As we make our way through the holiday season, the Sleep Research Society would like to provide some tips to help us stay happy and healthy!
Tip 1 – Take 8 minutes of peace
8 minutes of peace – take four 2-minute peace breaks throughout your day (am, noon, evening, night). Breathe in 4-seconds, hold 4-seconds, exhale 4-seconds, pause 4-seconds. Repeat for 2 minutes.
- SLEEP Advances: A narrative review of mechanisms linking romantic relationship experiences to sleep quality
- How the Box Breathing Technique Can Help You Sleep Better
Tip 2 – Get 8 hours of sleep per 24 hours
Getting 8 hours at one time can be hard with multiple competing demands. Break into two 4-hour blocks and get similar benefits.
- SLEEP Advances: Timing of restricted sleep: mood and neurobehavioral outcomes in healthy sleepers
- Biphasic Sleep: What It Is And How It Works
Tip 3 – Get 8 minutes of movement per day
Take two 4-minute walks or movement breaks – stand-up, move.
- SLEEP Advances: Bidirectional relationship between sleep and sedentary behavior in adults with overweight or obesity: A secondary analysis
- SLEEP: The acute effects of aerobic exercise on sleep in patients with unipolar depression: a randomized controlled trial
Tip 4 – Find 8 moments of gratitude per week
Write down something good that happened each day. Read it the next morning to get you started on the right path.
Tip 5 – Spend 8 minutes outside
Get outside to find some sunlight to reinforce circadian rhythm. Nature to calm the mind and body.
- SLEEP: Beyond phase shifting: targeting circadian amplitude for light interventions in humans
- SLEEP: Synchronizing our clocks as we age: the influence of the brain-gut-immune axis on the sleep-wake cycle across the lifespan
- SLEEP Advances: Hybrid effectiveness-implementation study of two novel spectrally engineered lighting interventions for shiftworkers on a high-security watchfloor
Tip 6 – Drink 8 glasses of water per day
Hydration is important. Swap alcohol for water at least 3 hours before bed.
Tip 7 – Practice these 8 sleep hygiene tips
Practice relaxing bedtime routine; Keep a consistent sleep schedule; Bedroom is cool, quiet, dark; Regular exercise; Avoid eating spicy food; Avoid blue light; Avoid caffeine; Avoid electronics.
- SLEEP: Changes of evening exposure to electronic devices during the COVID-19 lockdown affect the time course of sleep disturbances
- SLEEP: Population-representative study reveals cardiovascular and metabolic disease biomarkers associated with misaligned sleep schedules
- SLEEP: Temporal associations between nightly sleep with daytime eating and activity levels in free-living young adults
- SLEEP Advances: Environmental stressors, sleep, and a visit from St. Nicholas
- SLEEP Advances: The association between timing of dietary macronutrient and sodium consumption and sleep duration and quality
Tip 8 – Stretch 8 minutes per day
Two 4-minues stretches. Roll shoulders, stretch neck, look up, reach up.
