Sleeping is arguably one of the most vital things we do. It affects our mental and physical state, our health and pretty much everything else that we do! With all that being said, it is also one of the most neglected things in our lives. I’ve said it multiple times, “I can get by on 5 hours of sleep” or “I’ll stay up a bit later, I’ll be fine”. It wasn’t until I learned more about how important sleep is, that I decided to take some steps to improve it. So, here are 4 things I’ve done to help improve my sleep and thus make life better!
#1 Eye mask
Yup, this is number one for a reason! Light and darkness is the biggest factor in good high quality sleep. Long story short, thousands of years ago we evolved to follow the cycle of day and night and guess what? That instinct still exists today. So by wearing that eye mask, I get to block out almost all light sources that go into my bedroom. This makes it so much easier to not only fall asleep, but stay asleep. You may think it looks funny at first, but I bet you sleep better that night than ever before.
#2 Turn off your phone!
I’ll kind of contradict the title above… I don’t completely turn off my phone, but I do put it on silent so that there is no ringing or notifications popping up. That sharp vibration or ring tone can easily wake you up from a great night sleep, or at the very least disturb you. Put that thing on silent!
#3 Make your bedroom for sleeping only
I was actually pretty good at this before I learned all this other fun science stuff, but I now understand why it is so important. Without going into too much detail, basically your mind/brain makes connections (constantly), so if you are eating, working or doing other tasks in the bedroom, it will create a correlation. To sum it up, if you are doing anything other than sleeping in your bedroom, your brain will fight to stay awake when you are in there. So do your best to make your bed a place of rest and not activity.
#4 Avoid sleeping aids, except for this one…
Sleeping aids can be over the counter pills, melatonin or even as far as alcohol. Again I won’t dive into all the science, but taking these supplements can negatively effect your bodies long term ability to release the proper chemicals for sleep. The only thing I recommend taking is magnesium (one of very few supplements I will take/recommend), which most people are deficient in. This helps with both natural melatonin production and other sleepy triggers in the body. Bonus: it also helps with muscle soreness.
*Just to be clear, I’m not a doctor. So if your doctor is having you take certain medication, please don’t go against it, they know far more about what is going on with you than myself! *
To conclude, sleep is important! Do you best to focus on creating better sleep for yourself and you will find that all aspects of life will improve. You deserve a good night’s sleep, so go get some!
