If you sleep wonderfully and don’t have any issues sleeping, congratulations to you, I am extremely jealous. The truth, though, you are very much in the minority. Most of us either find it hard to get to sleep, don’t get enough sleep, or our sleep lacks the quality we need. As we know, consistently good quality sleep is critical to our mental and physical health and wellbeing. Consequently it’s important that we prioritise our sleep and find solutions or ways to get better sleep. So, to help you out, I thought I’d share my top ways to help you sleep.
My ways to help you sleep! (by no means exhaustive!)
- Dim down artificial night at least 2 hours before bed: Our internal body clocks are influenced by light (specifically production of melatonin which is a hormone that kicks-off relaxation is stunted by light) so avoid using devices before bed and switch off any bright overhead lights for lamps
- Power down up to 2 hours before bed: often we can’t fall asleep as our brains are highly activated and switched on from work, social media or any interactions that drive any sort of emotional response. As such, try to avoid highly engaging activity and wind down with activities that relax and calm you like a bath, reading a book or doing a meditation
- Go to bed the same time every night: getting your body into an evening routine is great way to establish your internal body clock making your body know when it’s time to wind down and wake up
- Eat a light meal: it is always best to avoid a really heavy meal before bed
- Avoid caffeine after 2pm: whilst we are all different and I know people that can have an espresso at a dinner party and then immediately pass out, caffeine does have an impact well after when you have it and can make it hard to switch off. I tend to avoid all caffeine after early afternoon
- Get outside: it’s become easy in lockdown to go a whole day without leaving the house, this is not good. We all need a solid chunk of fresh air and natural light each day. Even when it’s raining, get those walking shoes on!
A lot of our bad sleep comes down to years of poor sleep habits which hopefully my tips for ways to help you sleep will shed light on and make it easier for you to amend. You really must endeavour to tweak or do these small things rather than rely on a sleeping pill to numb and mask the underlying cause. But, if you must try something stronger, go for a natural sleeping pill made from plant extracts, vitamins and minerals like the Paso Sleep Capsules as they are designed to work with your body’s natural processes rather than knock you out.
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