It’s estimated by the National Institutes for Health that 7% to 19% of adults don’t get enough sleep and that 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders.
Good, quality sleep plays an essential role in our physical health by being critical to healing and repairing the heart and blood vessels, reducing blood pressure, and fighting off germs and sickness.
If you’re having trouble sleeping and looking for some tips to get better rest, check out these four tips.
1. Your Bedroom
If it’s not already, you should design your bedroom toward sleep, and it should be dark, quiet, and cool to create the optimal environment. If you live in an apartment or high-traffic area, you may want to utilize blackout curtains or a good sleep mask to help keep excessive light from disturbing your sleep patterns.
It all starts with the bed, and a cooling hybrid mattress can be the perfect foundation on to build upon. It’s well-known that lowering your body temperature promotes better sleep, and even though you may enjoy the benefits of sleeping in the nude, a quality mattress is always best.
Try to avoid spending time in bed surfing the web or checking email. That laptop/phone/tablet counteracts your body’s natural sleepiness because they emit short wavelength blue light, which triggers your brain into staying awake.
Lastly, get in bed around the same time every night instead of waiting until you feel sleepy. Various sleep times can result in a lighter stage of sleep, and training your body to start the process on a schedule each day can help immensely with better sleep.
It may be tempting to stay up later on the weekends, but this can disrupt your sleep cycle and your body’s circadian rhythms.
2. Take a Breath
There are several ways you can breathe your way to better sleep, but one of the most popular is meditation. Taking 10 minutes right before bed to close your eyes, concentrate on your breathing, focus on positive things, and shed the stress of the day can help clear your mind and promote a better quality of rest.
3. Avoid Naps
An occasional nap is fine, but if you’re regularly struggling to fall asleep at night, it shouldn’t be an everyday practice. Naps reduce the homeostatic sleep drive that makes you sleepy, and if you simply must have a nap, opt for a short 30-minute one so you don’t slip into the deeper stages of sleep.
A short 20 to 30-minute nap can reduce fatigue, improve mood, and sharpen focus, while longer ones can leave you feeling more groggy and tired. If you just can’t wake up within that time and your alarm isn’t doing the trick, a shock clock may be the answer.
4. A Helpful Accessory
You should probably reconsider if you’re listening to your favorite music as you drift off. If you’re into the music and focusing on it, it may affect your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Instead, try listening to relaxing nature sounds or using a white noise machine.
Replacing the tunes you know by heart with soothing sounds can make it easier for you to zone out and fall asleep faster.
Sleep Better
If you have insomnia or trouble falling and staying asleep, you must consider implementing some changes seriously. Lack of quality sleep can have severe effects on your day-to-day functions as well as your health.
Implementing the tips we shared above may not be a “magic bullet,” but the fact is that a lot of people do sleep better by incorporating at least one or two of them.
