A good night’s sleep makes you feel fresh and energized the next day. And if you miss taking a proper sleep, it can leave you lethargic the entire day and cause mood swings. If you’ve been unable to sleep properly at nights, you can fix it. A lot of times, a healthy habit formation can help you restore normal sleeping pattern. All you need to do is, follow some easy steps to achieve a better sleep given below.
Measures For A Better Sleep At Night
Rectify Your Sleeping Pattern
If you go to bed at 1 am and wake up for work/school at 7 am, you can’t expect proper sleep or an active day. You have no choice but to rectify your sleep pattern. A minimum of 7-hours of night sleep is necessary for the body to relax and restore the body’s energy levels. When you don’t give your body the needed time, it fails to restore the energy and you end up feeling tired mostly. Make it a habit to sleep for 7 hours without any interruptions.
Another problem with the pattern of sleep is inconsistency. There are people who sleep at 11 o’clock sometimes and at 12 o’clock, 1 o’clock or whenever the other times. Inconsistency in the sleeping pattern is the cause of not falling asleep for so many people. Our body follows a proper schedule for everything and becomes habituated to things we do regularly. For instance, you feel hungry at specific times of the day because your body knows you eat at that time. The same way, when you sleep and wake up at the same time every day, your body identifies the sleeping and waking time and you easily fall asleep. If you don’t have a specific time, figure out the most convenient time and go to sleep at that time every night. While you won’t fall asleep right away, in the beginning, follow the pattern to slowly witness a change. After about 21 days, your body will get used to the sleeping time and you will automatically fall asleep and have a better sleep.
Take A Warm Shower
When you take a shower in warm water, it helps your body feel relaxed. Add a nice smelling soap or body wash to your bathing routine to make it more relaxing. Once you are relaxed, you are ready to fall asleep. You should ideally take a shower once you are done with all the work and will go to bed soon after taking a shower.
Once you are done taking shower, you can also follow another regime to further relax your body. You should apply a gentle smelling moisturizer to your body before sleeping. Give your toes a gentle massage. Also, use a soft bedsheet and pillow cover for the body to rest on. Caring for yourself before sleeping gives you a sense of satisfaction and relaxation that helps to achieve a better sleep.
Have Something Warm Before Sleeping
When I say have something warm, I mean warm milk or warm water. Milk has calcium which is a relaxing agent. So, having milk before going to sleep helps you have a sound sleep. Similarly, having warm water helps relax the body. Water acts by balancing the levels of hormones and the warmness makes the throat relax as it passes down. Besides this, warm water has a number of other benefits. It helps in the process of detoxifying your body overnight and is a good cure for constipation and other digestive problems.
Avoid Having Caffeinated/ Nicotine drinks Before Sleeping
It is possibly one of the worst ideas to go to bed after having coffee or tea. When you have caffeine or nicotine, you witness a sudden burst of energy and become wide awake. Once that happens, you can leat expect sleep to come to you. And once you have coffee or tea, you have made it past your routine sleep time and your body finds it hard to sleep once the sleep time is crossed.
Avoid Having Alcohol Before Sleep
It might seem to be a good idea for many to have one or two shots of alcohol before sleeping. It makes it seem like alcohol induces sleep. While it might help you fall asleep, it disturbs the quality of sleep. And when you wake up in the morning, you are hungover. Once you wake up with a hangover, most of your day seems lethargic and confusing.
Try Essential Oils
There are certain essential oils that relax you and induce sleep. Essential oils are the highly concentrated oils extracted from plants. Their properties act on our hormones and calm our senses. All you have to do is apply a few drops of the oil on your wrist/ neck/ or bottom of your feet if you don’t want to smell it. Following are some of the best essential oils to use for a better sleep.
- Lavender essential oil
- Ylang Ylang essential oil
- Cedarwood essential oil
- Frankincense essential oil
- Roman Chamomile essential oil
Don’t Carry Devices To Your Bed
Once we turn the lights off and prepare to sleep, we should be done with everything (including our phones) and just hit the sack. Most of us get into the blanket staring at our phones which keeps us up for a long time. And the light that comes from the phone makes us lose sleep for a long time and we end up staying awake till late. Once you decide to sleep, make it a habit to leave your phone on a table close to your bed.
Avoid Taking Naps In The Daytime
If you avoid taking naps in the daytime and instead work all day, you will feel sleepy by night. this will help you fall asleep and get a better sleep. When you take a noon nap, you are making up for half of the day’s tiredness which rejuvenates you. And then you might find difficult to get sleep at night.
Try Using Sleep Apps
There are certain sleep apps that have been designed to induce sleep. They work using the binaural sounds. To know more about such apps, click here.
Address Insomnia
If you are unable to sleep at nights for a long time, it is always recommended to take the above-mentioned measures. But if these don’t work out for you, you should consider going to a psychologist/ psychiatrist to find out what the trouble is. A lot of times insomnia is a symptom of stress and depression. There is nothing wrong with getting a treatment for the same. In fact, if you overlook the problem, you might incur a bigger problem gradually.
If you change the wrong habits you’re following before sleep, you will be able to have a better sleep and wake up feeling good. A proper sound sleep is very crucial for the overall health. Hope this article was helpful for you.
Also Read- Winter Skincare Regime To Make Sure Your Skin Stays Healthy
