Health Tips: Sleep Hygiene

Health Tips: Sleep Hygiene

Dr. Robert Hinkle of the Baton Rouge Clinic's Pulmonology Department explains the importance of good sleep and gives tips on how to have better sleep hygiene.

sleep hygiene is in essence a person's sleep habits uh what they they do during the daytime uh often affects how we sleep well at night and uh you know it's it's an often overlooked uh section but can very well play a significant role with regard to how a person sleeps it's a basics that we don't want to don't want to miss certain things that people do such as drink a lot of caffeine that's pretty common in today's society and i you know it's a it helps us stay focused on the job but unfortunately it makes it difficult for a person to uh get to get to sleep at night sometimes and we don't always realize that it you know a little coffee in the morning can uh can last throughout the day and sometimes even prevent us from getting to sleep at night nicotine that's very common in today's society as well too that uh you know in my line of work as a pulmonologist i see a lot of bad things that nicotine does but it also has an effect on your sleep makes it difficult for people to sleep and then when they're not sleeping or when the nicotine is coming out of their system at night that also makes it difficult for a person to sleep alcohol can sometimes have an effect on a person's sleep we know that a lot of people take a night cap uh a drink near bedtime in order to help them sleep and it will help them fall asleep but as the person's blood alcohol level is falling that can lead to a frequent awakenings which you know paradoxically makes it difficult to sleep so we recommend not having a drink within four to six hours of bedtime sometimes a person will feel very tired in the daytime and that can result in a desire to take a nap but unfortunately even a very short nap can make it difficult for a person to fall asleep at night and then sometimes a person's sleep environment can be a factor as well too and that that's obvious if you live next to us a highway or under the landing pattern of an international airport but there's other things like sometimes the bed partner snoring can make it difficult for a person to sleep or the bed partner can have a tv on at all hours of the night that can be a factor as well i would recommend attempting to avoid these things go to bed only when a person's sleepy because nothing is going to frustrate a person more than trying to go to bed when their body's not ready to sleep and then getting up at the same time every morning helps set a person's internal clock the half awake brain is not the world's greatest problem solver so and this sounds a little hokey but it does work is what's called worry time and that is where you sit down after dinner you know just get away from the hustle and bustle the family sit down after dinner and just clear your mind write down what's troubling you and then come up with some constructive solutions some people will take that piece of paper and fold it and put it by the bedside and then if they wake up at three in the morning going i've got to do this or that then they can pull out oh okay i came up with that solution it's a lot better and i used to teach the insomnia course and i recommended that to some of my residents and i saw some eyes get rolled but when they used it on their patients they said it really does work those are just some recommendations on sleep hygiene

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