Are There Better Ways To Get A Good Night’s Sleep?

After you’ve had a long day, one of the best ways you can recharge yourself is by getting a good night’s sleep. It’s a well-known fact how sleep is as essential as your healthy diet and exercise. Yet it’s easily overlooked most of the time. As simple as getting some sleep may sound, it’s actually hard to achieve for most people.

While some people are having a hard time getting good sleep due to their existing health problems and disorders, there are also other factors that can interfere with your sleep. Some of these are your sleeping environment, your daytime lifestyle, your lack of bedtime routine, responsibilities, and stress. When you’re experiencing all these, it’s no surprise that your sleep is almost always deprived.

While some of these factors are uncontrollable, like your work schedule and responsibilities, there are habits that you can start to help adapt to your current lifestyle and promote quality sleep. Don’t be overwhelmed about implementing these strategies all at once. It’s good to start making small changes and manage your way towards healthier sleep habits, otherwise known as sleep hygiene.

Keep in mind that frequent sleep deprivation can eventually cause more severe health problems. Before you resort to taking sleeping pills, here are some ways you can do to get yourself a good night’s sleep.

1. Have A Sleeping Schedule

Aside from creating schedules for your job and household chores, set aside a sleeping schedule too. Train your body to wake up and sleep on the same hours each day. Do this even on weekends and your days-off. A healthy sleeping schedule reinforces the sleep-wake cycle of your body, otherwise known as the circadian rhythm.

A regular sleep-wake rhythm will help you fall asleep faster. Moreover, it’ll also prevent you from suddenly waking up throughout the night.

Another tip is to avoid taking long daytime naps as these naps can actually interfere with your sleep at night. If you really need to, limit your nap to up to 30 minutes only. Make sure you don’t nap during the late time of the day or close to night time as well.

2. Make Your Bedroom Conducive for Sleeping

Your bedroom is one of the main factors that affect the quality of your sleep. Some of the things you must consider to make your bedroom a good environment for sleeping are your mattress, pillows, lighting, noise, and temperature.

A quality mattress is a necessity as it can make or break the quality of your sleep. There are various types of mattresses from sites like Best Mattress Australia, which you can choose according to your preferences. You can have memory foam, a medium-firm, or a soft one, as long as you don’t suffer from any back pains on the next day. The same goes for your pillows. Make sure to choose a pillow that best suits the type of sleeper you are, whether you’re a back or side sleeper.

You must also make sure that your room’s lighting is dim and not too bright to help signal your brain that it’s bedtime. If your bedroom is near a busy street, you can use earplugs to cover up the noise. Then, set the temperature of your room according to your liking. You can even add houseplants into your bedroom as they help you relax. They are natural air humidifiers too.

3. Create a Bedtime Routine

Another method to promote better sleep is by creating a bedtime routine. You may find yourself awake even after lying in bed for almost half an hour. Instead of lying there and overthinking problems, get up and do some relaxing and soothing activities.

You can either read a book, write in your journal, or listen to soothing music. Avoid scrolling on your cellphones or using laptops as a way to pass the time. The light emitted from these screens will only trick your brain into thinking it’s still daytime, making it harder to sleep. You can also do low-impact exercises, yoga poses, or meditation to help ease your mind and eventually make you sleepy.

4. De-stress

De-stress yourself from your work problems and daytime responsibilities by giving yourself a me-time. You can do this by taking a hot shower before bed or doing your nighttime hygienic rituals. After that, treat yourself to a warm cup of herbal tea or a warm glass of milk. Avoid drinking caffeine, especially at night, as that will only interrupt your sleep. Some teas that help release melatonin hormones are chamomile teas.

Furthermore, don’t bring your worries to bed. Try to resolve them as much as possible before you enter your bedroom. You can write down the necessary tasks you need to do first thing in the morning so that you can take them off of your mind too. Then, as you crawl back to bed, practice relaxing breathing techniques to help you drift off to sleep faster.

5. Exercise And Be Proactive During The Day

A person who’s physically active during the day actually has greater chances of sleeping better at night. Exercise will help increase the effect of melatonin hormones in your body. Also, spending time under the bright sunlight also helps in regulating your body’s natural circadian rhythm.

However, avoid intense physical exercising close to bedtime as that will only stimulate your nervous system and increase your heart rate so much that it’ll be so difficult for you to fall asleep.

6. Control Your Food Intake At Night

Avoid consuming heavy and large meals at night, as well as going to bed with an empty stomach. When you’re too stuffed, your digestive system will keep working as it processes food, keeping your brain actively awake. You may also experience indigestion during the night, which will undoubtedly result in a night of broken sleep. Moreover, your metabolism slows down as it prepares your body for sleep, which means the large meal that you consumed won’t be digested properly and will turn into stored fats and weight gain.

The same goes for when you go to bed starving. If you go to bed hungry, your body’s insulin levels will drop. This occurrence is otherwise known as hypoglycemia. This condition can cause problems like dizziness and headaches, making it impossible to sleep at all.

Wrapping Up

It may be hard to break out from your bad sleeping habits at first. However, there’s no one else who controls the quality of your sleep except you. By consistently following the tips mentioned above, you’ll surely get the good night’s sleep that you deserve.