Our Top 4 Sleep Tips
Simple practices for improved sleep
Tip 1: Sleep Enough
Poor sleep habits are like eating junk food or never exercising. Your sleep can have a serious impact on your health, productivity, and quality of life. Even one hour less of sleep per night can have detrimental effects on your body and mind. When it comes to sleep, the general idea is that more is better. Short naps can improve your daily functioning even when you are already sleeping an adequate amount. The optimum nap is less than a half hour if you are not sleep deprived. If you are, then you should take a longer nap of about 90 minutes. Try to keep your naps short if you aren’t sleep deprived. If you sleep for too long during the day you can disturb your evening sleep, which often results in waking up during a deep phase of sleep.
Tip 2: Consistency
Many people complain that they can’t get to sleep at night or have trouble waking up in the morning. One tip to fall asleep is to keep a consistent sleep schedule is key to addressing these problems. Make sure that you go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Starting a bedtime ritual can also help you fall asleep. Doing the same relaxing ritual every night, like reading a book or writing in a journal, signals to your brain that it’s time for bed. It’s also helpful to keep your bed for sleeping. This means that the only activity you do on your bed is sleep – no surfing the web or chatting with friends on your bed. If you reserve your bed for sleeping, then your brain will associate it with sleep. This can help you fall asleep faster at night. If you can’t fall asleep, get up and do something else. If you start to associate your bed with tossing and turning, then you’ll find that it’s harder to fall asleep when you want to.
Tip 3: Create a wind down ritual
Another tip to help you sleep is to not eat or drink close to your bedtime, since doing so can keep you from falling asleep. If you do need to eat, try to avoid foods high in sugar, protein, or fat. Some drinks, like coffee and soda, can affect your sleep even if you have them hours before you go to bed. Keep away from stimulants, like caffeine and nicotine, beginning in the early afternoon. Even though alcohol is a depressant, it can still reduce your sleep quality. Try not to over consume before you go to sleep, and be aware that even if you sleep for a long time after a night out, your sleep quality has been significantly diminished.
Tip 4: Be thoughtful about light
Use light to your advantage. If you are exposed to light right when you wake up, then you will feel less groggy and more alert. A great way to expose yourself to light is to sleep near a window, so that the natural sunlight helps you to wake up feeling alert. On the other hand, it’s important to keep yourself away from bright light before you go to bed. Light stimulates our brains, so exposing yourself to bright light could make it difficult to fall asleep.