13 signs your bedtime routine is hurting your body

woman phone bed
You've probably heard it before, but being on your phone before bed can wreak havoc on your sleep.

  • Whether you enjoy scrolling through social media before bed or can't resist staying up until the wee hours to binge watch your favorite TV show, you're likely hurting your body in ways you never realized.
  • Plenty of seemingly harmless bedtime habits can lead to a poor night's sleep, which is not great for your long-term health.
  • If you find yourself struggling during the day, you might want to examine your bedtime habits.

The link between sleep and your health is critical — even though researchers, health experts, and doctors alike continually tell us that we need to get between seven and nine uninterrupted hours of rest a night, one in three Americans simply don't get enough sleep, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling the "sleep recession" a public health epidemic in 2016.

Things are showing no signs of getting better for most of us, as our lifestyles become even busier and our attachment to our many devices only increases, but good sleep hygiene is crucial — even though most of our bedtime rituals actually do nothing positive for us.

It's true: There's a pretty good chance that your nighttime routine is not only preventing you from getting the z's you need, but also hurting your body in some unexpected ways. Here are 13 signs your bedtime routine is actually harming you.


Your moods are increasingly sour.

Not getting enough sleep will make you moody.

You probably know that one night of bad sleep can leave you feeling cranky the next day, so if you're staying up late to catch up on TV or running on an inconsistent sleep schedule, your moods will respond accordingly … and it's not pretty.

According to a 2008 study by researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K., a lack of sleep is strongly linked to depression. The researchers found that "about three quarters of depressed patients have insomnia symptoms, and hypersomnia is present in about 40% of young depressed adults and 10% of older patients ... The symptoms cause huge distress, have a major impact on quality of life, and are a strong risk factor for suicide."

Also, if your sleep quality is poor, you'll definitely feel irritable or on edge, which can leave you feeling stressed and anxious. This daytime anxiety will only make it harder to fall asleep at night, creating an endless cycle of poor sleep.


You’re waking up with neck or back pain.

Avoid laying in awkward positions that'll strain your neck.
Milan Ilic Photographer/Shutterstock

Whether from a mattress that's too soft or too firm, or a pillow that just isn't the right fit, or from your preferred sleeping position, if you're waking up with neck or back pain, you likely need to make some adjustments to your bedtime routine.

Lying in an awkward position to watch TV or hunching your neck over to scroll through your feeds can all lead to physical aches that are literally a pain in the neck.


Your skin isn’t looking great.

Breakouts are just one of the results of having poor sleep quality.

When you don't get enough sleep, it often shows on your face. As sleep expert Rebecca S. Robbins, M.D., Ph.D., researcher at Cornell University, and author of "Sleep for Success!" told Cosmopolitan in 2015, "During a good night's rest, your body works to remove dead blood cells and dead brain cells, and clears the pathways for new synapses to take place so that new blood and brain cells can replace old ones."

What does this mean for your complexion? Aside from telltale dark circles, your skin will be dehydrated due to a lack of moisture. And another fun bonus? Breakouts or irritation from your head resting on the pillow.

"You spend up to a third of your life sleeping, so it's important for your bedroom environment to be a big part of your skin care routine," Dr. Robbins told Cosmo, which means you'll want to invest in quality bedding.

And yes, looking at your devices of choice is doing you no favors. Dr. Robbins explained that "even if you dim the brightness on your device, you're still being exposed to blue daylight spectrum light, which is the color of the sun. It's stimulating and energizing to your system because your circadian rhythm is right behind your eyeball, which reads the blue light and impacts your melatonin levels, keeping you awake," a vicious cycle when it comes to getting enough — ahem — beauty sleep.


Your nighttime workouts maybe aren’t a good idea, either.

Ditch the cardio for something more gentle like yoga.

If you're squeezing in a workout just before bed because you simply can't find time throughout your day to fit it in, you might be patting yourself on the back for even making it to the gym. But unfortunately, exercising at night can hurt your sleep, because it's just too stimulating for your body.

As and Stuart Quan, MD, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, told WebMD, pre-bed fitness buffs experience a few physical effects of working out before hitting the sheets. "Their adrenaline is high, their brain is active, and it's difficult to wind down," plus the body's core temperature and heart rate is heightened, which can make drifting off to bed that much more difficult.

