What is Clean Sleeping?
Clean eating was about elimination, but clean sleeping is about addition. The whole premise of the movement is to regularly get seven to eight hours of sleep a night — even more if it fits with your schedule. The goal is to get back to sleep in its most natural form, without pills or outlandish methods. Lack of sleep has a multitude of side effects, the most severe of which includes changes in metabolism and hormones, which can lead to weight gain, bad mood, impaired memory and brain fog. Celebrities aren't the only ones jumping on board with the clean sleeping trend — experts all agree that sleep is more important than previously thought. "Sleep is like exercise or eating well: You need to prioritize it and build it into your day," says Scott Kutscher, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sleep and Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Increasing your attention to sleep can have a positive impact, such as reducing the effects of aging and boosting your immunity.
How Can You Start Clean Sleeping?
The obvious answer is to begin sleeping more, which is easier said, than done. Start your path to clean sleeping by making small changes. Sit down and take a look at your schedule; figure out where you can cut out or combine tasks to go to bed earlier. If you can't go to bed earlier, allow yourself to wake up later. Both of these changes give you the greatest chance of increasing the amount of quality sleep you get. Other ways to improve your sleep habits include:
- Limiting daytime naps to 30 minutes.
- Regularly exercising (but not right before bed).
- Leaving yourself an hour between work and bedtime to decompress and relax.
- No bedtime snacks — your digestive process can disturb your rest.
- Avoiding alcohol or stimulants close to bedtime.
Falling asleep and staying asleep are dependent on many things, including the appropriate temperature. If you're too hot, you'll feel restless; if you're too cold, you'll be distracted. SHEEX® Original Performance Sheets are designed to breathe better than traditional cotton sheets and help regulate your body temperature.
Complete your bedding set with a SHEEX Original Performance Mattress Pad and Original Performance Pillowcases. This, in turn, helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. If you're tired of feeling tired, clean sleeping may be the change you need to make this year! Information for this post was sourced from Metro, Evening Standard, and Al Arabiya. Originally published February 3, 2017, updated July 17, 2018.