Irregular sleep patterns can make anybody to fall ill. You may try tossing, turning, and counting sheep and nothing seems to work. The key to good sleep, in fact, can be found in the steps you take throughout the day, and a few hours before bed. These are some tips to help you get over this problem.
The truth is, we lose touch with sleep more and more every day. Technology, stress, energy drinks, stress, readily prescribed medications, and did I mention stress? All of those things contribute to sleeplessness, and I can almost guarantee everyone who reads this list will struggle with at least one of the above.
Meditation
Meditation can be a great quick fix for one night (or for every night). According to the Huffington Post, a 2009 study found that meditation could even help with insomnia.
Meditation is one exercise that will help you not only during those seven hours of sleep but during your daily life as well. The key to meditation is to find relaxation. Understanding how to find relaxation within yourself can help during the day with stress and daily life, which will ultimately affect your sleep.
Change Your Sleeping Area
If you’re serious about getting good sleep, get rid of the television.
Sure, relaxing in bed and watching television can be a fun pastime but it can be harmful to your sleeping patterns. Keeping your bedroom a place strictly dedicated to sleeping will make it easier to crawl into bed and be asleep within a few minutes — rather than a few hours that could be spent asleep.
This may take some time to get used to but within a few weeks there will be a significant difference in how you sleep.
Change Your Diet
Instead of eating a high carb meal an hour before bed, eat something light and healthy a few hours before bed.
Dinner should be your lightest meal and should have no caffeine. After dinner, it’s best to stay away from the desert as well if you have trouble sleeping. Things like chocolate are not only high in sugar but may also be high in caffeine as well, which can be detrimental to good sleeping habits.
Don’t Smoke
Just like caffeine, nicotine is a stimulant. Smoking a cigarette before bed or a few hours before can lead to being awake much longer than you planned. Smoking can also lead to sleep apnea and exacerbates things such as asthma.
It’s best to not smoke at all but if you’re going to, try to keep it before five p.m. or at least four hours before your bedtime.
Don’t Take A Nap
If you are absolutely exhausted and need a nap, set an alarm and limit it to no more than twenty minutes. Alternatively, you can opt to eat something healthy for energy rather than sleeping. Even one nap can ruin your sleep schedule and make it hard to fix later on.
Reduce Caffeine In-take
It seems so simple to just skip that extra cup of coffee in the morning or skip your green tea for a day, but the truth is, drinks aren’t the only place caffeine can be found.
Sure, getting rid of them will help significantly but there are other places to cut caffeine. If you suffer from migraines or any ailment that requires some form of aspirin, you could be doing yourself more harm than good by taking two Excedrin to get rid of that nasty headache. You’ll be better off taking some time to find a caffeine free aspirin or taking an aspirin designed for night time rather than regular aspirin.
This combined with careful watch over other caffeine intake can be a sure fire way to fall asleep fast that night.
Exercise
Exercise on a regular basis, and you
will sleep better. Not only will you sleep better, but you’ll have more energy
when you’re awake-and not just because you slept better, but because exercise
has a weird way of helping us go to sleep and giving us more energy. For this reason,
don’t work out right before bed, or you’ll likely end up more awake.
Studies show that even a small amount of exercise had people claiming that they were sleeping better throughout the night. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a study that they concluded showed that men and women both claimed that they slept sixty-five percent better with 150 minutes a week of exercise than those who didn’t.
Stick to a Schedule, Establish a Ritual, and Keep a Diary
Humans are funny creatures of habit, and our bodies usually work quite well when something is done ritualistically. For example, exercising randomly every few days won’t do much, but exercising every day for 30 minutes will over time make a huge difference. The same thing goes for sleep. Establish a calming ritual that you do every night before crawling in bed, and you will probably find it easier to transition from being awake to being sleep. The ritual is also a time to relax and let go of stress and thoughts that crowd your head and keep you up.
Some ideas include…
- Drinking a cup of warm tea a half an hour before bed
- Doing a series of gentle stretches
- Reading 1 chapter exactly of a book every night
- Doing a series of gentle stretches
- Reading 1 chapter exactly of a book every night
Take a warm bath: There’s nothing quite like sinking into a warm tub to wash the stress of everyday life away and it also feels great to crawl into bed nice and clean. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil (lavender is great) to get the soothing benefits of aromatherapy as well.
Sip something: Making up a nightly drink to help you fall asleep has the double benefits of the drink itself lulling you off to dreamland, and the ritual of drinking it which tells your brain and body “ok, it’s time to relax.” Doing something like reading while you drink your night time beverage adds a nice dimension to this habit.
Sip A Glass of Warm Milk
Does milk actually make you sleepy? In short, probably not on a chemical level. While there is the sleep inducing amino acid tryptophan in milk, studies are debatable that it actually does do anything. Much like turkey, the levels aren’t such that they would have much of an impact. But all of that doesn’t mean it won’t make you sleepy at all, and there is still reasoning behind a glass of warm milk, mostly in terms of psychology. Many people find the warmth soothing and relaxing, helping them unwind both physically and mentally. The routine of a glass of warm milk is like any other routine that you need to complete before bed, getting you one step closer to falling asleep.
Thank you for taking time to read this article. I hope it was useful. Please always visit this blog for more health tips.