If you must work out right before bed, Dr. Quan recommends gentle workouts like yoga, keeping the intense cardio or weight lifting for a few hours before bedtime.


You’re waking up drenched in sweat.

Slip under the covers in your birthday suit.
Gengwit Wattakawigran/Shutterstock

Especially during cold winter nights, you might enjoy the thought of flannel pajamas, extra blankets, and a thermostat set high. But the ideal temperature for sleep is actually between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit, which could explain why you're waking up sweaty.

As you drift off to dreamland, your body's core temperature slowly increases, preparing your body for slumber. But if your room is too warm, your body will be in overdrive trying to cool itself back down, thus leading to unpleasant night sweats.

Make sure your room is cool and dark and that your sleepwear isn't getting in the way. When deciding what to wear to bed, it's all about personal preference, but the National Sleep Foundation actually recommends sleeping naked if you can.

"When you're overheated during sleep, your body doesn't produce adequate melatonin and growth hormone, both of which are important for repair and anti-aging," the foundation reported. "Going without pajamas helps ensure that your body temperature doesn't get too high."


You've got high blood pressure.

Chronic sleep problems can wreak havoc on your heart.

Poor sleep quality certainly makes you feel lousy the next day, but it also has some seriously scary risks for your ticker: According to Cleveland Clinic Wellness, people with chronic sleep problems often have high blood pressure, and "a greater risk of developing other problems, like heart attacks and strokes."


You’re waking up tired.

Skip the caffeine in the evening to ensure a a good night's sleep.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

This one might seem obvious, but if you're regularly waking up feeling like you could use four more hours of sleep, there's a good chance you need to rethink your bedtime strategies.

When you wake up still feeling tired, your body is trying to tell you something, especially if you were up late the night before. Dr. Christopher Magee, a lecturer at the School of Psychology at University of Wollongong in Australia told The Huffington Post Australia what's going on when you wake up still zonked.

"We should wake feeling rested," he explained, "Not necessarily energetic and full of vigor immediately after waking up, but people should feel rested and that they've had a good sleep. Feelings of excessive sleepiness and fatigue during the day could be indicative of poor sleep."

Plenty of our lifestyle habits can contribute to this, with Dr. Magee explaining, "A number of factors could contribute to poor sleep. These include lifestyle factors such as consumption of alcohol (initially this helps to induce sleep, but ultimately it leads to disrupted sleep later in the night), irregular bedtimes and wake times (these affect the biological regulation of sleep), shift work, jet lag, and an unhealthy diet. Emotional problems such as stress and anxiety can also impair the quality and amount of sleep, as can sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome."

So how can you switch up your nighttime routine to ensure that you'll awake feeling fully rested? Dr. Magee says, "lifestyle changes that may aid better sleep include: regular physical activity (but not too close to bedtime), avoiding alcohol near bedtime, avoiding excessive [caffeine in the afternoons and evenings] limiting screen time (television and computer usage) near bedtime, and maintaining a healthy diet. Maintaining regular bedtimes and wake times is also very important for promoting good sleep."


You’re constantly hitting the snooze button.

Hitting the snooze button actually hurts your sleep cycle.

This one is more of a morning issue, for sure, but if your sleep schedule is erratic thanks to a too-late bedtime or those middle-of-the-night social media sessions, you're probably pretty tempted to hit snooze when your alarm goes off in the morning, and it's a no-no.

Hitting the snooze button messes with your body's natural sleep patterns in a serious way, resulting in daytime grogginess.

"After you hit snooze and drift off, your brain starts its sleep cycle all over again," according to LifeHacker. "When the alarm goes off a second time, you're likely at an even deeper, earlier part of your sleep cycle, which results in you feeling even worse than you did the first time."

Instead, setting a regular sleep schedule (yes, even on weekends!) where you go to bed and wake up around the same time every day is a better bet, and will help you get the restorative sleep your body needs.


You’re having a hard time getting pregnant.

Looking at a screen before bed can alter the production of important hormones that help you conceive.
Universal Pictures

If you find yourself struggling with fertility issues and can't figure out what's going on, you will definitely want to prioritize sleep hygiene. According to Columbia Fertility Associates, being exposed to artificial light (the kind emitted by your beloved devices) before slumber alters your body's hormone secretions, impacting your health and fertility. The hormone most impacted is m elatonin, the body's natural "sleep hormone."

