How you feel during the day depends on how well you sleep at night. A good night’s sleep helps decrease stress, helps the body heal, can help with weight loss; it even helps cut back on snacking during the day. And yet if you’re currently struggling to get one good night’s sleep after another, here are a few suggestions on how to break that cycle:
Follow a schedule: Your body gets used to a schedule and comes certain behaviors to repeat themselves. Disrupting the schedule means that your body will be less likely to be tired when you need it to be, and you won’t get the same benefits from your rest. Try not to sleep in on the weekends, and limit a nap to 30 minutes. Try to go to sleep at the same time every night. Even if you get woken up, or don’t fall asleep right away, you are creating a pattern that your body will remember.
Control your exposure to light: The brain knows whether it is time to be awake or asleep based on light exposure. That means getting outside during daylight hours, sitting by a window, or getting a light box for those early winter nights. At night, limit exposure to bright lights and screens 1-2 hour before bedtime. Bedtime means lights off; if you get up in the middle night, you’ll do better to keep lamps and overheads lights off and, instead, depend on night lights.
Get your exercise: Daily exercise improves sleep quality. Vigorous daily exercise is best, but even light walks 10 minutes a day will have a positive impact on your sleep patterns. If you engage in strenuous exercise, time it so that your done at least three hours before bedtime to allow your body to wind down.
Wind down: If you are running around the house cleaning up, packing lunches for school, and switching around laundry before bed, this is the same as exercising too close to bedtime. Be sure to give yourself an hour of relaxation before lights out. This means listening to soft music, reading, meditating, or even just going through a bedtime ritual. Take a warm shower or bath, use aromatherapy lotions such as chamomile or lavender, change into pajamas, brush your teeth and hair, and then it’s off to bed you go.
You know what else helps people sleep better at night? A security alarm system monitored by a company you trust absolutely. If you don’t have both going for you, then make this the day you contact Now Security for a free in-home analysis of your security alarm and monitoring needs.