When you wake up feeling like you slept poorly, that can throw off your entire day. You won’t be at your best, and you will likely move sluggishly and have trouble focusing. You may be irritable and experience headaches or pains because of the poor sleep you received the night before. You may feel like you have very little energy for the entire day. Even drinking strong coffee won’t keep you going for more than a few hours. Your body will need decent sleep to make up for the lack of sleep from the previous night.
How do you ensure you sleep well and wake up feeling rested? Try these tips that will ensure a better night’s sleep and a more productive and pleasant day to follow.
1. Get on a Sleep Schedule
This is the number one method for better sleep that is recommended by the Mayo Clinic and many other experts. When you put your body on a regular sleep schedule, you help get your internal clock in tune and improve your body’s ability to fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night. A sleep schedule can be as simple as picking a time to turn off the lights at night and a time to wake up, and then you keep doing that consistently. Choose times that work with your schedule and that allow you to get adequate sleep. If you make this simple change, you will vastly improve your sleep quality.
2. Clean Your Bedroom Regularly
There may be irritants in your bedroom that keep you from getting a good night’s sleep. The biggest culprits are dust mites, dust particles, pollen, and mold spores. These can all affect your sinuses and cause allergy symptoms. You may not be able to keep them out of your yard or even your house, but you can do a good job of keeping them out of the bedroom. Cleaning frequently and thoroughly will help to eliminate irritants and allergens in the bedroom. If you want to ensure that your bedroom is as clean as possible and that your sleep is as sound as possible, then have a cleaning service such as Imagine House Cleaning do the bedroom cleaning for you every so often. This will drastically reduce the amount of irritating particles in the bedroom that could be keeping you from sleeping well.
3. Get Plenty of Exercise
The reason you have trouble falling asleep at night could be due to not using up your energy reserves throughout the day. You may lay in bed for long hours waiting to fall asleep but feel restless and full of energy. If that is the case, then try adding some exercise to your weekly routine. Start out slow and do a little exercise a few days a week. If you still feel like you can handle more and like you are restless when you lie down to sleep, then add a bit more exercise to your routine. This can help you improve your health drastically while using your energy throughout the day so that you feel ready to sleep at night. This is a great way for people who live sedentary lifestyles to ensure a sound sleep each evening.
4. Do Something Relaxing before Bed
Many of us are guilty of overstimulating our brain right before bedtime. We do this by playing video games, listening to exciting music, or browsing the internet while we are in bed and just before we try to sleep. These are all stimulating activities, and while they don’t ask much of our bodies, they keep our brain wide awake. It is better to engage in mentally relaxing activities before bedtime, like talking to your spouse, listening to relaxing music, or reading a book. These use brainpower, sure, but they don’t provide the kind of stimulation that people often engage in right before bedtime. Making this change can have a big impact on how quickly you fall asleep and how well you sleep through the night.
5. Avoid Caffeine before Bed
Most people know this little tip, but not all of us realize just how much caffeine there is in many of the substances we consume. Did you know that many teas, sodas, and chocolate products have a lot of caffeine in them? It’s not just coffee that is a major source of caffeine. Be wary of any stimulating substances before bedtime, like sugars that give you a burst of energy. Try to stay away from sugar and caffeine of any kind for up to four hours before bed. Also consider cutting down on these substances to ensure better sleep.
6. Don’t Rest as Much during the Day
If you have trouble falling asleep at your regularly scheduled bedtime, then you might be resting too much during the day. Try to avoid taking a nap in the daytime, if you can. When you do take naps, try to schedule them for early on in the day, well before your scheduled sleep time at night. Try not to spend as much time sitting down and lying down either, and instead change your routine to be more active. For optimum sleep, you should try to be active for a few hours before bedtime and then give yourself the last hour or two right before bed to relax yourself. The activity you do doesn’t have to be vigorous, and it can be as minor as washing dishes, folding clothes, and cleaning in the house.
7. Deal with Stress and Worry
What is keeping you up at night and preventing you from sleeping soundly when you lay your head down? It could be your worries and concerns, and you will need to deal with them, if that is true.
While there are many ways you can treat feelings of stress and anxiety, here are a few helpful tips:
- Perform breathing exercises
- Talk about your problems to friends
- Avoid caffeine and sugar
- Get plenty of exercise
- Avoid stressful music and movies
- Use words of affirmation and reassurance to settle your mind
We hope these methods enable you to sleep better and wake up feeling more refreshed.
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