Five Tips to Sleeping Well
Five Tips to Sleeping Well
I'm hearing more often of how people have been struggling to sleep since the break of the pandemic and was intrigued as to why this might be. What has changed and how might that effect our sleep?
Here's what I came up with and some quick tips to help improve the quality of your sleep.
Reasons:
1. Staying up later than normal, because there's no urgency to get up the next morning.
2. No structure or routine to your day.
3. Eating differently; eating more; eating later.
4. Worrying: finance; home schooling; Covid 19, working from home - the list goes on!
5. Drinking more alcohol or coffee.
6. Not as active.
Five Tips:
Limit your news intake
Try to limit checking news updates to the mornings only. Taking in such sad or depressing information just before sleeping may increase your stress and anxiety levels.
Get Outside
Exposing yourself to natural light plays an important part in balancing your circadian rhythm, which helps control your body's internal clock. Exposing yourself to light also produces a hormone called melatonin which aids your sleeping and waking patterns.
Eat well and exercise
There have been so many changes to our daily routines recently and changes to our diet and drinking habits can have a huge effect on our sleeping patterns. Here are some important things to think of:
Switch to decaf after midday and limit alcohol to weekends only. I know, I know - this is a hard one, but alcohol will disrupt both the quantity and quality of your sleep . Additionally, eating much later (probably because you're starting your day much later) will also contribute to the amount of 'deep sleep' that you get.
Studies have shown that regular exercise and being active during the day can also help you sleep better by relieving any worries or anxiety, but avoiding doing it too late in the day. You may feel over energised and have trouble falling asleep.
Journaling your worries
Writing down your worries before you sleep can help to stop them from building up inside your head and from becoming bigger than they need to be. Have a think about whether the worry you've written down can be solved or if it's out of your control. Try really hard not to worry about things that you can't control, especially those 'what if's.' If you still can't sleep after twenty minutes, don't just lie there. Get up and do something relaxing, like reading a book or listening to music.
Set the scene
Take time to set the scene and wind down. You'll want to get the room to a comfortable temperature, which is slightly cooler than you'd probably want. Anywhere between 15-19C will insure you're comfortable but don't over heat. Swapping to silk pillowcases and sheets, which are naturally temperature regulating will help to insure you're cool in the summer and cosy in the winter, as well as managing those pesky menopausal symptoms. Shop our range of Silk Pillowcases here
You could also try:
Dimming the lights; putting away electronic devices; lighting a scented candle; burning oils or wax melts; taking a bath: using a lavender based pillow spray or meditating using one of our lavender filled eye pillows.
So why is sleep important?
Improves mood
Boosts the immune system
Stay a healthy weight
Reduces stress
I think you'll agree those are all very important reasons to get your sleep back on track.
Good luck and let me know how you get on!