Please Sleep Better - Tips to Improve Sleep

Sleep impacts us in more ways than we care to admit. The lack of it can be detrimental to weight-loss success as well as our overall well-being. We know the much-touted finding that humans need 7–9 hours of sleep to function optimally, but how we get the most out of those precious hours is another question. Part of adopting a healthy sleep habit into our life is to prioritize the ritual of preparing for bed, practicing good sleep hygiene and setting aside the time to actually sleep.

Here, 9 tips that I have personally used at times to ensure solid shuteye becomes nothing short of a way of life:

1 The Right Environment For Sleep

By now, we know to make our bed and bedroom a sleep sanctuary complete with blackout curtains to promote darkness, temperatures between 18-20 celsius and absolutely no technology. It also might seem counterintuitive, but counting sheep just stresses you out more. Try setting time aside to worry so that when your head hits the pillow you have minimal stress.

2 What You Eat Matters Too

Classic culprits like heavy dinners, caffeine, alcohol and them tasty midnight snacks are pretty obvious. However, there are a number of food and minerals that can help; bananas are great for their magnesium and carbs that help produce serotonin, salmon for B6 to help with hormone production and tart cherries for melatonin (to name a few). And a surprisingly beautiful fact is the better you sleep, the better you are able to control your cravings and sugar consumption.

3 Some Sleep Positions Are Better Than Others

Once you’ve created your sleep sanctuary, found the ideal sleepwear to regulate your body temperature, eaten the right foods for better sleep and avoided foods and drinks that hurt your sleep, you’re almost there. Next, consider how you are sleeping. If you sleep on your side (particularly on the right) or even your back, you’re in luck as these are better sleep positions for quality shuteye.

Sleeping like a baby is more than just cliche

4 Sleep Usually Beats Workout Out

When the alarm clock goes off and it’s still dark outside, the natural question becomes: Is it better to complete my very much needed sleep time or working out? Turns out there’s a suggests sleep edges out exercise, but only for those who are largely deprived of sleep. However, instead of making this an either/or proposition, plan to go to bed earlier so you can get in your morning workout, too. A workout that will also provide productivity in the day and allow you to sleep on time the following night.

5 Screentime Is Not Good For Sleep

One of the top culprits of poor sleep is spending too much screen time.. I am a victim of this one too! The blue light emitted from these screens messes with our brain’s production of melatonin, which can reset your body clock and delay sleep. It’s best to set a time to shut off technology, at bare minimum allow some time for yourself and your thoughts away from the screen until your eyes in absolute comfort and relaxation drift you away to dreamland.

6 Exercise Helps You Sleep Better

Sleep and recovery go hand in hand since sleep is when your muscles repair and recover. Just like some good rest helps improve athletic performance, exercising helps your sleep performance by increasing the amount of deep sleep time (REM sleep). Aim to get the recommended 150 minutes of exercise a week for better quality sleep.

7 Naps Can Be A Godsend

If your productivity is slipping, you’re constantly hungry or you fall asleep immediately after your head hits the pillow, all these are signs you are sleep deprived. In these cases, or if you’ve had a particularly heavy training session, a great nap could be a godsend. After all, the best remedy for lack of sleep is more sleep. If you can’t take a nap, try getting outside and soaking up as much natural sunlight as you can and watching your cravings throughout the day.

8 Understand Your Sleep Cycles

We’ve heard a lot about REM sleep, when we dream and how our brain processes emotions and memories, but so much more happens as we sleep. Each sleep cycle stage plays a role in our recovery, and non-REM sleep is linked to consolidating memories and clearing out detrimental compounds in our brains.

9 Know Your Sleep Needs

Being able to hone in on how much sleep you need is perhaps the first step in optimising sleep. Whether you operate fully at 7 hours of sleep or 9, knowing your sleep needs helps you plan your day to set yourself up for success. Find your personal optimisation with trial and error and making a note of energy levels throughout the day. For me personally its 6.5hours :).