A good night’s sleep is critical to your overall health and well-being. Despite this, millions of Americans regularly experience poor quality sleep.
Whether you’re waking frequently throughout the night or you struggle to drop off, it’s important to take action. With these handy tips, you can hone your routine and begin enjoying great quality sleep every night:
- Stay Awake for Longer
When you’re feeling tired and you’ve been missing out on sleep, getting an early night seems like an obvious solution. However, if you don’t fall asleep quickly, it can create a negative feedback loop and result in your having further problems. By encouraging yourself to stay awake for longer, you can use reverse psychology to actually increase your chances of getting a decent night’s rest.
- Wear Blue Light Lenses
Blue light, which is emitted from phone, TV, laptop, and tablet screens, blocks melatonin, which can make it much harder for you to fall asleep. By wearing blue light glasses, however, you can continue to use screens in the evening, without them having a negative impact on your sleeping habits. When you use blue lenses, your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle is uninterrupted, which means you won’t find yourself scrolling through your phone at 2 am wondering why you’re still awake.
- Keep Your Feet Warm
If you’ve ever heard the expression, ‘you can’t sleep with cold feet’, you might be surprised to learn that it’s actually true…sort of. When your body cools down, it also sends signals to your brain to sleep. By keeping your feet warm, you’re sending more blood to this area of your body, which cools the rest of your body by promoting heat loss. As a result, you should find it easier to fall asleep when you wear socks in bed or use a hot water bottle to keep your toes warm.
- Try ASMR
The autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) creates feelings of positivity and relaxation, which make it easier to relax and fall asleep. Although ASMR isn’t yet widely understood, it’s grown in popularity in recent years. Millions of people routinely watch ASMR videos on streaming sites or listen to ASMR audio on apps and report good results. With blue light lenses, you can even watch ASMR content as you drift off.
- Start Meditating
Meditation can help you to feel more relaxed and peaceful during your waking hours, so it’s not surprising that it promotes a good night’s sleep too. Try meditating for a few minutes before you go to bed at night, and it can help to clear your mind of worries that might usually keep you awake.
Refresh Your Sleep Routine
If you’ve got into the habit of having poor quality sleep, it’s essential to find ways to realign your relationship with restful sleep. By changing your nighttime routine, you can modify the way you feel about your sleep and enhance your body’s ability to relax. As a result, you’ll find it easier to get sleep at night and feel more refreshed and energized when you awaken.