4.4.1 Sleep hygiene & habits
Sleep hygiene refers to environmental and behavioural practices that promote high-quality sleep. Key strategies include maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, ensuring the bedroom is dark, quiet, and cool, and limiting exposure to screens and bright lights in the evening. Meta-analyses indicate that adherence to sleep hygiene guidelines can reduce sleep onset latency by up to 9 minutes and increase total sleep time by approximately 20 minutes per night in adults with insomnia (van Straten et al., 2018).
Establishing regular pre-sleep habits and routines, such as reading, meditation, or gentle stretching, can signal the body to prepare for rest. Avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and heavy meals close to bedtime also supports sleep quality. Evidence suggests that individuals who maintain consistent sleep and wake times experience greater sleep efficiency and report better subjective sleep quality (Barrett et al., 2020). Technology use, particularly exposure to blue light from smartphones and computers, has been shown to delay melatonin production, leading to later sleep onset and reduced sleep duration (Chang et al., 2015).
The table below provides a summary of interventions for optimising sleep hygiene and habits.
| Module | Intervention |
| Morning wake-up routine | Mindfulness |
| Journaling, gratitude diarising | |
| Low to moderate intensity exercise | |
| Caffeine or other stimulants | |
| Daytime light exposure | 1 hour or more of daylight |
| Indoor light exposure, eg natural daylight or artificial lights |
|
| Napping | If nighttime sleep is inadequate but can cause insomnia |
| Nicotine | As a stimulant, can impair sleep if used too close to night time. |
| Nutrition | Avoid caffeine 9 hours before bedtime |
| Avoid alcohol 2-3 hours before bedtime | |
| Final meal-should be small and not within 3 hours of bedtime |
|
| Exercise timing | Finish strenuous exercise 4 hour before bedtime |
| Light environment | Limit bright lighting 3 hours before bedtime |
| Blue light is preferable | |
| Stop usings screens 30 minutes before bedtime |
|
| Block external or internal light at night | |
| Thermal environment | Ambient temperature of room should be 16-22 degrees centigrade. |
| Mattress and bedding-hybrid and spring preferable to foam mattresses, or technology that cools during the night. |
|
| Noise environment | Personalise, some prefer silence, others white noise |
Table. Sleep Hygiene and Habits to Optimise Sleep
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.3 Policy
- 4.3.1 Policy interventions
- 4.4 Private sector
- 4.4.1 Sleep hygiene & habits