1. Sleep in a colder environment
Your thermal environment especially your head and body is important factor that determines not only how easy you can fall asleep it also affects your sleep quality, whether you are overheating because of heavy blankets or clothes or just being in a hot room, they have all been shown to decrease slow wave sleep and REM sleep.
Your body temperature has to lower by two to three degrees F or 1.5 degrees Celsius. The cold actually helps your body produce melatonin, and your room should be below 70 degrees F, ideally between 60 to 68 degrees F (18.3 degrees Celsius), in order to encourage your body's natural melatonin production.
2. Take a hot shower or bath
When you take a warm shower at night, you help the natural thermoregulation process. During the shower, your body heats up thanks to the water. Then, when you get out of the shower, the water quickly evaporates from your skin and your body can’t hold on to the heat, cooling you down and signalling to your brain that it’s time to sleep.
3. Put away the clock
By simply having a clock showing how much you haven’t slept is not productive and can cause more stress.
Time monitoring is strongly linked to stress and lower sleep quality.
4. Avoid caffeine
You should minimise or avoid caffeine including any sugar drinks contains it, tea and also chocolate.
It can take as long as eight hours out fully so it is best to avoid them late in the day.
It is also worth avoiding eating too close to bed.
5. Exercise
Exercising and being physically tired can help you fall asleep faster, although working out two to three hours can keep you up longer so earlier in the day is better.
6. Relax before bed
Make sure you are actually relaxing before bed.
If you try to sleep when you are not tired you just won’t be ready to sleep.
Doing a relaxing activity an hour before bed like reading is the best way to get you in the mindset for sleep.
7. Get some sunlight
Make sure you are getting sun exposure during the day and minimising your light exposure during the evening.
It is important to get natural sunlight for at least 30 minutes a day to help condition your sleep schedule and promote tiredness.
7 tips to sleep better
Posted by Adam Barker on