If you’re having trouble sleeping, you’ll appreciate how miserable it is. Exhausted come morning, a lack of sleep can ruin your whole day. Here are some tips for improving your chances of a good night’s sleep:
- Increase your exposure to light during the day
The human body has a natural clock known as the circadian rhythm which effects everything from your brain to your hormones. It’s this internal clock that gets you prepared to wake up and lets you know when to go to sleep. If you feel your rhythm has been disrupted, try to increase your exposure to natural light during the day. Light helps to keep your circadian rhythm healthy, increasing your energy during the day and helping you to enjoy longer and more restful sleep during the night. An additional 2 hours of bright light during the day can help those with insomnia to fall asleep quicker and stay asleep for longer.
- Reduce your exposure to blue light in the evening
Whilst daytime light exposure is good for you, too much blue light in the evenings will trick your body into thinking it needs to be awake. Exposure to blue light reduces the amount of melatonin your body produces which is the hormone that relaxes you and gets you ready to sleep.
Blue light is emitted by electronic devices such as phones and tablets. If you must use these devices, you can try blue light blocking glasses, download an app that reduces blue light on your device or go TV and device-free for 2 hours before going to bed.
- Avoid late caffeine
As a nation, we consume a lot of tea and coffee. It serves a great purpose during the day for enhancing our performance, concentration and energy levels. However, consumed after a certain time of day and it can seriously affect our ability to fall asleep. Even consuming caffeine six hours before bed can stop you from falling asleep or worsen sleep quality. After about 4pm, it’s advisable to try a decaffeinated drink.
- Improve your bedroom
It could be that something about your bedroom’s layout or contents could be disrupting your sleep. Consider factors like temperature, furniture, noise and lighting for example. Try to keep noise disturbance to a minimum, lower any artificial light and arrange your bedroom so that it’s calming, relaxing and peaceful. Why not consider a new bed? Or a new insulating carpet? For Gloucester Carpets visit https://www.gloucestersofasandbeds.co.uk/sofas/
- Avoid long daytime napping
Power naps are very useful, but a long nap can greatly reduce your ability to sleep at night. A long nap during the day simply confuses your body clock and could leave you feel sleepier than energised during the rest of the day. If you can nap during the day and sleep well at night, then don’t worry about it. However, if you find it hard to get to sleep or stay at sleep, you might want to cut out any daytime snoozing!
- Avoid alcohol
Just a couple of alcoholic drinks in the evening can upset your sleep. Alcohol is known for increasing conditions like sleep apnoea, poor sleep patterns and snoring. It also disrupts your body’s natural production of melatonin.