6 Ways to Improve the Quality of your Sleep
Do you struggle to fall asleep? There are millions of people around the world that find it challenging to drift off to dreamland as well. Insomnia, broken sleep, restless legs, and poor quality sleep are all common sleep disorders seen in every society throughout the world.
Before you run off to the doctor and are prescribed sleeping medications to solve your problem, there are a few other natural solutions you should look at first. Getting a good night’s rest has a lot to do with the state of mind, state of your digestive system, and environmental conditions.
By examining each of these areas in your daily routine, you may be able to solve the riddle of why you can’t develop good sleeping habits. Here are five things to check before you make an appointment with your medical professional for a sleep assessment.
#1 Upgrade Your Mattress and Pillow
The first place to start is by examining your mattress and pillows. A good bed is an important requirement of getting a good night’s sleep. Don’t just purchase a bed off the shelf at the lowest price you can find. It’s worth investing a little money into your sleep. Choose to buy your bed from a company that has been manufacturing mattresses for years. A good manufacturer will use quality memory foam, a stable structure and the latest design technology to produce a sleeping experience you will enjoy every night.
#2 Regulate Your Sleep Cycle
Rising in the morning and going to bed at the same time every night is essential to establish proper sleeping cycles. Our brain relies on circadian rhythms to know when to go to sleep and when to wake up. If your bedtime is continually changing, you will struggle to establish a regular sleeping pattern.
#3 Coffee is for the Morning
Coffee smells and tastes great in the morning, heck, it’s how most of us make it through the first part of the day. However, consuming too much coffee after midday can result in excess anxiety and hypertension. The adrenal system becomes overstimulated, and sleep is often hard to achieve. Keep your coffee for mornings only.
#4 Melatonin Helps
The natural over-the-counter supplement; melatonin, is fantastic for helping the body fall asleep. Melatonin helps the body relax and drift off to sleep.
#5 Enhance Your Sleeping Environment
Change the sleep dynamic of your room. What kind of curtains do you use? It’s best to have thought, dark curtains, with a white lining on the exterior. These curtains will help to keep the effects of the sun out of the room and keep the temperature pleasant when you want to sleep in during the morning.
#6 Avoid Exposure to Blue Light before Bed
Put your phone down an hour before bed. While we all love to veg out in front of the TV at night staring at our mobile devices, it may not be the best thing for our sleep. Studies have shown that the blue light emitted from the screens of mobile devices and laptops can interfere with body’s natural circadian rhythms causing sleep disorders.
Drifting Off
If you implement these few tips over the next week, you may find that you dramatically change the quality of your sleep. Give them a try and if that fails to make an appointment to see your doctor for another solution.
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I find it easy to fall asleep this time of year, but summer is a whole different story. In Denmark right now, we have only about 8 hours of daylight. In the height of summer, we only have about 8 hours of darkness. Even dark curtains don’t help in the summer. It seems that ever since I moved here I’m either under-sleeping or over-sleeping!
Lots of great ideas. I wake up sometimes and can not get back to sleep. It drives me nuts wasting so much precious time in bed when I should be sleeping! I was talking to my husband about getting curtains for our window to really block out the light.
Great tips. I am exhausted. This holiday season really burned me so I need to catch up and then focus on some of these tips to continue to get some nice rest every evening.
Thanks for the great advice on improving sleep. I have a hard time finishing up work on my phone before bedtime so I’m often on my phone in bed. I guess I need to get rid of that habit for a better nights sleep.
The blue light thing is interesting to think about. My phone has a blue light filter that I have to automatically turn on an hour or so before bed. My bed is also only like three years old but is starting to sag in the middle :(.