1. Get More Exercise In
One thing you should be doing is trying to get more walking into your daily routine. Walking every day isn’t only going to help you lose weight, but it can help you sleep. By exercising, you’ll boost your natural production of melatonin. This is the hormone that helps you sleep at night. A study showed postmenopausal women that exercise for 3.5 hours per week had a much easier time falling asleep than women who didn’t. Therefore, you want to get a good amount of walking into your daily life. However, pay attention to when you are exercising. By doing it too close to bedtime, you could end up negatively impacting your sleep. After all, it can be stimulating. Thus, try to get your workouts in during the morning. By exposing yourself to bright daylight early on, you can sync up your body’s internal clock, as well.
2. Reserve Bed For Sleep and Sex
The last thing you want to do is get into the habit of using your bed for things other than sleep and sex. You don’t want to start using it to conduct business calls, watch television, or even play games on your phone. You want the process of getting into bed to prep your mind and body for sleep. Reserving it for sleep and sex will help you accomplish this.
3. Keep It Comfortable
You will want to try to keep your bedroom as comfortable as possible. Read these 2021 Sleep Number reviews if you are investing in a new mattress. Television can be distracting, but it’s not the only thing that can keep you awake at night. You’ll want to facilitate a dark and comfortable sleeping environment. This means keeping your room at a comfortable and consistent temperature.
4. Get a Ritual
When you are looking to improve your sleep, you need to start a ritual. Think back to when you had your mom or dad reading you a bedtime story. This is something that helps and it’s not only limited to children. Creating a ritual that you can consistently follow can do wonders for your sleep. Whether it’s reading a book, listening to your favorite music, or even taking a warm and relaxing bath.
5. Fill Your Stomach
One of the things that you want to do is avoid going to sleep on an empty stomach. However, that doesn’t mean eating too much. For one, you need to watch what you eat. Certain foods might upset your stomach. Avoid any foods that cause you to have to go to the bathroom or that make you feel bad. Ideally, you want to eat foods that take a long time to digest like cheese.
6. Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine
Avoid alcohol or foods and beverages with caffeine like chocolate. Alcohol might make you feel sleepy, but it can disrupt your natural sleep cycle. Therefore, it would be wise to stay away from it. Also, you’ll want to avoid anything acidic as it can cause you to get heartburn, making it more difficult to fall asleep and get quality sleep.
7. Melt Away Stress
When you are looking to improve your sleep, working on reducing the stress in your life is a must. Having bills piling up can be stressful. Having to deal with work presentations is another thing. The fact is, stress is the enemy of sleep. However, stress is natural. It’s your body’s natural response to heighten your alertness and to prepare your body to face various situations. Try to figure out ways to minimize the stress in your life. Work on minimizing stress levels and you’ll find that your sleep can improve dramatically. Work on breathing exercises and incorporate more exercise into your daily life to get rid of excess stress.