According to Women's Health, "The more light you're exposed to at night, when your body is trying to wind down to get you to sleep, the more melatonin production is decreased — reducing the odds of conception or threatening fetal health," as research has shown.


You’re hungry all the time.

Going to sleep on an empty stomach can actually decrease your metabolism.

Digestive health and sleep are closely linked, and you might be surprised that what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat, can impact your sleep quality. If you find that suddenly, you're always hungry, you might want to take a closer look at your eating habits.

When you go to sleep on an empty stomach, you can inadvertently impact everything from your quality of sleep to your metabolism.

"Hunger pains have been shown to keep the brain mentally alert, so it can be more difficult to get a full night's rest if hunger strikes during the night," according to to Greatist. "Plus, not getting enough sleep can significantly lower metabolism and increase levels of the hormone ghrelin, which boosts appetite and might actually encourage weight gain."

Additionally, going to bed on an empty stomach can accelerate muscle loss while you sleep, because a lack of protein slows the body's ability to build muscle. If you find yourself hungrier during the day, craving high-fat or high-carbohydrate foods, you want to be sure you're eating at regular intervals, including something light an hour or two before bed.


You’re waking up with stomach pains.

Avoid spicy foods before bed in particular, for undisrupted sleep.

Conversely, if you wake up feeling bloated or frequently experience acid reflux or gas pains, your nighttime eating habits might be to blame. Eating large meals before bed can bring on a host of unpleasant digestive issues, as well as impacting your precious z's.

"A major drawback of eating large meals before going to bed is disrupted sleep. Once you eat, your metabolism fires up, which makes it difficult to fall asleep and sleep soundly," according to Livestrong. "Also, lying down with a large amount of food in your stomach can be uncomfortable. A lack of sleep increases daytime fatigue, interferes with memory and concentration and increases hunger and your appetite."

You'll want to avoid spicy foods in particular, but any heavy meal will cause your digestive system to go into overdrive, making it that much harder to fall (and stay) asleep.


Your nightly glass of wine isn’t helping matters, either.

Although tempting, try avoiding alcohol consumption before your bedtime.

Plenty of people enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail at night to help them unwind from the day, and even though alcohol does help you drift off to sleep, it will ultimately disrupt your circadian rhythms, making it harder to stay asleep.

"Alcohol may seem to be helping you to sleep, as it helps induce sleep, but overall it is more disruptive to sleep, particularly in the second half of the night," researcher Irshaad Ebrahim told WebMD. "Alcohol also suppresses breathing and can precipitate sleep apnea," a condition that causes pauses in breathing patterns during slumber.

Stick to one drink per night if you can, or cap drinking in the evening as early as possible to avoid sleep disturbances.


You're using your bedroom for anything but sleep.

The only activities that should be reserved for your bed are sleep and sex.

We've already waxed poetic about how disruptive it is to watch TV, use your phone or laptop, and even read on a device before bed, but even seemingly healthy bedtime habits might be too stimulating.

If you enjoy reading before going to sleep, you'll want to stick to something that's a little bit boring — that thrilling novel is firing up your brain, making it harder for you to fall asleep.

If you're having deep heart-to-hearts with your partner before bed, especially since bedtime might be the only time you have to enjoy a long conversation, you might be doing the same … especially if the conversation gets heated.

A great general rule to abide by, according to the National Sleep Foundation, is that your bedroom should be for two things only: sleep and sex. Yes, sex is probably the most exciting thing you can do before bed, but sex actually makes it easier for you to fall asleep.

As the NSF reports, "This is mostly because of the hormones that are released during the act. Sex boosts oxytocin (a hormone that makes you feel connected to your partner) and lowers cortisol (a stress-related hormone). Plus, having an orgasm releases a hormone called prolactin, which makes you feel relaxed and sleepy. All of that leads up to a nice, drowsy state that's perfect for cuddling up and falling asleep."

Plus, when you're well-rested, your sex drive will help stay up, leading to more sleep and more opportunities for sex. Ditch the devices, turn off the TV, and put the page-turners down, and your body will thank you.


SEE ALSO: 5 questions that will determine if you're getting enough sleep

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