Any of us can be affected by poor sleep, below are some tips on how to improve your routine to encourage a restoring night's sleep:
Light
It is important to reduce light within your bedroom, aiming to have as dark an environment as possible. Any light leaking into your room will affect your sleep and the time your body wakes. Blackout blinds or curtains are a great solution. Low light bedside lamps will also help.
Pre-bed routine, be consistent
To promote a good night's sleep it's a good idea to adopt a pre-bed routine. Ideally, this would start 30 - 60 minutes before you intend to sleep. Our brain likes routine so it is key that you aim to sleep and wake at the same time each day, even on the weekends.
Use of Electronic devices
We strongly recommend to stop using electronic devices up to an hour before bedtime. Viewing feeds or messages whilst in bed, or as soon as you wake doesn’t allow your brain the appropriate amount of time to unwind or reboot. Have a digital free sleep zone.
The blue light emitted from devices suppresses the production of the sleep hormone Melatonin. So, keep those phones, tablets, laptops and TVs out of your bedroom.
Also, consider buying an alarm clock (that doesn’t emit much or any light).
Make your bedroom exclusive: a place for sleep and sex
Your bedroom is the room reserved for sleep and sex, any other activities are best left to another room in the house, this helps our brain associate the bedroom solely with these activities.
It is also important that your bedroom isn't too warm. Your bedroom should ideally be between 16 C - 18 C, This helps the body reach the ideal temperature to be ready to drop off.
Morning sun fresh air and exercise
There is a direct correlation between natural light and your circadian rhythm. It is great if you can get at least 30 minutes of sunlight exposure outdoors within 2 hours of waking up. Consider your morning routine and how to inject light exposure into it.
Exercise encourages sleep, aiming for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 3 times a week can bring great results. However, it is best to avoid rigorous training in the evenings within a couple of hours of when you would like to sleep, as your body may not be able to shut down so easily.
Avoid caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol
Although a drop of alcohol might make you feel sleepy, it has a negative effect on your ability to reach a deep sleep state. If you are a smoker, then avoid any nicotine an hour before bedtime. Many of us use caffeine during the day to give us a lift, beware that caffeine stays in your system for between 5-9 hours. So plan to avoid this having an effect on your sleep. Try switching to drinks with lower caffeine content in the afternoon. Or even better, drink water!
And if you are having trouble falling asleep….
If you find yourself struggling to fall asleep then there are various ways to overcome this.
It is important not to overthink, a good technique to combat this and to encourage relaxation are breathing techniques. A simple yet effective example is as follows: Breath in deeply for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds and then breath out for 8 seconds. Repeat this for 2 minutes (and add it to your pre-bed routine to help unwind from your day.
Should this not work for then our suggestion is to visualise your beautiful place, (mine is a forest in the Autumn) this also will help you to relax and distance yourself from the day.
If you can't get off to sleep or wake and can’t get back to sleep then it's important to not spend time in bed lying awake. Try getting up and out of the bedroom, and do a relaxing task such as reading, even a easy jigsaw puzzle and then restart your pre-bed routine.
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