Getting to bed these days proves a challenge to many people, simply because of how busy current lifestyles have become. You always feel like you are rushing somewhere 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and this constant state of rushing seeps through into your bedtimes. You end up tossing and turning in bed because you cannot sleep – and that leads to health effects such as mental health illnesses, poor performance, and weight gain.
If you are experiencing hardships when you are trying to get some sleep, you are not alone. It goes beyond buying a comfortable bed ad mattress, such as a helix mattress. You can promote sleep by adding some activities to your bedtime routine that promote the advent of sleep. Even if the body does not feel tired, you can do these 8 actions to switch it to night mode.
Turning off your phone
There is no denying that your smartphone, laptop, computer or tablet are all great when it comes to scouring the internet and connecting to others through phone calls, text messages and social media. However, they can prove to be a major distraction and lead to less than ideal sleeping conditions. You might be tempted to wake up in the middle of the night and check wither you have new notifications, but this causes harm to your long term health – along with looking at the screens themselves.
Thesedevices all emit blue light, which prevents the brain from producing melatonin, the hormone that encourages you to sleep. Nighttime is for resting – make sure to encourage resting by disconnecting from social networks, switch off your phone, and get into bed.
Read a book
among the major causes of poor sleep is stress, a recent study revealed that getting a book to read before bedtime can reduce your stress levels and results in improved sleep.
It may not seem so, but reading actually reduces stress levels by as much as 68 percent – it only takes five to seven minutes to calm your nerves once you begin reading a book. In addition, research has also uncovered that 39 percent of people who read books before bed get to sleep very well and feel energized the following day.
Listening to pink noise
You may not have heard of it, but it is a cousin of white noise and helps you sleep better, according to recent research – in fact, it is even more effective than classical music. This noise type features low and high frequencies that are more smooth and natural sounding; similar to what you would hear from a waterfall or ocean wave crash.
the study on the effects of pink noise concluded that individuals exposed to it before going to sleep ended up with better concentration levels the following day and better retention of information.
Turning off your home thermostat
Heat is another major enemy of proper sleep, and just makes you feel uncomfortable. To ensure a better sleep time, turn off your thermostat. This is because the temperature of your body will naturally increase and reduce throughout the day, but it always drops significantly when your body is about to go to sleep (which is likely why colder days make you very sleepy).
Optimal temperatures of the bedroom should always range between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Taking a shower 30 minutes before bed
If your usual waking up routine involves taking morning showers, you might want to change that – especially when it is warm. Research already confirms that warm baths can help you relax before bed, but warm showers have the same effect.
Having a warm shower at least 20 minutes before hitting the sack will make your body temperature increase and increase tiredness, but it encourages he body to cool off faster and stimulate the increase of melatonin.
Wearing socks
You probably are familiar with the feeling of cold feet forcing you to wake up in the middle of the night, or failing to let you sleep at all. Well, you can combat that by wearing socks. In fact, the National Sleep Foundation recommends that you wear a pair of socks when heading to bed so that the body instinctively knows it is time to sleep. These socks also help your feet stay warm – so no more waking up with cold feet.
Lavender aromatherapy
The rise of aromatherapy is great because it shows more people want to implement natural-based solutions to deal with health problems. Among these, aromatherapy is quite famous for its effects on both the sleeping patterns of a person, as well as improving your mood.
Among all the essential oils you can use, lavender is the most famous one due to its effects on your stress levels, and therefore playing a role in enhancing the quality of your sleep. There are some studies that have found it to help patients who suffer from insomnia, and improving the sleep quality of healthy people as well.
Sort out your schedule for the next day by writing a ‘To-Do’ list
When you are trying to sort out your things or create schedules for the next day, it can become very difficult to catch some proper sleep, such as when you are travelling the next morning. These can easily cause stress when you are trying to sort out all of them in your mind, and leave you tossing and turning every few hours.
combat this problem by taking five minutes to write down everything you need to do the next day, and if you are travelling, to write a packing list that you will use when you wake up. This will create a sense of relief, because it tells you that you are in the process of dealing with your responsibilities, which reduces your stress levels and helps you sleep faster.
Final thoughts
The key to sleeping better is establishing a night routine, but sometimes this can be impeded by the stresses of life and communication. When you make your routine boring and mundane, it encourages the body to relax, let go of its stresses and worries, and helps you to sleep.
