Are you getting enough sleep? Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you may find yourself facing insomnia, awake in the middle of the night and groggy in the morning. What can you do to get a better night’s sleep? You may be sabotaging yourself with these seven bad sleep habits.  

• Keeping an irregular schedule can disrupt your sleep. Children are not the only ones who need regular bedtimes. Adults can benefit from going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning, even on weekends and vacation days. Even if you’re tempted to squeeze in more rest on your days off to help you “catch up”, it’s a bad idea, because it will throw off your circadian rhythm.  
• If your coffee habit has no curfew, you’re doing your sleep a disservice. It takes about six hours for half of the caffeine in your body to disappear, and you become less efficient at processing caffeine as you age. Avoiding caffeine after about 4:00 p.m. will help you get higher quality sleep.  
• Electronics in the bedroom can prevent you from getting high-quality rest. You might think that watching a television show, playing a game on your phone, or reading a book on your tablet can help you fall asleep, but it’s not the case. In fact, the bright light from your screens can prevent your body from producing melatonin, a chemical that helps you fell asleep and stay asleep.  

• A nightcap can get in the way of a good night’s sleep. Alcoholic beverages can make you feel drowsy, but they ultimately disrupt your rest. When you drink alcohol before bed, you’re setting yourself up for sleep patterns that do not afford you deep, restorative sleep.  
• If your midnight snack is too heavy, your sleep won’t be. It’s fine to have a light snack before heading to bed, but if you eat a meal too close to bedtime, your sleep can be disturbed in many different ways. It’s hard to sleep with a full stomach, and getting up to use the restroom is not restful. What’s more, lying down after a heavy meal can lead to heartburn, which is likely to keep you awake.  
• If you don’t sleep when you’re busy, you may not be able to sleep later. When you’ve got too much to do, it may seem wasteful to spend eight hours of your day in bed. However, getting too little sleep can make you less efficient during your waking hours, and disrupting your sleep routine can take a toll on the quality of your sleep.  
• Failing to wind down can lead to a failure to sleep. Do you try to keep moving until you hop into bed? You may be cheating yourself of a good night’s sleep. It’s nonsensical to go straight from activity to rest, so establish some quiet sleep rituals that will help you get ready to sleep. You might try reading, listening to quiet music, or taking a bath, but whatever works for you, do it for the last 30 to 60 minutes before you go to bed. It’s also smart to avoid exercising too close to bedtime, as this will rev up your body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, making it hard to relax.  

One thing you can do to promote better sleep is to invest in the right mattress. If you’re looking for a good night’s sleep in Northern California, you owe it to yourself to check out Mancini's Sleepworld. Since 1969, the Mancini family has owned and operated their store in Sunnyvale, CA, selling brand name mattresses at fair prices and treating every customer with respect. Beginning an expansion in 1989, we now have 33 locations across the greater bay area, allowing for same-day mattress delivery in most cases. To learn more about Mancini's Sleepworld, contact us through our website or call 800-647-5337.