section_path: Personal hygiene/Sleep hygiene
section_name: Sleep hygiene
paragraph_text: Sleep hygiene
  
  Sleep hygiene is the recommended behavioral and environmental practices that promote better quality sleep. These recommendations were developed in the late 1970s as a method to help people with mild to moderate insomnia, but, as of 2014, the evidence for effectiveness of individual recommendations is "limited and inconclusive". Clinicians assess the sleep hygiene of people who present with insomnia and other conditions, such as depression, and offer recommendations based on the assessment. Sleep hygiene recommendations include establishing a regular sleep schedule, using naps with care, not exercising physically or mentally too close to bedtime, and avoiding alcohol as well as nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants in the hours before bedtime. Further recommendations include limiting worry, limiting exposure to light in the hours before sleep, getting out of bed if sleep does not come, not using the bed for anything but sleep, and having a peaceful, comfortable, and dark sleep environment.