Easy Habits for a Better Night’s Sleep

Your quality and amount of sleep play a big part in how your awake hours will go. Sometimes it’s hard to make sure that you sleep enough and well enough. Here are some tips that can help you get a more well-rested night’s sleep.

 

Make Your Room a Sleep Space

Your environment affects both how quickly you fall asleep and if you sleep well. You can adapt your bedroom to make sure that you sleep well at night.

When you go to bed, turn the temperature down a little bit. We sleep best when the room is around 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit.
In addition, if you have pets or children, make sure they do not share the bed with you. It’s tempting to have Fluffy join you, but you are less likely to get a restful night’s sleep if you do.

Finally, make sure you only use your bedroom for sleep and intimacy. It might be comfortable to sit in bed with your laptop and work. However, doing so teaches your brain to associate your bedroom with work. You’re more likely to stay up thinking more if you do this.

 

Have a Consistent Sleep Schedule

Do you have a hard time getting up in the morning? A big cause of this can be from not having a consistent sleep schedule.

Essentially, you want to go to be and wake up around the same time every day. It can be tempting to wake up later on the weekends; I mean what’s forcing you to get up early? However, by waking up at the same time every day, your body starts to get used to it. Over time, it expects you to wake up at that time. Your body will send out signals right before you need to wake up that gently wake you up, instead of being awoken by your alarm. You’ll feel more awake and refreshed.

Going along with this, you should go to bed around the same time. In a similar way, around bedtime, you’ll start to feel tired. This will prevent you from having as much trouble falling asleep because your body expects it.

 

Don’t Hit Snooze

Hitting the snooze button is a complete waste of time. Sure, the idea of “five more minutes” sounds great, especially if you’re groggy. But it’s doesn’t really help.

When you push snooze, you’re only going back to bed for a short period of time. This isn’t enough time to fall into REM sleep, which is the kind that actually makes you less tired. Instead, you’re simply putting off the inevitable fact that you have to wake up. Plus, then you have to dread waking up every time you press snooze.

 

Water by Your Bed

Putting water by my bed is something I just started doing recently. And it has definitely helped me feel better. It kind of serves two purposes too: a drink in the middle of the night and a drink when you wake up.

I sometimes get thirsty in the middle of the night. It’s not too often, but when it happens, it’s a pain to go to the kitchen, get a drink, and go back to bed. A lot of times I wake up too much from walking around and have trouble falling back asleep. With the water right by my bed, I can grab a quick drink and go back to bed with little problem.

The real help with having water nearby is for the morning. Overnight, you aren’t drinking anything for around eight hours. Plus, you’re you might be sweating a tiny bit too. Over that many hours, you lose a ton of water and can end up dehydrated. Some of our morning grogginess is caused by this. But, if you can drink some water as soon as you wake up, you’ll feel more awake and refreshed. Keeping that water right by your bed is a good way to ensure you’ll be hydrated every morning.

 

Exercise During the Day

Exercise may not seem like it would help with sleep. But, surprisingly, it does. A study by scientists from Northwestern University linked aerobic exercise a few times a week with higher quality sleep. You are a ton more likely to wake up with a little pep and be ready to take on the day.

Just be sure you exercise well before bed. You could exercise first thing in the morning. If not, perhaps try right after you finish work. This will prevent you from feeling too wound up when you head to bed.

 

Stop Drinking Caffeine 6 Hours Before Bed

In a similar vein, you want to stop drinking caffeine a few hours before bed. Six hours is the recommended number to be safe.
Caffeine stays in your system for multiple hours after intake. This can make it harder to fall asleep when you actually need to.

 

Do you have any additional tips for getting a better night’s sleep? Leave them in the comments below!