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5 simple ways to improve your sleep

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Are you constantly hitting snooze in the mornings? Do you have to set two alarms just to wake up (okay, maybe five alarms)? Then you’re probably getting poor sleep. Insufficient sleep, or sleep that’s just not deep enough, can have a significant impact on your health and happiness. It makes you less productive at work, more irritable, and throws your body out-of-whack.

So how do you fix your sleeping issues without spending a fortune on a specialist?  Sleepfamily.com answers your most common questions related to sleep, health and overall wellbeing. Why don't you take a look at their resources?

Lets take a look at these brilliant tips for improving your sleep—without breaking the bank or changing your entire routine.  

1. There’s an app for that

If you don’t know exactly what your problem is with sleeping, you won’t know how to fix it. To start improving your nightly rest, first download a free app (or upgrade to a premium version) that tracks your sleep patterns, mood, and even snoring volume to identify the issues you might be having in catching those much-needed Z’s.

Here are some great apps to get the low-down on your low sleep quality:

Other apps are designed to relax your mind and help you doze off through sleep sounds and meditations:

  • Relax & Sleep Well
  • Pzizz
  • Calm
  • Headspace
  • YouTube - search for relaxing videos and meditation playlists

Once you identify why your sleep is off, you can then work on regulating your routine, fixing your circadian rhythm, and calibrating your internal clock—that way, your body does the work for you. 

2. Invest in better pillows

Heavy is the head that wears the crown—and even heavier is yours when you’re sleeping. Don’t let your precious head rest on less-than-precious pillows. Invest in some high-quality cooling foam bed pillows so you have a soft, restful place to lay the most important part of your body—your brilliant, creative mind.

If you’re one of the countless people currently working from home, you might be suffering from back pain due to hours spent slouching before a screen. This can have a horrible effect on sleep—look into purchasing a pillow specifically designed for shoulder or back pain to alleviate your discomfort and upgrade your slumber.

3.  Read before bed

If you want to fulfill your New Year’s resolution of reading more and drifting off to sleep faster, then start leaving a nice, long novel on your bedside table for a serene evening of page-flipping. Doze off to the hypnotic words of your favourite authors and indulge in the melodic metaphors of talented poets and novelists.

Here are some good genres to read in the evenings:

Not all reading has the same effect, however. Avoid reading overly exciting genres that might set your mind ablaze instead of relaxing you. In the nighttime, avoid the following genres:

  • Sci-fi
  • Action/Thriller
  • Mystery
  • Horror/Suspense
  • Self-help
  • Business

While reading motivational books is great in the daytime, it’s not the best antidote for a racing mind.

4. Eat (the right) candy

Okay, this tip isn’t that simple—diving head first into a box of Sour Patch Kids isn’t going to make you sleep better (it’ll probably have the opposite effect). But there is one candy-like treat that will help you sleep: tasty melatonin gummies!

Obviously, you should only ever take however many your physician or the container suggests, but these scrumptious little sleep aids offer a gentle escape into dreamland that doubles as a fun evening treat!

5. Turn off the TV

Nothing interrupts your sleep more than the bright lights of a screen right before bed—whether they are from your laptop, phone, or TV. Sure, your favorite show is on and this last episode may have left on an insane cliffhanger, but is finding out what happened really worth losing countless hours of precious rest and being intolerably groggy in the morning?

I don’t think so.

Fixing your sleep is sometimes as easy as pressing an off button—it just takes a dash of discipline and a few ounces of motivation (with a sprinkle of accountability).

Here are some tips for shutting of the screens so you can get some shut-eye:

  • Turn off your laptop and leave them in the other room at night.
  • Even if you’re working from home, set regular work hours to avoid late nights at the computer.
  • Stop watching shows or movies at least one to two hours before bed.
  • Wear blue light glasses to counteract some of the negative effects of all that screen time.

Give yourself the gift of blissful sleep

If you are motivated to improve your life and fix your sleep, you have all the power in the world to do so. Even though changing your habits means sacrificing that extra hour of TV or those last few reports for work, your mind, body, and relationships will all benefit tremendously.

Soon enough, you’ll see that all that change was well worth the cost. Sweet dreams!

 

Looking for even more sleeping tips?  Check out these articles!