I’ve written about sleep many times now, mostly about how I need more of it, but I think it is high time that I shared some of my tricks and hacks with you. Welcome to my guide to getting a better night’s sleep so you can be a better person during the day.
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Clean your room
One of the simplest ways to ensure you get a great sleep is to clean your room. Clear the surfaces of clutter and dust, hoover the floor, and make sure your bed linen is fresh. This is beneficial for a number of reasons. First of all, removing the rubbish will help promote a calming environment that will make it easier to fall asleep. Second, a clean bedroom will have less airborne nasties that can irritate your airways. Clean air can help reduce dry mouth, snoring, and runny noses when you sleep.
Have a bath
I don’t need an excuse to have a bath, any old reason will do. But the fact that having a bath before bed can help you head off to the land of nod is the only reason you will ever need to indulge in some bubbles. I am a fan of chilling in the bath for a number of reasons, sleep isn’t the only one. For me, it’s about getting clean, relaxing my muscles after exercising, and having a little bit of alone time. And *alone time* is hard to get when you have four kids running around you.
Take a supplement
We live in a crazy world, and despite our best, intentions, it can be hard to switch off. I’m not ashamed to say I have tried different natural supplements over the years to help me get to sleep. At the moment, there is a lot of interest in CBD for sleep and how it can help with various sleep disorders. Now, this is important, so listen closely, do not confuse a supplement for drugs and alcohol. Both are known for having adverse effects on your sleep cycle so you should steer clear of them.
Get organised
Being organised is not the same thing as having a clean room, although having a clean bedroom can be part of being organised. I find that being organised for the next day can help me sleep better because I’m not stressing about stuff. For the during the day, I have a pretty intense routine to keep me on track. Yes, it is tough, and yes, there are days I just wanna throw my hands in the air and binge-watch Netflix. And yes, there are days I have done that, only to regret it when I’m running about like a headless chicken the following day.
No screens before bed
Hands up who has stayed awake for hours on social media when they should be sleeping? Yep, me too. In fact, one of my biggest crimes is working in bed! We are all guilty of spending too much time on our phones and laptops, especailly over the course of this year (thanks COVID!) however this can mess with our sleep patterns. The blue light that your phone gives off can mess with your sleep patterns so it is better to ditch the Instagram scrolling for during the day.
Cut out the sugar and caffeine
This should seem pretty obvious but sugar and caffeine are designed to keep you awake. That is great during the day, not so great when you are wanting a solid 8 hours of sleep. This is easier said than done as caffeine and sugar are both highly addictive substances. I’m not even going to leave a link for this fact, it’s been reported so many times in the past. Another fun fact is that you should avoid caffeine and sugar after 4pm so that your body has time to process them and remove them from your body.
Meditation and journaling
Over the last few years, I have found meditation to be a great way to fall asleep. About 10 years ago, I could not sleep. Every night was the same struggle to get a few hours of shut-eye. I have no idea how I discovered the power of meditation, I was too tired to remember much, but I do know it was life-changing. For about a year, I used a meditation CD to help send me to the land of nod. In the last couple of years, I discovered the joy of journaling at the end of the day too. This can be very useful to get things off your chest so that you don’t go to sleep with stuff on your mind.
Have a routine
The one thing that can help you get settled at night is having a routine. I’m not going to lie, it can take a while to get into the swing of it but once you get the hang of it, it will be second nature. Can you use all of the ideas I’ve listed above to help create a bedtime routine? Of course you can! The important thing is to tailor it to your needs. As time goes on, and you find it easier to go to sleep, you can chop and change things to suit you.