ANCSLEEP BLOG

Building a sleep routine, or practicing good sleep hygiene, is important for helping your brain shut down and get ready for bed. It is especially useful for those who may struggle with insomnia. Sleep hygiene is a way to train your brain and body for sleep by giving it a regular sequence that it can recognize as something you do before bed. This process is very helpful for good sleep, but it can be difficult to get down. Here are some of the best activities you can do before bed and add to your sleep routine.

If your partner is struggling with restless leg syndrome, then they are struggling with getting a good night's sleep...but so are you. This struggle can put a lot of strain and pressure on the relationship, as a lack of sleep can negatively affect interpersonal relationships. However, before you start sleeping in different bedrooms, there may be some things that you both can try to help then get more relief, and both of you get more sleep. Keep reading to find out what you can do. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a psychiatric disorder that stems from a traumatic event that is not resolved. This disease is slow and insidious, so many individuals may not know they have PTSD until months after the fact. Common individuals who experience PTSD are veterans, first responders, victims of violence, abuse, or major disasters. Women are more likely than men to experience PTSD, and about 70% of people will experience PTSD in their lifetimes.

PTSD results when someone experiences something extremely traumatic, and their brain rewires so that a certain stimulus leads to a negative reaction. This can manifest into nightmares, insomnia, depression, anxiety, hyperarousal, and many other symptoms. Continue reading to find out the interplay between sleep and PTSD. 

If you are looking for new ways to relax before bed or if you've had a long, strenuous day and you have soreness to work out, consider adding bedtime stretching to your new routine. Stretching has many benefits and should be done multiple times throughout the day. However, doing it right before bed can truly make all the difference for you in the morning. Read below to find out more. 

Allergies can be the most annoying thing to deal with, especially when you're trying to get a good night's sleep. When you can't breathe out of your nose and you're forced to breathe out of your mouth, you can wake up with dry mouth, and your overall quality of sleep is just not good. Nighttime stuffiness may be worse than your daytime allergies, which can be extremely frustrating. Here is some more information on nighttime stuffiness and what you can do for a better night's sleep. 

Do you find it difficult to sleep, but unsure why? It could have something to do with your prescription medications. If you take medication for high blood pressure, arrhythmias, mental health disorders, and other health problems, your medication could be causing your insomnia. 

Are you experiencing the joys of pregnancy? That's wonderful news, but you may find yourself having sleep troubles. This is quite common for expecting mothers, but you are not relegated to poor sleep before your baby arrives and undoes your sleep long-term. Here are a few tips to help you get better sleep while pregnant. 

Pregnancy can be a wonderful thing for women and families, but can also come with a lot of changes to your sleep. You may have heard that pregnant women sleep all the time or can't sleep at all. Both of these are true, for many reasons. Keep reading to find out how pregnancy can impact your sleep.

When building your sleep environment, you cannot forget about noise. It may be suggested that sleeping in what is considered "black noise", or complete silence, is the best option. However, that isn't true for everyone. Silence can be anxiety-provoking for some and leave too much space for thinking. Falling asleep with the TV or loud music may not be productive either, as these sounds can activate your brain and disrupt sleep. Some studies have supported various types of noise. Read more to find out about the best background noise for falling asleep. 

Traveling can be full of new experiences, but it can also disrupt your sleep, especially when traveling to new time zones. Traveling outside of Alaska can be especially tough due to the difference in light exposure that other places have compared to Alaska. Regardless of whether you're traveling, it's still super important to maintain proper sleep. Continue reading to find out how traveling can impact your sleep and the best tips for mitigating those disruptions.