A good night’s sleep is just as important as diet and exercise. Sleeping is the time your body and brain need to recover and get ready for yet another demanding day. Poor sleep negatively affects every aspect of your being from your mood, to your brain function and hormones.
Just like everything else, quality sleep is just as important as quantity. If you want to optimize your health, improving your sleep is one of the most important things you can do. Sleeping will forever and always be my favorite part of the day because there is nothing more refreshing than crawling into bed and relaxing after a long, productive day.
But name something more frustrating than rolling over, checking your clock and watching the time tick by while you’re trying to fall asleep, and losing precious time by getting yourself worked up by not being able to fall asleep. We’ve all been there. Luckily, there are so many simple things we can do to improve our sleep.
Use an oscillating fan. Not only is it impossible to fall asleep if it’s hot, but an oscillating fan will block out any background noise from the traffic outside or your boyfriend’s aggressive clicking on his xbox controller.
Create a peaceful environment. I know that my mind is most relaxed and stress-free in a clean, uncluttered environment and associate the color white with peacefulness. Because of this, my bedroom is spacious, always clean, and all my bedding is white. To me, this indicates a harmonious environment and it makes my mind free and body relaxed.
Establish a nighttime routine. Shower, floss, brush your teeth, use your skincare routine, moisturize, clean up so you don’t have to wake up to a mess, lay down, cuddle your cats and read a book. Create a nighttime routine that works for you and after awhile of making this a habit, you may notice that you will start to relax as soon as your start your routine because your body knows it’s almost time for bed.
Go to sleep when you’re truly tired. Do you ever just scroll endlessly on your phone until you cannot even keep your eyes open? THIS IS BAD! When you’re tired, put away the distractions and go to sleep.
Exercise. Burn off all your energy with physical activity. Whether that be going to the gym, biking, or walking, exercise promotes healthy sleep habits. Be aware of the timing, though. Some people, like myself, workout in the morning because it energizes us. Others prefer working out at night because it winds them down.
Monitor your caffeine intake. This is obvious. Sensitive or not to caffeine, don’t consume is for at least 8 hours before you go to bed. Even if it doesn’t hinder you from falling asleep, it could decrease the quality of your sleep.
Use CBD oil. Many people have said that it not only puts them to sleep, but improves their sleep cycle. Check out PRISM CBD.
Lock the pets out. This one breaks my heart a little because there’s nothing more I love than cuddling with my pets, but Leo takes it upon himself to meow me awake before the sun even rises. By locking him out, my sleep quality in the early morning hours increases immensely.
Take melatonin. Melatonin isn’t a “sleeping pill”, it’s a hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin supplements may help you feel tired so that you’re able to fall asleep quicker. I have been taking one every single night for the past couple of years. I swear by it. Shop the melatonin supplements I take here.
Read a book. There is nothing more effective for me to fall asleep than picking up a book. Once I start reading, within 10 minutes I need to put it down and I fall fast asleep.
Age is positively correlated with poor sleep meaning as people get older, they get less quality sleep, whether it be from not being able to fall asleep or not being able to stay asleep. I refuse to get to that point in my life. Sleep is everything, so treat your body well and it’ll be good to you back.
Mandi.