Since life in the 21st century demands more productivity and provides more abundance than ever before, at times one considers pulling all-nighters or sleeping as little as possible. However, doing so always backfires and for good reasons.
Sleep is like a debt, either you pay it now or pay tomorrow with added consequences. While it may seem like a nuisance, it’s more important than food. That’s right, more important than food. People have fasted for months but no one can survive more than 48 hours without sleep. Those who have tried or were insomniac have suffered grave consequences to their health and mental well-being as well.
The question here is, how do we manage to get a proper night’s sleep? With so many distractions around how do we ensure that we sleep the right quantity and without any distraction? Well, we’ve got 6 tried and tested tips that we believe will help you get your good night’s sleep.
1. Realize The Importance of Sleep
The CEO and founder of HuffPost, Ariana Huffington used to work really hard when her company was in the start-up phase. She used to pull all-nighters very often, which eventually led to her mental breakdown. Thereupon she was educated by sleep-doctors on the importance of sleep, which led to such an infatuation with sleep that she ended up writing a best-selling book on this subject.
The lesson for all of us here is that we can’t fight sleep but instead if we take advantage of it, we will be more focused and productive. Instead of falling asleep only when we are completely exhausted, we should schedule and prioritize it. If you really put your mind to it and educate yourself on the value of sleep, you will find it to be much easier to prioritize it.
2. Have A Pre-sleep Ritual
What we do in the hours before we sleep has a huge impact on the quality and quantity of our sleep. Eating a huge meal or drinking a cup of coffee in the last four hours of our day will only make the process more difficult. Similarly, binging on social media or Netflix before falling asleep is a bad habit that most of us have.
For someone who goes to sleep around 11 PM, it is advised to not consume a large meal or coffee past seven. Another
good practice is to keep your phone silent and away from your bed, even better if kept in another room. It is also advised to not exercise strenuously right before sleep either.
Reading a book before going to bed has been known to help in winding people down so that they’re able to have a restful sleep. This is a great alternative to scrolling through your phone, which will only keep you up for hours on end. Some people find writing in a journal or planning out the next day on a piece of paper to be a very effective strategy to fall asleep.
Every person is different and therefore, we suggest you find out yourself what works best for you to help you relax after a long day so that you’re able to have a more restful sleep.
3. What You Do During Your Day Matters Too
We often think our sleep is affected only by the things we do before bedtime but that’s not entirely true. If you have a sedentary lifestyle and don’t do anything during the day that makes you physically tired, then chances are you will have trouble falling asleep. A good solution would be to add an exercise routine to your day.
This doesn’t have to be an extraneous activity, just brisk walking for 30 minutes in a day can be a good habit to help you fall asleep easily. Anything that pushes you a little beyond your comfort zone will work because it tires you out.
4. If You Wake Up, Try Falling Asleep Again
Waking up in the middle of the night is a common issue that many people have to deal with, and it can really ruin a good night’s sleep. This can either happen due to the need to urinate, a coughing attack, snoring, or even a bad dream. There could be countless other reasons such as sudden loud noise or sleep apnea. Whatever the case, there’s no question that the intrusion permanently damages the quality of our sleep.
No matter what the intrusion is, you should try falling asleep again once the issue has been taken care of. We don’t need to start scrolling on our phones or turn on the TV. We just need to close the lights and tuck ourselves back into our beds. Think about meditative breathing exercises or soothing music to help you fall back to sleep.
5. Don’t Drink Water or Any Liquid Before Your Bedtime
Drinking anything liquid before bedtime will just have you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, which will be a nuisance and ruin your restful sleep. Make it a habit to always use the bathroom right before going to bed, and not overdoing it with the water. Not only will you have to go to the bathroom but you might also need to turn on the lights which can further affect your sleep. If drooling is something that wakes you up in the middle of the night, then you need to look into how to stop drooling while you sleep by doing some research from reliable sources. It’s mainly a sleeping position issue, and the amount of water you drink before bed does play a part as well.
6. Reduce Your Room And Body Temperature When You Sleep
Except for the cold winter nights, try reducing your body temperature. You can either do this by turning on the fan, the AC, or taking a shower. Taking a 90-minute shower is widely known to improve sleep. If a full shower seems like a very big deal to you, you can try immersing your feet in water for a few minutes. Some people suggest a relaxing massage.
If your mindset about the importance of sleep is right, you will find what works best for you. Just know that instead of reducing your sleep time to get more out of the day, it’s better to sleep more to perform better while you are up. Make sure that you keep these 6 points in mind, and you’ll instantly start seeing a change in the quality of your sleep.
