Just like eating, sleeping is one of the few activities that people must partake in for their health and survival.
And if you want to maintain good health, it’s necessary to attain at least 7 hours of sleep a night as an adult. This should come in the form of uninterrupted and continuous sleep.
Having too little sleep can wreak havoc on your health. In the short term, it gets you moody and unfocused throughout the day. In the long-term, it can lead to drastic lifelong consequences such as heart and kidney diseases.
That said, this article isn’t meant to scare you sleepless with all these consequences! Quite the contrary. We’re here to give you some actionable tips to help you sleep like a baby.
Without further ado, here are seven tips to help you achieve better rest.
1: Avoid Non-Essential Activities During Bedtime
Do you watch the news on your bed? Are you incessantly scrolling on your phone whilst comfortably laying down? If so, consider doing these things on a chair or sofa instead.
While we all deserve to have a break after a long day, do refrain from using your bed for other activities besides sleeping. And perhaps lovemaking.
Keeping your bed off-limits to distracting activities can train your body and mind to wind down as soon as you get into bed.
It will take about a week for your body to get accustomed to sleeping this way, but once it does, you can enter a state of slumber much faster than you’ve done before.
2: Exercise Regularly
Exercising is an excellent sleep inducer for a couple of reasons. First, exercising raises the body’s core temperature for a good hour.
While it may be harder to sleep during that timespan, the body will eventually cool down and return to a baseline temperature. It’s when the body is starting to cool down that it gets easier for people to sleep.
Second, exercising tires the body out. After a moderately strenuous workout session, your muscles become fatigued, causing you to move your body less and be more likely to enter a state of deep sleep.
The exercises you can perform to sleep better don’t have to be too vigorous. Light cardio exercises like jogging and yoga can elevate your heart rate and make your body wind down more quickly than remaining sedentary.
3: Get Treated for Sleep Conditions
If you constantly find yourself unable to sleep, or feel as if you’re not getting enough productive sleep, seeking medical help might be warranted.
Several common sleep conditions can interfere with our ability to sleep. The two most common ones include insomnia and sleep apnea.
Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Its list of causes is vast, but the most prominent causes are anxiety and general neurological disorders.
Sleep apnea, on the other hand, is a condition wherein the throat passageways close during sleep, resulting in difficulty breathing and incessant rousing throughout the night.
By talking with a doctor, they can prescribe the right treatment plan for your needs.
For instance, sleep apnea patients may benefit from acquiring a personal CPAP machine from a retailer like CPAP Direct, whereas insomnia patients may be prescribed certain sleep medications to sleep more soundly.
4: Take Melatonin Pills
Need a crutch to help you sleep better? Taking melatonin pills before bed can do just that. In particular, the oral version of this pill helps inhibit the bodily processes responsible for keeping you awake.
Melatonin is typically a naturally-occurring hormone that’s found in our bodies. It’s responsible for regulating our sleep-wake cycles, which may be disrupted by various factors such as stress and medications.
Furthermore, it’s also safe and doesn’t make the taker dependent on it. This makes it an ideal option for those who need a completely natural and reliable sleeping aid.
5: Invest in Sleep Products
Speaking of sleeping aids, there are external items that you can buy from your local retailer to help you achieve optimal sleep.
Blackout curtains, for instance, are excellent ways to block out sunlight and other sources of light during the night.
Eye masks act as a second line of defence against distractions, helping you block out any light that may be coming from lights illuminating the bedroom, like your TV and phones.
Besides ample darkness, you’ll also want your body to feel comfortable. Investing in a good mattress topper and down pillows is perfect for calming you down and readying you for sleep.
It’s also important to keep your room at a comfortable temperature (18 to 22° Celsius), as your body can become easily irritated when the temperature reaches the extremities. A good A/C unit and heater can help with this massively.
6: Drink Green Tea
If the stresses of the day keep you up at night, bring your stress levels back to earth by drinking some good old-fashioned green tea.
Green tea contains L-theanine, which is a relaxing amino acid that helps regulate the body’s response to stress. This relaxes the body and mind, allowing you to more easily enter a state of restfulness.
Green tea isn’t the only tea type you can take, either. Lavender tea, chamomile tea, and ashwagandha tea all contain compounds that help induce a feeling of restfulness in sleep-deprived people.
7: Use A Blue Light Filter
While you should always try to restrict phone usage an hour before heading to bed, it’s not impossible for urgent matters to press you during the late evening hours.
In such cases, you may take out your phone. But be sure to apply a blue light filter. The bright blue light emitting from our phones’ screens can be disruptive since it tricks the body into thinking that it’s still daytime.
This filter actively reduces the light waves from your phone, allowing you to use your device for a while without getting you out of the mood to sleep.