Is drifting off into blissful sleep something that seems just out of touch when you’re lying wide awake and the time is ticking away and eating into your nightly rest. By sticking to some simple and healthy sleep-based habits, you’ll soon find the benefits of sound slumber improves your overall well-being.
It’s often some approaches or elements in your life that result in it becoming more strenuous to achieve a solid night’s sleep. If this is you, don’t worry too much because there are a handful of beneficial habits you can adopt that will improve the quality of your sleep in no time! Here are some useful sleeping tips:
Create the perfect sleep haven
If you want to ensure you’re going to get better-improved sleep, you need to make your bedroom not only cool but also quiet and dark.
Think about having some blackout shades or a simple eye mask to assist in blocking the light out of the room. This is because darkness acts to tell the brain to begin the winding down process.
Combine the above with a regulated room temperature of between 15°C and 24°C, along with comfortable furnishings such as a mattress and pillows that suit how you sleep, and you’ll be on the road to success, The Sleep Advisor’s Sarah Cummings advises.
Optimising your bedroom environment and restricting this space strictly to sleep and sex will give your brain a well-established association that this is the bedroom is a place of sleep; nothing else.
What are you drinking?
Caffeine is a stimulant, and as such will disturb your efforts to go to sleep. You should be cutting off caffeine from not later than 2pm each day, while also consuming no more than four cups of coffee per day too.
You’ll find caffeine, not just in coffee, but also in things such as:
- Tea
- Chocolate
- Cola
- Some cold and flu tablets
Alcohol can help you to doze off, but it doesn’t guarantee quality sleep. Therefore, it goes without saying that you need to restrict your alcohol intake to no a maximum of two drinks per day, while also cutting yourself off with at least three hours before going to bed in order to sleep efficiently.
When are you exercising?
It’s a fact that regular exercise aids the efficiency of your sleep, but it needs to be done at the right time, and that’s several hours before your bedtime, or you’ll be too aroused to rest.
Exercise stimulates the body to secrete the stress hormone cortisol, which sets off the ‘alerting mechanism’ located in your brain. So, just try to get your workouts done at least three hours before bed, or, alternatively, get your sessions completed when you first wake up.
Are you clock watching?
If you find yourself staring at your clock when you get into bed, or indeed, if you wake up mid-sleep during the night, it can actually make getting to/back off to sleep a lot harder.
The increased stress that is associated with gazing at the time means that you should make a wise move to remove that stressor from the situation by pointing any clock faces and other time-telling devices to face away from you or taking them away completely.
How solid is your nightly routine?
By having a reliable sleep schedule, improved quality and more consistent sleep will enter the fold.
Once this routine is established, your internal body clock sets to work with your regular behaviour. Keep within the boundaries of your structured routine when the weekend arrives too, otherwise, you’ll be damaging the routine and Monday morning will be filled with lethargy and general feelings of being out of sorts.
If you wake up at the same time each day of the week is the most efficient way of programming that body clock of yours. If you’ve had an underwhelming night’s sleep, don’t worry, because this will give your internal body clock some additional sleep drive to enable you to consolidate with the sleep you get the following night (if you get back to your routine).
Have you thought about napping?
Napping; it’s frowned upon and seen as a lazy person’s trait. But it’s a wonderful and useful addition to your life and not a bad habit to avoid.
Bear in mind that it could also be a barrier to sound slumber when you try to sleep a night. Optimum naps are taken before 5pm, preferably 3pm, a study has confirmed, and should be for around 20-30 minutes.
Are your evening meals too heavy?
You might think that you’ve earned a big, hearty meal when you get home each evening, but a big ‘old plate of food late at night is a sleep deprivation offender! As such, make sure you’ve finished up your dinner at least three hours before you take yourself off to bed and don’t eat until you can’t eat any more; stop when you feel around 80% full.
If you enjoyed these sleeping tips, feel free to share them with your friends and family. After all, sharing is caring!
Author: Sarah Cummings
Hi! My name’s Sarah Cummings. I’ve been involved in writing informative and helpful guides for the last five years now. Originally, my passion to help others was the overriding factor to become a writer, but now I feel like I’m learning more every day too!
My love of exercise has always been a big part of how I lead my life, and I find it helps with lots of things, including sleep. I’m an advocator of promoting sleep and how it can be the difference between living a good, fulfilled life and an unhappy one.
I have had the good fortune to have a long and spiritual background in yoga too, and I feel as though this pairs perfectly with my passion for healthy eating and leading an active lifestyle.
I enjoy learning and coming up with new ways to develop my writing so that I can help others to grow and learn too. When I have a spare morning, you can catch me gazing at sunrises from different places around the world!