10 Tips For Better Sleep
Have a regular sleep schedule. I know I’ve said this a million times, but our brains love consistency. It is so much easier for our brains to know that it is time to sleep if we are going to bed at the same time every night, and waking up at the same time every morning. Yes this also means not sleeping in on weekends.
The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of nightly sleep. I know there are always those people that say I’m fine with five or six hours of sleep. They are the exception rather than the rule, and often they’re lying to themselves. Our bodies and our brains need a certain amount of sleep to restore ourselves for the next day. You will be more efficient, and you will feel better if you prioritize sleep.
Beds are for sleeping and sex. That’s it. If you are doing anything else in bed, like working, or watching television, you are training your brain that beds aren’t only for sleep, and this can make it hard for your brain to shut off and go to bed at the end of the night.
Follow-up point, laying in bed for hours without sleeping is bad. If you haven’t fallen asleep within 20 to 30 minutes, get up and get out of bed. If I am laying for hours in bed and not sleeping all my brain is learning is that bed equals being awake. We want bed to equal sleep. Get up, do another quiet activity until you feel sleepy again, then go back to bed and try to sleep.
Do something to relax before bed. Our brains and our bodies need time to wind down before we go to sleep. If I run 10 miles and try to go instantly to sleep it’s going to be hard, right? Same thing if our brain is running a mile a minute. If I’m working right up until my head hits the pillow my brain keeps running.
Have a bedtime routine. Maybe my bedtime routine is to have a cup of tea without caffeine, I read a book for 20 minutes, brush my teeth, and a change into jammies. If I do the same routine every day it will start to signal my brain that it’s time to go to bed. Think about when you were teaching your kids to sleep. Your routine probably looked something like bath, jammies, story, bed. What worked when we were kids works for us as adults too! Our brains love routine.
Turn off the screens. Yes I know you hear this all the time. Part of it is the light that computers, televisions, and cell phone emit. It messes with our sleep cycles. But also if I am checking my phone and my emails before I go to bed I’m not letting my brain relax. Grab a book instead.
Exercise daily. We know from the research that people who exercise regularly fall to sleep easier and have a better quality of sleep.
Eat a healthy balanced diet. Feeding our bodies healthy foods is good for our brain, it’s good for our bodies, and it can help us sleep better. Healthy regular meals also help regulate our body’s energy throughout the day so we are less likely to have the highs and lows in terms of fatigue that come from junk food.
Meditation or visualization before bed. If you are having trouble shutting your brain off when your head hits the pillow this can help. Just Google meditation for sleep to find examples online. A calming activity like a meditation or visualization exercise can help turn down my brain’s noise, get my brain focused on relaxation, and get me to sleep.
Like any change, better sleep takes work. It takes consistency, and sometimes when we are trying these new strategies our sleep can get worse before it gets better. This is normal. This is because my brain doesn’t like change so it will resist these new routines at first. But I promise you over time you will have a better quality sleep and you will have more energy in the morning if you implement these strategies consistently!