I don't know anyone who doesn't love their sleep and enjoy the feeling of waking up well rested and refreshed.
Having a good amount of sleep every night is crucial to our existence as it helps us recover from the previous day, allows us to rest and to maintain normal body/ mental function. There are those people who can survive on fewer hours than the average person, but a lack of sleep can be detrimental.
These days, a good nights sleep is almost mythical! Who actually has these sorts of sleeps on a regular basis? Most people I talk to are always saying how tired they are, or how they struggled to get out of bed that morning. Me included!
I'm obsessed with trying to get the perfect night's sleep and over the past few months I've been experimenting with a few concepts and I want to share with you that have proven worthy, and have given me that extra bit of quality, in not just my sleep, but my over all mood and wellbeing!
1. Cut caffeine out after a certain time.
Most of us are addicted to caffeine in one way or another, whether its through coffee, tea or energy drinks. However caffeine is the main culprit as to why you might not be getting enough sleep.
In healthy adults, it takes an average person 5 hours to rid half the amount of caffeine they have consumed. For example, in a single cup of coffee theres about 200mg off caffeine. It takes 5 hours for 100mg to get out of your system!That's a pretty long time, and when your adding caffeine into your body almost hourly, your body doesn't get the chance to get it out the system until your asleep, when you stop consuming for a few hours of the day. Which in turn is why you feel so depleted in the morning and start the cycle again by having your morning beverage.
If you want better sleep, or want to get to sleep at a better hour, figure out the time you want to be in bed by and then minus 5-7 hours to get your last caffeine hit in for the day. For example, if you want to be in bed and ready to sleep by 11pm, have you last caffeinated beverage between 4pm-6pm. You might start to feel the crash 2-3 hours later and feel the need to grab another cup, but you'll have to try and resist! If you're thirsty, you could drink some water to help replenish your body from dehydration, opt for herbal tea (decaff obvs), or a malt drink such as Ovaltine to get you cosy and in the mood for sleep.
2. Try to get to sleep at an appropriate time
If you have ever tried to get into a sleeping pattern but can't quite find the balance as to what time to sleep or wake up, there's a website that can give you all the info you need.
There's a website sleepyti.me that tells you the best times to go to sleep to be up at a certain time or what time would be best to wake up if you went to sleep right now.
It goes by scientific principle that each REM cycle takes 90minutes to complete and that you have on avarage 4-6 cycles a night. The reason you may feel like a zombie in the morning is because you've probably woken up in the middle of a REM sleep and your brain wasn't ready to wake up when it did, leaving you slightly disorientated. The best time to wake up is between the REM cycles, so just after a cycle has finished and before another begins. And that's where this site comes in handy! It calculates the sleeps for you and gives you options of what times to wake up. Say you have to wake up at 6:30am, it will give you approximate times to fall asleep (baring in mind it takes roughly 14 minutes to fall asleep), 9:30pm, 11pm, 12:30am or 2am. It might feel like a bit of a curfew but it's helped me to regulate a good sleeping pattern!
3. Using oils to aid sleep
When I first started my quest for the perfect sleep, my first thoughts went to lavender oil! Might be quite stereotypical of me but it's something that's been ingrained in me since I was a child. My mum would always swear by it and I loved the scent.
So when a friend of mine got me an oil diffuser one Christmas, I was straight on amazon to get me some oils! Lavender was a priority on the list of course but I managed to find a pack of 5 that included Peppermint, Lemon, Lavender, Tea Tree, and Orange Sweet from a company called Mystic Moments. And they're Organic! Win Win!
When they arrived I was so excited to try them out I set up my oil diffuser in my room and added a few drops of the lavender. I left the room and closed the door. When I walked in, it was like I'd opened the door to a lavender field, my room smelt amazing but the sleep I had that night was one of the best I'd had in a long time.
However I wouldn't recommend doing this every night as I found the effects wore off and almost became immune to the effect (after doing it for 2 weeks straight), so I only diffuse when I need to.
There are other oils you can use to aid in sleepy time, and also multiple uses such as using them topically, blended in with a carrier oil and rubbing on your pulse points, or adding a few drops to your bath. Finding the right oil for you is a matter or trial and error, as I know a few people can't stand the smell of Lavender.
(If you have pets, please be aware that some oils can be dangerous to them, so please do your own research at which ones to avoid.)
4. Put your phone away before bed
You've probably heard this one before, but it is so important to have that mini digital detox before you go to sleep so you can have a better quality of sleep. You're digital devices all emit a blue light through it's screen, and unless use switch this off (so your screen has an orange hue to it), this light will trick you're brain into staying awake no matter how tired you get. You can usually switch this off in your settings.
Another reason to put your phone away is so you can allow your brain to wind down. When you're scrolling through social media, your thoughts are racing at 100mph and constantly changing depending at what you're looking at and your mind can sometimes wander, which in turn keeps you awake. Take some time before bed (30-60 minutes) to wind down, put your phone on 'Do Not Disturb' so you don't receive any notifications, and take some time for yourself. You can relax in a bath, have a self care night or simply read a book.
5. Meditation
This is something that I've started incorporating into my night routine and it has been a positive game changer!
There are hundreds of guided meditations you can follow on YouTube that will help you relax ready for a deep sleep. (I've touched on this on a previous post about how to be mindful.)
You don't have to be a pro to do this as a guided meditation will (as the name suggests) guide you into what to do and the best bit, all you have to do is lie in bed and listen for as little as ten minutes. My go to guided meditation for sleep is only 10 minutes long! Sometimes you don't even need that long as you might fall asleep in the first few minutes (like I have done so a few times) of settling into it.
Not only has meditating before sleep helped me get to sleep better and produced better quality of sleep, I'm also waking up in a brighter and better mood! My day starts on a positive side!
6. Listen to your body and sleep when you need to!
I think this last tip speaks for itself! Listen to your body. Simple as.
If you're body/ mind is tired, take a break whether its taking a nap or falling asleep earlier than usual. Don't fight the urge to sleep as you can make yourself ill, and the worst case scenario being that you've burnt yourself out. I admit that's an extreme case that happens when you're working constantly without breaks or pushing your own limits. But unless you listen to your body, your body is going to suffer and you are going to struggle to over come any ailments that may befall you.
I'd also like to say whilst we're on the subject, don't just listen to your body when it's tired and telling you it needs to rest, but try to listen to your body when it comes to food and exercise. too You're body will tell you what it wants at that particular time to keep you going the best it can. All you need to do is listen and give it the right kind of fuel.
This is known more as intuitive eating, and I don't know if the universe is trying to tell me something but I've seen a lot of it on social media lately and I've tried it out myself and can vouch for this! Whenever I've eaten whatever it is I'm craving I feel so much better for it, but I've also gone against the grain and eaten absolute junk when I should've eaten better and I feel awful after.
I hope these tips have been helpful to you, and as always, leave a comment if you have tried any of these or if you have any tips of your own you'd like to share!
Caru Mawr
Cx.