7 Ways to Improve Your Sleep

Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Do you have trouble losing weight or feel groggy in the morning? If you do, you should definitely read this.

Here are seven important tips on how to improve your sleep habits.

1. Minimizing or Avoiding Stimulants

Do you want to take a guess of what the biggest offender is?… drumroll… alcohol. It’s important to limit alcohol within three hours of going to bed because it is something that will negatively impact the quality of your sleep. Even though you might be asleep for seven hours, it doesn’t mean that you are getting the proper REM and deep sleep that you need. Have you ever woken up after a night of drinking and felt a little crappy, under the weather, and have some brain fog? That’s the effects of alcohol.

Decrease TV and phone time! If you are using blue light, please consider wearing blue light blockers after 7 pm. Otherwise, this can be a huge stimulant. See number three for planning and preparation.

Third, consuming caffeinated beverages after two o’clock such as soda, coffee, or iced tea can contribute to restless nights.

You also want to limit any type of decongestants or other cold medicines because they act as stimulants.

Lastly, you want to try to limit aerobic exercise after six o’clock, or at least three hours before bedtime.

These are all things that can keep you awake or prevent you from going to sleep in the first place.

2. Decrease Nighttime Tension and Anxiety

First, avoid any anxiety-provoking or stimulating activities before bed. Some examples of these activities are watching the news, having an argument with your child or spouse, doing financials, reading the stocks, etc.

The more you perseverate on what you need to do the next day, the more stressed you become, followed by a rise in cortisol levels. Also, try to limit negative judgments associated with not being able to go to sleep. If you feel like you can’t go to sleep, and you keep having thoughts about why you can’t go to sleep, then that will also feed into the inability to fall or stay asleep. When you start to have those thoughts, try taking some diaphragmatic breaths and remind yourself that there is nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.

3. Planning and Preparation

The most important aspect of preparing for sleep is developing some type of ritual before bed. We know that the amount of sleep is really important and it’s a little bit different for each person. However, you do want to think about allotting for eight to nine hours of time in bed, although all of that will not be actual sleep time. So, when you are preparing your schedule keep that in mind so you can strive to prepare for that amount of time in bed.

Another thing to plan for is preparing for sleep about 30 minutes before bed with something that will relax your nervous system. This could be done by breathing, meditation, yoga, reading, essential oils, taking a bath with Epsom salt, etc. So, there are lots of options and you just need to figure out what is best for you.

You also want to think about finishing eating within three hours of bedtime. The late-night snacking is not ideal because your body is trying to digest, which is a huge metabolic process, while you’re trying to rest, regenerate, and repair. It’s really challenging to do both of those things at the same time.

Overall, just think about preparing your body to relax, so you can calm your nervous system. Epsom salt baths and lavender can be really powerful for that.

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