Get better sleep is on the top of most peoples to-do list, but how many people are actually sleeping well? The center for disease control considers insufficient sleep to be a public health problem. One analysis even stated that among 74,571 adults 35.3% reported they were receiving less that 7 hours of sleep, 48% reported snoring and 37.9% admitted to unintentionally falling asleep throughout the day. Not only does having a poor sleep pattern affect your health, but it also robs you of the opportunity to develop a strong morning routine that can help set your day off in a more positive direction. We have put together a list of some simple “better sleep hacks” to help get you sleeping like a baby….or at least the way a healthy adult should be sleeping.
1. Lights out
Source: Tricia Lott Williford
Going to sleep with laptops, televisions, phones, or any unnecessary light can prevent you from getting proper sleep (there’s a reason why we are usually tired at night). Light can inhibit the secretion of melatonin, your bodies natural sleep drug, and prevent you from fully falling asleep. Even the slightest amount of light can still effect you through closed eyelids. Turn out the lights and choose for alarm clocks with red numbers rather than blue ones, and have it facing away from you.
2. Sleep with your own blanket
Is a night long tug of war session keeping you awake? Save your sleep (and a bad case of resentment) by sleeping with your own blanket. John Dittami, an Austria-based sleep researcher stated that “Using one blanket for two people is not conducive to good sleep”. You heard the man! Go get your own!
3. Make your bed
Source: Good Housekeeping
Even if it’s just to climb right back into it, making your bed can give you a much better quality of sleep.According to a poll by the National sleep foundation, people who make their bed everyday are 19% more likely to report a better nights rest.
4. Find your core temperature
Even if you think you can handle those hot summer nights well, studies have found that there is an actual temperature range that helps us sleep better. According to Nancy Collup, MD, director of the Bory Sleep Center in Atlanta “the cold makes us drowsy and a falling core body temperature helps us driftofffaster”. Aim to have the thermostat set between 65 and 72 degrees for an ideal sleeping temperature.
5. Turn on a fan
Not just for the temperature control, but for the noise. Researchers have found that the addition of pink noise (such as the sound of a running fan) can benefit sleep up to 75%. If you don’t have a fan at home you can also find and app or noise machine that creates a similar steady and uninterrupted sound. Many youtube users have also found that listening to videos of people whispering can help gently bring you to sleep, just remember to turn off the light on your screen while listening.
6. Aroma therapy
Lavender has long beenconsidered a sedative, and has even been found to decrease heart rate and blood pressure. In on study done in Wesleyan University, it was found that women who sniffed lavender oil before bed experienced 22% more restorative, low wave sleep. To enhance to overall process add a diffuser to your bedside table and add in 10 drops of lavender oil each night.
7. Stretch it out
A body filled with aches and pain from a long day can easily get in the way of a healthy night sleep as your body works to heal the pain throughout the night rather than restoring other parts of it. Give yourself aten to fifteen minute yoga break before bed, stretching out any parts that feel uncomfortable or stiff. If you can talk your partner into giving you a massge before bed, even better!
8. Put away the wine
While a nightly glass of wine does have some health benefits, and can even help relax you at the end of a long day, if you are finding yourself having a rough nights sleep it may be better to forgo that night cap. Much like falling asleep too soon after eating, your body will spend the night working to metabolize the alcohol and can even have you waking up in the middle of the night to hit the bathroom.
9. Eat an earlier dinner
Source: Practising Simplicity
Late diners (especially those with a habit of eating sugary snacks or drinking drinks with caffeine in it) are likely to find themselves facing some difficulty while going to bed. Instead of your body using it’s energy to heal itself over night like it should be, it will spend it aiding the digestion process instead which could leave you waking up even more tired than you when you fell asleep.
10. Avoid naps
Naps are great foryour kids and people living in Spain, but not necessarily for you. While it may seem like you desperately need one during the day, that extra burst of energy when you wake up may last longer than you like and make it difficult to fall asleep that night. This naturally leads to another difficult night of sleep,, which leads to you wanting another nap, and you can see how a vicious cycle of sleep depravation can easily occur. Save yourself the trouble, pack in that extra cup of coffee during the day (as long as its not too late in the day) and try to fall asleep at a decent time.