7 Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep
I’ve blogged before about how to make it easier to fall asleep at night, but, the quality of our sleep doesn’t start and end with when we drift off to dream land.
Sometimes, getting 7–9 hours of sleep can still leave us groggy and grumpy if we woke up a lot, never rested deeply, or tossed and turned all night. So. How can you get to sleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake well rested and ready to start the day?
Some of the most common reasons for poor sleep are anxiety, waking up to go to the bathroom, and restlessness. The way we live today often has us going going going from the moment our head lifts from the pillow to the moment it lays back down. And, while that lifestyle may support your company’s bottom line or get your family everywhere they need to go, it hurts our bodies in the long run.
Our bodies need help shutting down in the evening. When humans were more nomadic, we rose and slept with the sun. When the sun was out, we were busy hunting, gathering, cooking, surviving. Once the sun set, though, there wasn’t much we could do without the light of day, so our bodies learned that meant it was getting to be time for bed. We’d settle down to socialize, share stories and sing songs before going to bed for the night.
While our patterns once the sun sets may still resemble that, the stories we share are often backlit by a television. Our socialization and songs happen in crowded places with flashing lights and volumes so loud we have to shout to be heard. We end up just as wired before bed as we have been all day.
So. How do we combat that without completely re-hauling our day-to-day activities?
Create a routine.
Creating a nightly routine is the best way to let your body know it’s time to wind down. In your 30–60 mins before bedtime, turn off all of your screens, shower, do your full skincare routine, deeply clean your teeth (I’m talking floss, brush, mouthwash, tongue scrape), meditate, read, or whatever else helps you relax. But, the important thing is to do this every night. Just like we adapted to know when the sun goes down it’s time to settle down, your body will learn that when you turn off your screens and start this routine, sleep is coming.
Set a cut-off time for work
As the world has learned to work from home over the past 15 or so months, it’s also lost some very important boundaries. Far too many of us have put in more hours simply because there’s no longer a distinction between work and home. And while 2020 blogs have overflowed with tips and ideas for creating your ideal WFH space, they often forget that all-important distinction. Give yourself a cut-off time (6 pm is great) and stick to it. This means that, whatever time you set, that’s the moment you’ll no longer look at work, read emails, or just do that one last thing. You can do all of that tomorrow. Once your cut-off time hits, it’s time for you and your health. Creating that boundary helps relieve stress and anxiety, and give your brain time to settle into a more relaxed space for the evening.
Exercise
However you choose to move your body is up to you, but its imperative that you do move it. Physical activity burns off the energy our bodies need to during the day so that we can rest at night. Whether you walk or do CrossFit, garden or run for 10 miles, your body requires movement and activity. When we don’t exercise our bodies, we tend to have stored energy that needs to escape, making it difficult to fall asleep and/or stay asleep.
Journal
I will always advocate the importance of journaling for our mental health and overall wellbeing. Putting pen to paper allows that huge, tangled, cluster of thoughts, musings, decisions and to-do’s to get out of your head and into a safe space for later. Not only does journaling put your mind at ease by releasing the frantic thought process, but it also ensures you don’t forget things by the morning.
Stop drinking
If you find yourself waking up in the night to use the bathroom, stop drinking two hours before bedtime. I’m always a fan of a before-bed hot tea to help calm the mind, but that can still be done with plenty of time to spare so that your bladder doesn’t interrupt your dreams.
Eat lighter meals
I love telling the story of a time when I used to log everything about my day — my mood, activity, food, sleep, energy levels, water intake, etc. During that time, I noticed that it was taking me hours to fall asleep some nights, so I went back through my logs to see if any patterns emerged. My days were fairly consistent, and the only difference was that the nights I couldn’t sleep were the nights I ate turkey chili for dinner. Heavy foods interact with our bodies differently from lighter foods. In addition to the gastrointestinal distress they can bring, they can activate our minds and bodies in ways that make it difficult to fall asleep. Now, everyone is different — maybe turkey chili puts you right to sleep — so I encourage you to experiment to see what does and doesn’t affect your sleep patterns.
Utilize aromatherapy
Smell is one of the most powerful senses available to our bodies. Scent can make you hungry, open your airways, disgust you, bring back old memories and, yes, help you relax and fall asleep. I flit between using candles, essential oils, incense and pillow mists in my bedtime routine, but I almost always use lavender. It’s my favorite scent for calming my anxiety and helping me sleep. Other popular calming scents are rosemary, jasmine, vanilla, clary sage, eucalyptus, and sweet marjoram. Any one of these can signal to your body that it’s time to go to sleep, and carry you there on a beautifully scented pillow.
What are your favorite tools and practices for great sleep?