Looking for self-improvement in the new year? Developing better sleep habits may be your best choice

If you are hoping to feel better, look better and be more successful in 2022, you might want to think about improving something you do every day: sleep.

People who study sleep and its impact on health and aging say developing or improving sleep habits is a commitment that can have far-ranging benefits.

"When I have made the choice to shut down at the appropriate time and go to sleep, I actually am a lot more productive the next day and I feel better," said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, a Canada Research Chair who studies healthy aging at UBC.

"It's not just about productivity. My mood is better, as I don't feel as stressed."

Studies show that not getting enough sleep can have short and long-term impacts, Liu-Ambrose says. The impacts range from poor decision making to reduced energy levels to being further at risk of having a stroke, developing diabetes or cognitive decline such as dementia later in life.

"Sleep, I would say over the past five years, has really come up as a critical behaviour for healthy aging," said Liu-Ambrose.

The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends that Canadians aged 18 to 64 get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. It also says that one in three adults aged 34 to 64 do not get enough sleep.

Liu-Ambrose says there are several reasons people don't get enough sleep, with many having to do with the demands and conditions of the modern world.

Those reasons include the amount of light people are exposed to from devices like smartphones, computers and screens but also demands from jobs or school that require working odd or extended hours.

Our bodies regulate sleep through circadian rhythms, which are a natural process that operates our sleep-wake cycles through the influence of light and dark. Too much light at a time of day when our bodies want to sleep could be sending a message for to stay awake.

"Our world really has evolved where technology is everywhere and access to information is everywhere," said Liu-Ambrose. "We all have iPhones, computers, TVs, that are perhaps contributing to that societal level of having poor sleep."

Sleep experts advise getting exposure to sunlight early in the morning to help your body's natural rhythms, limiting screen time in the evening close to bedtime, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, and getting regular exercise.

Even if you do these things right, many people still struggle to fall asleep because their brains are so busy and engaged at a time of day when they don't want them to be.

For decades, our busy brains and how they get in the way of sleep with their disruptive thoughts have fascinated Luc Beaudoin, a cognitive scientist at Simon Fraser University.