Sleep is an incredibly important aspect of all facets of health and wellness. The quality and quantity of sleep that we get influences almost every part of us, from our general health, cognitive function, and stress levels, so if you’re not getting the sleep that you need you may find yourself facing a myriad of issues down the line.
So, if you’re struggling, what can you do to overcome your sleep issues? Many people would suggest taking sleep medication, but medication isn’t always the best way to resolve your issues with sleep. So, without resorting to medicine, how can you improve your sleep?
Create An Environment Which Encourages Sleep
The first thing you should look at is the environment in your bedroom, if your bedroom isn’t set up for a good night’s sleep it’ll be no wonder that you’re struggling to get the sleep your body needs. The two biggest environmental factors in your bedroom for sleep are light and temperature.
For light, your bedroom should be as dark as possible to encourage good sleep, so you should ensure that all lights are turned off and that you have a set of made-to-measure blackout blinds on your window to prevent light from leaking into your room. Then for temperature, your bedroom should ideally be around 18c, which is the perfect level of ‘not too hot not too cold.
Exercise During The Day To Burn Off Excess Energy
Another factor that can cause poor sleep is having too much energy left in you when you go to bed, this is especially true if you live a sedentary lifestyle. If your body is full of energy at the end of the day, you’ll struggle to sleep as while your mind may be tired, your body is as energized as ever.
So, to combat this you should try to burn off some of your energy before getting ready for bed with a bit of exercise. Even just going for a short jog will help burn off some of your body’s leftover energy, which will make getting to sleep much easier.
Use Wellness Techniques To Prepare For Sleep
If you’re going to bed stressed, or with a lot on your mind, you’ll struggle to fall asleep as your mind is distracted focusing on your worries rather than sleep. Stress creates an unfortunate cycle of not sleeping due to stress, then being more stressed the following day due to your poor sleep.
You should look to break the cycle of poor sleep and stress by practicing wellness techniques. Wellness techniques like meditation, aromatherapy, and deep breathing can help de-stress your mind before bed, allowing you to be more relaxed come bedtime.
Be More Rigid With Your Sleep Schedule
Us humans are creatures of habit, our minds and bodies work much better when they have a routine to follow, sleep is no exception to this rule. If your sleeping habits are scattered and erratic, you’ll find it hard to sleep as your body’s internal clock can’t find a good rhythm to follow.
To resolve this, you need to try to stick to a general sleep schedule. Ensuring that you go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day will help create a routine for your body to follow and after a few weeks you’ll find yourself feeling tired near your set bedtime and easily waking up at your set wake-up time every day.
Put Down Your Electronic Devices
Another thing that can cause poor sleep is exposure to ‘blue light’. Blue light exposure most often comes from the Sun, which makes our bodies think that it is daytime, the problem is that the light emitted by electronic screens such as TVs and smartphones is also blue light, which delays our sleep process by making our brains think that it is still daytime.
If blue light exposure is causing you to have poor sleep, you should look to place a curfew on your use of electric devices before your bedtime. Avoiding exposure to blue light in the hour or so leading up to your bedtime will allow your body to properly prepare for sleep and you will find that you fall asleep much easier without late-night blue light exposure.
There you go, you now have 5 foolproof ways that you can utilize to overcome your sleep issues without needing to use any sleep-related medication. Making small changes in your life like exercising more or practicing mindfulness will greatly improve your sleeping habits and in turn, help improve your general health and mental well-being.
While there may be other issues causing you to have poor sleep, the five things we mentioned are some of the most common causes of poor sleep, so if you have adopted these changes in your life and you’re still struggling to get enough sleep, you should consult with a medical professional.