If we are struggling to sleep well at night, follow these top tips to help us put down that glass of warm milk and ditch the sheep counting.
Practice Good “Sleep Hygiene”:
This does not mean making sure our bedding is clean! It means following good sleep habits, especially ensuring the bedroom environment is conducive to sleep. Among experts' recommendations: Use the bedroom only for sleep; keep regular sleep and wake times; eliminate afternoon caffeine; banish pets from the bedroom; ensure the bedroom is a dark, cool, quiet place; and get computers and TVs out of the sleep environment, because they stimulate the brain and their light tells the body "it's daytime," disrupting the internal clock.
Get Ourselves into Routine:
Go to bed at the same time every day. Simple, like children, we need routines to tell our bodies when it’s time to shut down.
Choose a time when we normally feel tried so we don’t toss and turn.
If we need to change the time, do it slowly over a few nights with 15minutes increments.
This is especially hard for people with wavering, active schedules, like students and parents. On busy days, it’s difficult to be firm with a routine. If we don’t fall sleep until the wee hours of the morning, or if we don’t have sleep schedule at all, try going to bed a half an hour earlier each week, or set a time to get in bed and stick with it. Eventually our body will get used to going to sleep at that time and it will begin to come naturally.
Wake up at the Same Time:
Likewise with bedtime, we need a regular time to get out of our bed sleepyhead. Try and maintain this even at weekends.
If we are getting enough sleep, we should awake naturally without the help of an alarm clock. Adjust our bedtime accordingly.
No shame in a nap:
If we have a late night, top up our sleep bank by squeezing in a power nap in the day as opposed to having a lie in.
The ideal time to nap is early afternoon and for no more than 30 minutes.
Don’t fall asleep in the couch:
A decision to nap is different to just dozing all the time.
If we find ourselves falling asleep in front of the telly, or worse, at our desk – get up and do something else to wake up. Make a phone call, go for a walk, do that pile of washing- whatever it is, try to stick to our sleep timetable.
Expose ourselves into more light during the day:
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone to help us regulate our sleep pattern. It is controlled by light exposure and our brain should secrete more during the evening to help us nod off.
Help our brain out by getting outside, without sunglasses, in our lunch break or walk into work in the morning.
At night, keep it dark by turning off our TV or computer while we try and go to sleep.
Adjust our evening meal:
Stay away from big meals in the evening. Don’t eat heavy, rich food 2 hours before bed and fatty foods take a lot of work for our stomach to digest, which will keep us up.
Alcohol in the evening will reduce our sleep quality and whilst we might think it will help us to fall asleep, it will probably wake us up in the middle of the night.
Consider a Natural approach:
Certain herbal teas can help us relax and fall asleep. Chamomile is a popular herb that slows the nervous system and promotes relaxation, for example. As always, consult our health care provider, use herbs and other supplements only as directed, and make sure to read labels. Some herbs may react with certain types of medication or cause adverse effects in individuals with liver disease and pregnant or nursing women. Other liquids, such as a small glass of warm milk, may also help.
Take Control of Our Worries:
Let’s face it—most of us lead very stressful lives. Stress, surprises, and changes can take a toll on our sleep habits. Schedule some downtime each day for meditative activities like stretching or a hot bath. Try to decrease our brain activity before bed by writing down our thoughts in a journal and closing the book on the day. If thinking keeps us up at night, get out of bed and try to be productive. Deal with those thoughts (pay the bill that you are worried about forgetting, make a to-do list, etc.) in a positive way, and come back to bed when we’re ready to sleep.
Get a Check Up:
If we toss and turn most nights, it may be time to see a physician. We could be suffering from one or more sleep disorders, including insomnia and sleep apnea. The sooner we find out what's wrong, the sooner we can fix it. Sleep disorders are dangerous to our health, so if we suspect something is wrong, tend to it immediately.
All this talk is making me sleepy... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ..
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