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Luckily, there are natural habits that can help your body to fall asleep faster at night. We believe that you can sleep better if you try these 6 sleep tips below.
1. Create A Bedtime Routine
The trick to preparing for rapid eye movement (REM) is to follow the same pattern daily. This is hard for people who travel or sleep in different places throughout the week such as flight attendants.
At a minimum, establish a time to prepare for bedtime, a type of clothing to wear, an activity to calm yourself, and order of self-care habits. This could resemble going to bed at 9 pm after drinking a glass of milk, brushing and flossing, and reading a chapter in your book.
Some suggestion can be reading books, turn on the nightlight, and burn incense. Try to establish a pattern that’s easy to follow.
2. Avoid Eating Too Much Before Bed
A typical bedtime routine for many of us involves eating ice cream or cereal. This gets your body charged up with sugar or other kinds of carbs, meaning your body will be actively digesting food and circulating sugar throughout your system when the goal is to decompress. Having a heavy meal before bed is also prevents your body from fully rested as your stomach has to digest food all night.
3. Avoid Caffeine Late In The Night
While some people swear coffee doesn’t keep them awake at night, the fact is that caffeine is a stimulant to your central nervous system. Even if caffeine itself is not very effective at keeping you awake, speeding up your heart rate is not a good idea prior to bedtime. Among sleep tips, this is one of the most important because your body gets used to whatever you consume each night.
4. Maintain A Technology-free Zone In The Bedroom
You shouldn’t have too many lights or devices blinking and isolating you while you are trying to fall asleep. Each distraction keeps your mind actively focused on patterns. If you must use your cell phone, tablet, or computer before bed, then do this in another room.
Don’t leave the TV on while you are in bed. Some people swear by playing music at night. An alternative is to play a digital nature sound machine and to program it to shut off after a couple of hours. Try falling asleep to the sound of a waterfall instead of staring at your TV screen.
5. Choose The Right Kind Of Pillow
Another factor that affects sleep is your sleeping position. You can get a sore neck, back pain, or sciatica from sleeping in the wrong position. You might also have difficulty breathing without having full-blown sleep apnea. It is extreme for you to pay attention to your sleep accessories as it play a critical role in health. You can buy several kinds of pillows and determine which type helps you sleep better.
6. Allow Enough Time For Sleep
While the average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep, each person’s body is different. If it takes you an hour to fall asleep and you want an average of 8 hours, then you need to create a schedule that includes 9 hours plus the time it takes to complete your bedtime routine. Make adjustments for days when you are clearly sleep-deprived. If you only got five hours of sleep last night and tonight you feel sleep-deprived, then you need to go to bed earlier to catch up on your sleep. While you might not be able to sleep 11 hours, some extra shut-eye could help.
A chronic difficulty with falling asleep, getting back to sleep after you wake up in the middle of the night, or sleeping through the night could mean that you have insomnia or sleep apnea. Rather than relying too much on over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids, talk to your doctor. You might need a sleep doctor’s professional evaluation.
About The Author:
Chris Nguyen is the Founder & Publisher at Sleep Standards – A health blog that provides research-based sleep health advice, actionable sleep tips, and unbiased sleep product reviews. He aims to inspire better sleep and make the world of sleep easy to understand for everyday people. Check out SleepStandards.com to find out more about Chris and his work. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.