Good sleep has a direct impact on your physical and mental health. It affects your energy, productivity, and emotional balance.
However, from time to time, some of us can be faced with insomnia. But you shouldn’t panic. You probably have more control over the quality of your sleep than you think. Daytime habits and lifestyle are two major factors that you can use to your advantage when it comes to resting well during the night.
Here are some ways on how to sleep better to improve your mood, enhance your mood, brain, and heart’s health as well as boost your immune system , vitality, and creativity.
25 Tips to Sleep Better at Night
1. Create and Stick To a Sleeping Schedule
If you recognize your natural sleep-wake cycle, you’ll feel much more refreshed and energized after sleeping. You should keep it as strict as possible but there’s no problem with altering it by an hour or two when it’s necessary.
2. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
This way, you can set your body’s internal clock and enhance the quality of your sleep. Pick a bedtime around the time you begin feeling tired.
3. Don’t sleep in
Not even on weekends. The more your sleep schedule differs, the worse the feelings of fatigue would be.
A daytime nap is a better solution for catching up on some lost sleep than sleeping in.
4. Get a loud alarm
To actually wake up in the morning, you’ll need to be alerted, and there’s no better way to do this than having a loud alarm.
Better yet, keep the alarm well out of arm’s length. This way, you’ll actually have to get up to turn it off.
You can even download an application that keeps sounding the alarm until you go take a picture of something in your house –preferably far away from where you sleep- that you specify beforehand.
5. Don’t nap for too long.
15 to 20 minutes in the early afternoon is the longest you should do. If you’re already experiencing trouble falling asleep, napping for a long time and in the evening can make it a lot worse.
6. Stimulate yourself.
If it’s long before your bedtime and you feel drowsy, don’t succumb to the feeling. Go call a friend, prepare your outfit for the next day, or pay some bills.
7. Manage Your Exposure to Light
There's a direct relationship between light and Melatonin -a hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. In the dark, your brain secretes more melatonin to make you sleepy.
When you’re exposed to light, the secretion of melatonin decreases to keep you alert. You can now probably see why managing your light exposure can affect your sleeping Keep your light exposure to the morning. The closer it is to the time when you wake up, the better.
8. Do your activities outdoors
If you do any outdoor activities like walking your dog, keep it in the morning rather than at night.
If you don’t have the freedom to be exposed to direct sunlight in the morning, you can use a light therapy box.
This box simulates sunshine and can be very useful especially during shorter winter days.
9. Stay away from blue light
Try to steer away from bright screens at least an hour or two before your bedtime.
The blue light that electronics including phones, computers, tablets, and TV can be very disruptive.
You can lessen the impact of that light by using devices with smaller screen size, reducing the brightness, or using software that alters light.
Furthermore, you should also avoid backlit devices as they can cause more damage than e-readers with no integrated light source.
10. Sleep in the dark
Make sure your room is completely dark or that you wear a sleeping mask if you can’t reach total darkness. If you get up in the middle of the night, use a nightlight or very dim light to make it easier for yourself to fall back asleep.
11. Integrate Exercise Into Your Day
Exercise generally helps you sleep through the night and feel less sleepy throughout the day.
It also elevates symptoms of insomnia and sleep apnea as well as maximizes the amount of time you spend in the deep stage of sleep.
12. Do vigorous exercise
Your sleep benefits are directly related to how vigorously you exercise.
But that doesn’t mean a 10-minute walk wouldn’t noticeably improve your sleep quality as well.
13. Be consistent and determined
Your sleep benefits are directly related to how vigorously you exercise.
But that doesn’t mean a 10-minute walk wouldn’t noticeably improve your sleep quality as well.
14. Do your exercise in the morning
If you do it close to your bedtime, it may interfere with your sleep.
Apart from that, it will definitely speed up your metabolism and stimulate hormones such as cortisol.
Unless you do yoga or low-impact exercise, which can help promote sleep.
15. Manage what you eat and drink
What you eat and drink during the day has a huge impact on how well you sleep. So make sure you keep track of the food and drinks you consume throughout the day.
16. Try to eat food that helps you sleep
Natural herbs such as Ginkgo biloba and lavender can really improve your sleep.
Other nutrients like glycine, valerian roots, magnesium, and L-theanine can also help you fall asleep faster and more easily.
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17. Don’t consume too much caffeine and nicotine
The caffeine you drink can disrupt your sleep up to ten or twelve hours after you drink it.
18. Don’t drink and sleep
Alcohol can significantly interfere with your sleep cycle. And it simply doesn’t mix with a good night’s sleep as it blocks REM sleep -the stage that is responsible for learning and retaining memory.
Moreover, it can negatively affect breathing and increase your trips to the bathroom.
19. Don’t eat and sleep
Having a nice burger at 10 PM may seem tempting, but you should definitely stay away from greasy food when it’s close to your bedtime.
And it’s all the more better if you just stay away from food later in the evening altogether.
20. Relax and Release Stress
Suppressed feelings of stress, worry, and anger may give you a hard time falling asleep during the night.
If you want to learn how to sleep better, you should learn to dominate your thoughts and control your emotions.
Leaving your mind to wander might really obstruct your way unto a good night’s sleep.
21. Use External Stimulation
Listen to a calming playlist, watch a short documentary, or listen to a podcast. Anything would be better than leaving your mind to wander with worry.
22. Try some relaxation techniques
Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and "going to your happy place" can all help you fall asleep more easily.
23. Teach Yourself How to Get Back to Sleep
It’s common for people to wake up sometimes during the night. However, if you find it hard to fall back asleep, you might need to use these tips:
24. Focus on relaxation
Don’t worry about your inability to fall asleep but rather try to make getting rest and relaxed your main goal.
25. Don’t give up
It may be hard to stick to the habits that enhance your sleep, but that shouldn’t put you off.
It takes 10 weeks for a habit to actually form, so take your time and enjoy the steady progress no matter how slow it is.
26. Invest in a Comfortable Bed, Mattress and Pillow
Your bed quality plays a major role in your sleeping quality, remember why do you enjoy the hotel bed, pillows and jumping on the mattress
Final Thoughts
If you have a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep, or falling back to sleep, using the techniques above can help you fall asleep better.
While it may be frustrating to feel like you're not getting the sleep you need, stressing about it can make it worse.
Instead, put the effort into preparing a better sleep environment, relax, and enjoy your break from life’s responsibilities until the next day.
