The World Sleep Society (WSS) promotes and celebrates World Sleep Day each year. This year is the 14th annual World Sleep Day and it’s set for 19th March 2021. The aim of World Sleep Day is for sleep professionals to advocate and educate the world about the importance of sleep as part of a healthy lifestyle and the theme of this year’s event is ‘Regular Sleep, Healthy Future’.
Studies show that stable bedtimes and rise times are important for establishing good sleep patterns and helps with better moods, psychomotor performance and academic achievement. The Word Sleep Society recommends 10 steps that will help achieve healthy sleep.
- Fix a bedtime and an awakening time.
- If you are in the habit of taking a nap, do not exceed 45 minutes of daytime sleep.
- Avoid excessive alcohol ingestion 4 hours before bedtime and do not smoke.
- Avoid caffeine 6 hours before bedtime – this includes coffee, tea and many soft drinks, as well as chocolate.
- Avoid heavy, spicy or sugary foods 4 hours before bedtime. A light snack before bed is acceptable.
- Exercise regularly, but not right before bed.
- Use comfortable bedding (we’ll get to this further down!).
- Find a comfortable temperature setting for sleeping and keep the room well ventilated (you’ll find further details on this below).
- Block out all distracting noise and eliminate as much light as possible.
- Don’t use the bed as an office, workroom or recreation room – in other words it is best to avoid the use of ‘screen’ time in the bedroom.
The best bedroom temperature for sleep is approximately 18 degrees (Celsius). This may vary from person to person but if you do use heating in your bedroom overnight, then most doctors recommend keeping the thermostat between approximately 16 degrees and 19 degrees for the most comfortable sleep.
Now to the very important issue of bedding! Bedding t