The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

by Alex Korb

Improve Your Sleep Hygiene Studies show that knowledge about sleep hygiene improves sleep hygiene practices, which in turn improves sleep quality.37 So just by reading this chapter, you’re on the right track. And here are some more concrete tips to prepare your brain for a great night’s sleep. Sleep for eight hours straight. Most people need about eight hours of sleep. In general, the older you are, the less sleep you need. In college, you need about eight hours and twenty-four minutes. By the time you start drawing Social Security, you might need only seven. The important thing is to sleep in one continuous block (seven hours plus a one-hour nap is not the same). So don’t take regular naps. And if you consistently get quality sleep, you won’t even feel that you need them. Use your bed/bedroom for sleeping. Don’t do work in bed or in your bedroom. Don’t surf the Internet. Don’t watch television. If you use your bedroom only for sleeping, your brain associates your bed only with sleep, which will induce sleepiness like Pavlovian conditioning. Of course, it’s also okay to have sex there (some might say more than okay). Create a routine for preparing for sleep. Do it every night—a ritual to separate yourself from the rest of your hectic day. Your prefrontal cortex, in particular, needs to wind down, so if you’re doing everything at sixty miles per hour and then plopping into bed, you may have difficulty falling asleep or getting quality sleep. A bedtime ritual might involve b...