount of fluid taken in the evening. Finally, regular physical exercise helps to deepen sleep, although it may delay sleep if it is done too late in the evening. The ideal time for physical activity to obtain a beneficial effect on sleep is the end of the afternoon.

9. Ensure a minimum of comfort.

Like a proper learning environment promotes concentration, some care must be taken in the bedroom so that it is conducive to sleep. The room temperature should be tempered. Minimize noise and light. It may be useful to use music or a fan to mask the background noise.

10. Limit the use of sleeping pills.

Sleeping pills are effective in the short term, but gradually lose their effectiveness in the case of continuous use. If needed, use occasionally can better maintain their effectiveness. Sleeping pills can be useful in the case of a severe and acute insomnia, in a context of illness or emotional problem. Most drugs prescribed to induce sleep should be used with caution because they may also cause drowsiness during the day (residual effect), change the sleep cycles and lead to phenomena of tolerance and dependence. Products available without a prescription, although they are subject to widely publicized, have little impact on sleep, except for a placebo effect, attributable to confidence in the substance taken.

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