For many of us, it’s normal to feel lightheadedness and lack energy all day long. Most often, these low-energy days are the result of a restless night with general sleep deprivation.
Sleep is important. It not only contributes to myriad health benefits but also sets the pace for your day. Like many others, if you’re suffering from sleep deprivation, don’t worry. In many cases, some small adjustments and new habits are sufficient to improve nighttime sleep in the long term.
Good sleep leads to healthier days, and these sleep hacks will help you sleep better.
Stop Doing Anything in Bed Unless it is for Sleep
The bed is for sleep only. Keep that in mind. Dump everything related to leisure and fun when being in bed. Avoid “Netflix and Chill” nights, movies, phones, or texting in bed.
All this distorts the brain by letting it normalize these habits when being in bed thus making it harder to fall asleep.
Adjust Room Temperatures on Optimal Levels
You will be surprised that your body and brain fall asleep faster in cooler temperatures. Studies show that temperatures between 19 and 21 degrees Celsius (67 and 70 Fahrenheit) are the optimal ones for a better night’s sleep.
To elevate this procedure, using a specific mattress that regulates the temperature (Hybrid and Innerspring mattresses) does a good job of adjusting your body temperature as well.
Avoid Sugars and Caffeine
We all know this urge of having some chocolate bars, pancakes, and brownies late at night especially when stressed; and we also know the drawbacks and sleep disorders we face after it. Sugar works on giving you energy thus making your sleep schedule change drastically.
This also goes the same way with caffeine. Caffeine levels up the adrenaline levels. Adrenaline is known to give you energy and keep you awake and focused.
Try ditching these two loved foods/drinks hours before bed or at least after 5:00 pm to maintain a good sleep.
Hit the Bed on a Regular Scheduled Time
Sleep training is the key here. Let us take children as an example, parents sleep-train them from a very young age to get the best sleep patterns. Why do not you also sleep-train?
Adults need more sleep training than most ages because the next day holds a lot of hard work and energy consumption. Hitting the bed at the same time each day adapts the brain and body, regulates the circadian rhythms, and optimizes your sleep cycles.
Dim the Light at Least Two Hours Before Hitting the Bed
Every routine and action you do works on sending signals and messages to the brain. These signals work on adjusting all your desired procedures like sleep.
Lights resemble daylight thus being awake. The brain takes this cue as being early in the morning. The trick here is to start dimming bright lights at least two hours before bed to adjust your body to sleep mode.
Your inner-clock start ticking whenever lights are dimmer because your brain starts to adjust itself to sleep.
Clean Your Mattress Sheet Once a Week
How does it feel sleeping on a freshly cleaned sheet? Exquisite right? Despite the fresh and clean smell a new sheet gives us, it has benefits as well.
The National Sleep Foundation survey showed that 73% of people slept better on clean sheets and 85% of people had their sleeping habits improved.
Studies have shown that clean sheets improve sleep depending on how people feel, but clean sheets also have many scientific benefits. Given that the human body is home to more than 1,000 species of germs and bacteria, it can release more than one million skin cells an hour, and a person can sweat as much as a liter of water overnight.
Dust and dirt can cause health problems and allergens that interfere with sleep. Clean the sheet topper once a week and will love your bed more and you will love sleeping more.
Remove Every Smart Device Near You
Our phones and tablets are part of our lives now and we actually can not get rid of them. And this same obsession is the main reason for distorting your sleep habits.
The National Sleep Foundation found that these smart devices emit blue lights. The blue light delays the secretion of the natural melatonin.
Melatonin is responsible for increasing drowsiness and sleepiness. When delaying it, the melatonin levels decrease thus keeping you wide awake and making falling asleep more difficult.
Breaking this bad habit in bed is hard to adapt to and difficult. Here are some tips to help you break your habits:
1. Set your phone to automatically go into night mode at a certain time every day
2. Mute all tablets at night
3. Remove the TV and all devices in the bedroom
These small changes can have the greatest impact on sleep quality, more than any other hack or trick.
Try incorporating some of these sleep tricks into your nightly routine. Keep in mind that it takes a while to get things into the habit, so keep it going. You will fall asleep comfortably and go into a deep sleep experience after a while.
Engage in a Good Intense Exercise
Exercising will make you tired especially if you were having an intense workout. Just make sure to not exercise before your bedtime because your muscles, heart, and brain are stimulated.
Wear Socks
Yes, you heard it right, socks. Myths say that wearing socks while sleeping decreases the chance of blood circulation and let them breathe.
Studies showed that socks balance your body temperature and thus let you fall asleep faster.
Try Aromatherapy
Essential oils a.k.a natural oils work wonders when it comes to sleep. Lavender noted great benefits in soothing your brain and putting it in a relaxed mood.
It also showed after some studies that lavender works on treating insomnia as well. So why not try it if we can?
Written by: Venus Marwani