Trackers are great tools to help you reach your health goals. They remind you to walk throughout the day, keep track of changes in your heart rate, keep you accountable around your step count, and for better or worse, let you know if you’ve had a rough night’s sleep.
Although it is impossible to sleep every night, if you keep waking up with low sleep values on your sleep tracker and, unfortunately, you feel restless or restless, it may be time to think about improving your sleeping habits.
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My normal sleep information
Thanks to the cutting edge of equipment and good sleep habits, my sleep scores sit in the 80+ bracket.
That means that my Oura Ring sleep scores are usually the gold standard and my Apple Watch sleep scores are usually in the ‘High’ or ‘Very High’ ratings (forgive me humblebrag – you’ll hear me share my sleep secrets here.)
Take my sleep reports from the end of last week for example. My average sleep time is between four and ten minutes, I spent at least 14% and 20% of each night in deep and REM sleep respectively, and I achieved at least 90% quality sleep (the percentage of time I spent asleep when I was asleep.)
5 important habits that help me sleep well every night
Getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated, involving red lights, supplements, or complicated bedtime rituals. I sleep a lot following simple healthy habits.
While I don’t recommend chasing high sleep scores, if you’re a regular smartwatch wearer, you’ll know that 85+ scores are nice to see sometimes. How to get here…
1. I hate the snooze button
Studies show more than 55% of people hit the snooze button every morning, and that has a negative effect on our brains and bodies. You continue to initiate the ‘wake up’ process, throwing off sleep and hormonal cycles, causing a long period of grogginess in the morning.
Since many people fall short of the recommended seven hours of sleep each night, it’s no wonder they try to grab a few minutes when the alarm goes off. But experts say that hitting snooze is not the best way to deal with the problem of lack of sleep.
“Although it feels comforting at the time, hitting snooze interrupts your natural wake-up process and can lead to sleep inertia — that groggy, heavy-headed feeling that lingers after getting out of bed,” explains licensed clinical sleep and trauma psychologist Dr. Leah Kaylor.
This is because you don’t get “meaningful rest” within 5 to 10 minutes, “split sleep confuses your brain,” says an FBI sleep expert.
Avoiding the snooze button takes discipline. I stick to a regular 6am wake up time so my body clock knows when it’s time to wake up each day.
Bonus: Consistent bedtimes have been proven to increase your lifespan, according to a new study by Vitality and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) published this year.
(It doesn’t actually shine from the screen.)
I first heard about the importance of morning sunlight from psychologist Dr. Andrew Huberman. Listeners of the Huberman Lab podcast will know that morning sunlight is something psychologists advocate.
And there are many studies that show that morning light is very important for good sleep. As one of the key regulators of the circadian rhythm, light tells your body and brain to wake up and be alert in the morning.
You may have a full day to get through before you go back to sleep, but making sure you expose yourself to natural light first thing in the morning helps reset your body clock.
Light actually starts a 24-hour cycle of wakefulness hormones, so by nightfall, you’re producing enough melatonin to make you feel sleepy.
3. I move a lot throughout the day
How much you exercise affects many things in your body from your weight to your heart health to your mental health, and it also has a big impact on your sleep.
When a friend asked me the other day what he could do to improve his Garmin deep sleep reading, I immediately suggested a daily walk. In fact, by walking outside, you tick three boxes on the list of good sleep habits: Get fresh air, plenty of vitamin D, and move your body.
A lot of movement throughout the day is physically exhausting, boosting the sleep drive in your body. It also has a positive effect on your mental health (hello, endorphins), which we know gives you a better night’s sleep (goodbye, anxious thoughts.)
This doesn’t mean you need to subject yourself to an intense bootcamp every day, even just a daily walk or a 20-minute yoga routine can ease your body into sleep.
But, if vigorous exercise is what gets you going, experts generally recommend that you complete it earlier in the day, and exercise more in the evening, so your body has time to rest before bed.
After this routine of exercise before bed, my sleep monitor shows that my heart rate slows down throughout the night and I go to sleep at a steady pace.
4. I eat a balanced diet and stay hydrated
There is a close relationship between what you eat and drink and how well you sleep.
There are many foods that are considered ‘bedtime companions’. These are usually foods high in magnesium or tryptophan, such as tart cherries (remember the sleeping girl mocktail), almonds, kiwis or warm milk.
Eating more of these foods in a balanced, nutritious diet helps keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the night leading to periods of stable, uninterrupted sleep.
On the beverage side, alcohol and caffeine are, surprisingly, not good news for sleep. They raise your heart rate, keep you awake, and break up sleep. But staying hydrated is important for sleep.
Drinking plenty of h20 prevents headaches, aches and pains, while helping to calm and stabilize the heart rate needed for restful sleep.
Dr. “When you’re dehydrated, your body has trouble regulating temperature and balance, making it harder to enter a deep, restorative state of sleep,” explains Jeff Rosenberg, MD, Prime IV Hydration and Wellness.
5. I leave my phone outside my bedroom
Our phones, the devices attached to our hands most hours of the day, are stealing quality rest.
Whether you’re falling asleep by scrolling, lighting up your eyes when you wake up at 3am, or finding it in the morning, your phone doesn’t go well with sleep.
“The use of the phone keeps the mind working well,” explains GP and doctor Dr. Ola Otulana. Whether you’re reading, crafting or browsing, your brain is always alert and engaged.
The doctor adds: “This mental shift can slow down the rise of natural melatonin and disrupt your body’s circadian rhythm and increase the likelihood of restless sleep.
To kick my bedtime reading habit, I started leaving my phone charging in the other room one night in January and never looked back.
Now I rely entirely on the sunrise alarm to wake me up and read before bed, and I’m definitely seeing the benefits of sleep. I go to bed on time, and without too many stress-inducing notifications, I wake up calm and ready for the day.
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