Sleep is the foundation of nearly every aspect of your health, from your focus, your mood, your energy levels, and your correlation to diseases. So not only is it essential to get enough sleep each night, but it is also important to get good quality rest so your body can heal and repair itself.
If you have a hard time falling asleep, you regularly wake up during the night, and you feel tired and restless throughout the day, you are likely not getting the high-quality sleep that your body needs for optimal health and wellness.
Fortunately, getting better quality sleep may be as easy as improving your night-time habits. Here are some steps you can take to better sleep.
6 Steps to Better Sleep
1. Stick to a Sleep Schedule
Inconsistent bedtimes can disrupt an individual’s circadian rhythm, which is the internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle every 24 hours. When our internal biological clocks are disrupted, we are more likely to experience poor quality sleep and, often, less sleep. Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule is essential to getting enough sleep each night and good quality sleep. Similarly, regular bedtimes have been found to improve memory, cognitive flexibility, mood, energy levels, and better weight management in adults. Therefore, we recommend sticking to a consistent sleep schedule each night, even on weekends, for more sleep and better quality sleep.
2. Turn Off Electronics
We are all guilty of spending too much time lying in bed on our phones. But as you scroll through social media one last time before hitting the pillow, you may not realize that you are disrupting your sleep by looking at your electronics. For one, the blue light emitted from the screen suppresses melatonin production, a hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle. When our bodies do not get enough melatonin, we can experience insomnia at night and tiredness during the day.
Looking at electronic devices before bed also stimulates our brain, making it harder to fall asleep, and sometimes stay asleep. This negatively impacts the quality of sleep you get and the number of hours you clock each night.
We recommend putting your phone or tablet away at least 30 minutes before going to bed. Instead, try picking up a book or doing a meditation practice to quiet the brain.
3. Keep Your Room Cool and Dark
There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night sweating or spending most of the night tossing and turning while kicking off the comforter. If you go to bed cold, then why are you waking up uncomfortably hot?
At night, our body temperatures drop, and the heat leaves our bodies through our hands and feet to reduce our core temperature. If the room temperature is too warm, our internal body temperature can become disrupted, causing us to wake up and have poor quality sleep. The optimal room temperature is around 65°F. We recommend creating a cave-like feeling by closing the blinds, turning off all lights, and sleeping with a fan on. Also, change your bedding in the warmer months, so you avoid getting too hot at night.
By creating a sleep oasis before going to bed, you are setting yourself up to have a good, restful night’s sleep.