Is the “Sleep Revolution” coming our way? According to one of America’s most famous media moguls, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington has a new book coming out — called, fittingly, The Sleep Revolution — and she’s been on the press circuit to promote it as her next crusade. When it comes to sharing awareness of sleep’s importance, I’m normally a fan.
Forbes has a solid interview with Huffington, where she shares some of her most pressing and effective tips for prioritizing shuteye. These include:
- Treat it as a ritual — Sleep is sacred and necessary, so treat it as such. That means ALWAYS making time for it and chosing to sacrifice time doing other things in order to get a full night of restful slumber. This can be the most difficult — and effective — sleep tip to institute, and one it’s taken me over a year to really nail down in my personal life.
- Make it a point to disconnect from electronic devices — I’ve definitely covered this before, but to reiterate, NO PHONES OR LAPTOPS IN BED. Using electronics in your sleeping space conditions your body to expect stimulation where you normally sleep, which can negatively impact your long-term ability to get rest in a familiar, comfortable place where you’ll be spending nearly a third of your life.
- In fact, don’t even have electronic devices/smartphones in the bedroom — The best way to avoid electronics in bed is to exile them from the bedroom. Don’t use your phone as an alarm clock, and don’t even charge it near the bed. Remove temptation as much as possible.
- You probably aren’t a “short sleeper” — Huffington claims less than 1% of the population has the genetic mutation to get by on less than eight hours with no negative consequences.
- The Sleep Revolution is coming, and companies play a major role — Companies and workplaces will play an important role in encouraging employees to prioritize sleep (aka not sending emails from bed).
- Avoid caffeine after 2pm — Simple as that. The further from bedtime I take caffeine, the better my sleep (generally).
What are your favorite sleep tips I haven’t covered? Let me know in the comments below!