If you have lost your way in the world of nod and night has as a result become more a nightmare than filled with sweet dreams, reconnect with these five core sleep principles and the chances are you will once again sleep soundly.
- Exercise
Walking is a form of exercise few of us need to train in order to accomplish, yet the endorphins it causes our bodies to realise and which soothe mental stress and promote cardiovascular and aerobic health are the same as those gleaned by those hitting the treadmill or spinning class. So, to benefit from physical activity a person needn’t deck out their wardrobe with expensive gym wear or even step inside the gym.
Simply making time to go for a long walk each day can have a profoundly positive effect upon us and help our bodies to regulate our hormones so that come bedtime, we aren’t tossing about and full of tension and energy, despite the fact that mentally we’re tired out and dreaming of sleep that won’t come.
- Diet
It isn’t just nutritional and regular meals that help to keep our bodies healthy and regulated that we sacrifice when we turn to convenience foods or to skip meals. Neither is it just money we waste trying to save time by grabbing a snack on the fly; just as when somebody takes the time to cook for us shows their love and respect for us and so boosts our sense of self and makes us feel important, doing this for ourselves and for our families makes us feel good about who we are.
Hence, remembering to eat well and prepare our own meals has a positive and double fold effect; when we make time and prioritise making good grub for ourselves and families we fill both our minds and bodies with what both need to mean that when we hit the hay we nod off more easily because our literal hunger and too hunger to be living well are both satisfied.
Eating and drinking your way to better sleep needn’t be boring or tasteless either. In fact, a decent cup of hot chocolate before bed is both indulgent and can help a person to nod off. See for yourself and keep things diet related fun by thinking up way to get creative with food and drink, such as trying these bedtime brews offered up by the Telegraph website.
- How to Make You Bed
Using a season appropriate duvet and investing in a mattress topper, are both inexpensive ways to revitalise a bed however new, old, loved or loathed. Further, a mattress topper in particular is a great way to restore comfort. After all, a topper doesn’t just provide an additional layer of comfort; it can further add an extra level of hygiene, meaning that if it is allergies keeping you up at night you might benefit from adding a mattress topper to your bed.
- A Hot Bath
An age old insomnia remedy, sitting in the bath and a room devoid of gadgets, noise and distractions affords us an opportunity to actually relax. Hence, bath time is not just about maintaining physical hygiene, but can prove a really fantastic way to in a sense meditate and reconnect with ourselves.
Add to a hot bath a few bubbles as bubbles help to trap the heat of a bath beneath the surface and so keep us warm and get our blood circulating and feeding our muscles, minds and organs, and you might be surprised at how quickly and easily you afterwards slip into sleep.
- Ditch the Lay In
As reported by the Guardian, lay-ins aren’t just ill-advised ways to catch up on lost sleep, but can even increase a person’s risk of experiencing diabetes and heart disease. Whilst initially shocking, it makes sense that toying with our sleep habits and failing to maintain a decent and consistent sleep routine would have a negative impact on our health and make sleep harder in the long term. After all, just consider the effect of jet lag.
Then, if you want your heart to keep its rhythm, your hormones to remain in check and your insulin levels to regulate properly, don’t lay in.
Rather, maintain a routine that means you get a solid seven to eight hours of rest (even if you cannot sleep, at least initially) every night and try to go to bed and wake at the same time each morning.
