HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO BUILD GOOD SLEEP HABITS?

Building good sleep habits is NOT easy, nor is it quick.

You can decide to start trying to sleep better today, but your body is so accustomed to your existing sleep patterns (or lack of patterns) that it will take time to adapt to your new schedule and habits.

But that’s not a bad thing!

In fact, you’ll find that putting in the work to build new, better sleep habits will make you value your healthy sleep hygiene all the more in the long run.

In this post, I want to talk about building good sleep habits, how it’s done, how long it will take, and how to get in the right mindset to keep up with the habits.

By the end, you’ll be armed with the information you need to start making those healthy, positive changes—and stick with them until you see success!

Building Good Sleep Habits

The first step to building good sleep habits is realizing that you NEED better habits.

For most people, realization only comes after months or years of chronic exhaustion, sleeplessness, or insomnia. They finally understand that they are the reason they’re not sleeping well—their alcohol or caffeine intake, smoking, diet, or sleep environment are the cause of poor sleep.

That realization is the first step. The second step is actually correcting poor sleep habits and trying to build better ones, including:

• 

  Going to sleep and waking up at the same time each night

• Reducing late-night snacking and eating

• Cutting out alcohol at night

• Limiting afternoon and evening caffeine

• Quitting smoking

• Improving their sleep environment

• Avoiding use of electronics late at night

All of these things are healthy sleep habits that will get you on your way to better rest every night.

But at the beginning, they’re not actual habits. It starts off feeling a lot like work, and you have to make a conscious effort to incorporate them into your life.

Many people struggle with a sleep schedule right off the bat, because it interferes with their social life and evening activities. No one wants to feel like that “boring old person” who goes to bed early. Everyone wants to enjoy a night with friends, eating and drinking to their heart’s content.

But that’s something only young people with highly active metabolisms and easy sleep can do. As we age, we have to place greater emphasis on making healthy choices that build good sleep habits. That often means sacrificing evening activities and social engagements—especially those that involve smoking, alcohol, and late-night eating—in the name of better sleep.

It’s also going to take some work to train your body to fall asleep at the same time every night. You’re going to have to go through the exact same bedtime routine, the same step-by-step process of getting ready for bed. This is a critical part of training your brain to adapt to the new “patterns” that will help you fall asleep faster.

Even when all that is done and you’re lying in bed, it might not be easy to fall asleep right away. You’re going to have to experiment with different sleep-inducing tricks: meditation, relaxing music, reading a book, deep breathing, even sleep remedies. Your body won’t immediately settle into the routine of falling asleep at the time you want it to. It will take time to adapt to the new time to fall asleep, and your evening relaxation routine.

But in the long run, it will be absolutely worth the effort!

Your body is designed to adapt to patterns and routines. It wants to build habits—both physically and psychologically—so as long as you stick with it, you’ll see results.

How long to stick with it will vary from person to person, of course. Some people can build habits quickly, while others need more time. One 2009 study found that it varied between 18 and 254 days, with an average of 66 days for a new habit to feel “automatic”.

That’s just a little over two months dedicated to your new sleep routines, creating a better sleep environment, relaxing more in the evenings, and forming good sleep habits. It’s certainly not easy or quick, but two months is actually a pretty manageable chunk of time. If you can keep up with a diet or workout challenge for two months, you can definitely do the same with a sleep-better challenge!

And just like diet and workout challenges benefit your body, so, too, will a sleep-better challenge.

Good sleep increases your energy, boosts your metabolism, accelerates fat burning, sharpens your mind, enhances concentration, improves digestion, and optimizes the function of every organ, system, and internal function. The result of building good sleep habits will be a healthier, happier you for many years to come!

Build Good Sleep Habits with PureSleep

If you’re going to start building better sleep habits today, PureSleep is the helping hand you’ll need to see it through.

PureSleep combines the most effective natural sleep aids—including melatonin, Ashwagandha, magnolia bark extract, and Valerian root—into a single easy-to-swallow capsule that you can take in the evenings. Once the herbal ingredients get to work, they’ll soothe your mind and relax your body, helping you to naturally feel sleepy. When you finally climb into bed, you’ll fall asleep faster and sleep better throughout the night with fewer sleep disturbances. Thanks to PureSleep, you’ll wake up in the morning rested, refreshed, and feeling great about your sleep-improving efforts.

Use PureSleep to help you get through the hard days when you’re struggling to fall asleep, and you’ll find it makes building good sleep habits easier than ever!