Getting a full night’s sleep is vital for everyone’s overall wellbeing. Without proper sleep, you can open yourself up to numerous negative side-effects to your physical, emotional and even mental health. These effects can range anywhere from an increased risk of chronic health conditions, such as coronary heart disease and stroke. Sleep deprivation can also affect your job and hinder your overall work performance. By getting less than the recommended 7 or more hours of sleep, it can hinder your ability to process information, problem solve and even kill your creativity. It can also slow your reaction times, which can increase the risk of work-related accidents. Because of these reasons, the National Sleep Foundation celebrates every year National Sleep Awareness Week to help promote proper and healthy sleeping habits.

To help you celebrate this week, here are some tips to help you catch up on some Zzz’s:

Limit things that can hinder your sleep: Things such as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol should not be consumed for at least 4 hours before bed.

Block all light sources in your sleeping area: This includes windows, lights, clocks and even your phone.

Try making a ‘to-do’ list for the next day: Planning out your days can help take your mind off unnecessary stressors that can keep you from falling asleep peacefully.
 
Block out disrupting noises: Many people can find it difficult to fall or stay asleep if there are outside noises. Try using a white noise machine or a fan to help block out those sleep-disrupting sounds.

Make your bedroom just for sleep: It’s recommended that your bedroom should be reserved for sleep, and not other things like watching TV or work.

If you wake up, get up: This may seem counterintuitive, but getting out of bed and doing something else, such as reading a book or taking a walk around the house can help wear you out and help you fall back asleep faster rather than just tossing and turning.