10 Tips For Better Sleep

Tired of waking up and feeling like dragging yourself out of bed? Despite sleeping 8 hours or more, why would you still feel like you didn’t get enough rest at all? It’s because you aren’t getting quality restful sleep. When you wake up and still feel that you aren’t well rested, you need to do something about getting the kind of sleep you deserve.

Here are 10 helpful tips that can help you sleep better and wake up fresh in the morning.

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1. Spend more time away from any lit up screen.

You will have to cut down your time watching TV, looking at a computer screen or anything digital that emits light before your bedtime. Your exposure to the lights and the flickering screen stimulates the brain much more so and makes it more alert such that you won’t be getting a full rest. This means people who watch more electronic media before bedtime get lower quality sleep than those who don’t.

2. Exercise regularly.

You have probably heard this advice for many other reasons. The best time to do this would be in the morning or sometime in the day but not at night. Spending time doing some exercise actually helps you fall asleep faster. When done at night, the reverse effect happens. Exerting some physical energy throughout the day should be enough to make your body seek rest at night.

3. Eat the right food at the right time.

That’s right. You don’t just eat according to your whims. Some food can make you sleepy at the wrong time of day and make you real perky at night. The old advice on eating a heavy breakfast and lighter meals throughout the day is pretty true. When you stuff yourself with carbs at lunch, you can’t help but feel droopy in the afternoon and start to wake up later in the day. Does this sound familiar? Avoid too much starchy food at noon and caffeinated drinks at night. Instead, opt for healthier alternatives.

4. Take power naps.

This isn’t taking a 1 hour nap or simply dozing off as needed. Take time off to catch a quick nap and recharge for the rest of the day. When you don’t feel too tired at night, you won’t feel restless in bed. Naps also prevent you from sleeping long hours in the afternoon. This helps you keep a healthy wake-sleep cycle so your body clock wouldn’t be disrupted.

5. Wake yourself up gently.

You don’t deserve to wake up so suddenly by the loud buzz of the alarm clock. Set at least two alarms and use a gentler sound on the first one. It could be your favorite music. It’ll make you come back to consciousness enough to remember there’s another alarm a minute or so after so you have time to wake yourself fully. You can set alarms like this on most cell phones nowadays so you won’t have to keep one too many alarm clocks in your room.

6. Keep a consistent sleep schedule.

Go to bed at about the same time every day. This helps your body stick to a consistent wake-sleep cycle. It’s part of a good sleeping habit as you don’t have to strain your body so much on adapting to new sleep schedules. Habits are hard to change so it is better that you stick to a sleeping habit that works best for you.

7. Sleep on a comfortable bed with nice comfy pillows.

To get that quality sleep, you need to feel very relaxed and be able to sleep disruption free. If you have pets around or share your bed, make sure there’s enough room for you to sleep comfortably in. You need space to sleep in a very comfortable position so you won’t wake up feeling achy in some parts or tired. Try to avoid circumstances that may cause you to wake in the middle of the night.

8. Keep a relaxing pre-bedtime routine.

This could be drinking a glass of milk or chamomile tea, reading a bit, or listening to soothing music. This helps in telling your body that it’s time to unwind and sleep. This helps your mind relax and remove any stimulating thoughts that could be preventing you from sleeping right away no matter how tired your body feels. It never is a good idea to force yourself to sleep when you are tense as your sleep would not be as sound as you would like it to be and you won’t be getting the kind of rest you really need to rejuvenate.

9. Sleep mostly at night.

Although power naps are good, avoid taking longer naps as these could steal some hours of sleep from you at night. Our body generally needs a certain solid hours of sleep and not increments of it to feel well rested and be able to recuperate from the demands of the day.

10. Keep your bedroom as relaxing a space as it should be for your sleep.

It’s generally a better idea to use another space for work, study, or even watching TV. Studies show that it isn’t really good to be reading in bed either. Keep your bed an exclusive place for relaxing and not some space where you do any work. It would be easier for you to block out thoughts that prevent you from sleeping when you settle on a space that don’t remind you of these thoughts.