Sleep Hygiene Habits
Proper sleep hygiene is a habit of top performers. One example of proper sleep hygiene is to have a similar sleep and wake schedule. Experts suggest that we minimize the light from screens for thirty minutes before we go to bed. There is a setting that softens the light at a certain time, so we can have it on a schedule. Another recommendation is to have WIFI on a timer, so it will go off at 10:00 or 11:00 pm. When the WIFI turns off, that can be our cue that “okay, it’s time to go to bed”.
One of my Taoist teachers, Karin, watches the sunset and makes sure that her work is done for the day. Even if her work is not done, she has a meditation where she lets the work go over the horizon with the setting sun. Then, she gets up to watch the sunrise and think about her day, to pick up her activities again. This could be another habit to incorporate into life. Then, we are not only on a regular sleeping and waking schedule but that we follow natural cycles too.
As you think about these habits, you can write down a sample schedule of waking and sleeping. In this schedule you can include some of the buffer activities such as the mental dump or setting your clothes out. What would a productive schedule look like based on the morning routines, healthy daily routines, and the evening routines? What would an ideal schedule look like?
You don’t have to do this today, or ever, but these are best practices and it’s good to have them in your consciousness. It may even be that you want to incorporate one per quarter. In five years you would have twenty new health habits as part of your daily routine.
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