1. Eliminate Noise – Going to sleep while the TV is still on is not a wise choice. Subconsciously your absorbing everything into your mind. Is your surrounding circle of family and friends sleeping at the same time as you? Peace and quiet are essential for a good night sleep. Giving your mind a break from life’s chatter makes a huge difference in your sleeping patterns. Noise FREE is the way to go.
2. Dinner Time – Eating light and early in the evening is crucial for improving sleep. Digesting food while trying to catch some Zzzz makes things difficult. Eating 3-4 hours before going to bed is a great idea and well worth it. Your body will thank you for it in the morning. Eating healthy for dinner helps digest food much faster which equals to quality sleep. You don’t want your stomach working overtime while you’re trying to sleep. Eating early is the way to go.
3. Morning ritual – The first few hours when you wake up are important for improving sleep. What time do you wake up? Start waking up 60 minutes earlier and create your morning ritual. Having a ritual prepares and conditions your mind for proper sleep hours later. Preparation is the way to go. Here are five things you can do to start improving your sleep.
1. Meditation is like giving your mind a siesta. 15 minutes
2. Exercise – Light Stretching, Cardio, walking. 15 minutes
3. Music – Listening to relaxing music before a busy day. 15 minutes.
4. Reading a few pages of a good book helps. 15 minutes
5. videos – Watching motivational videos on youtube helps. 15 minutes.
4. Proactive – We need to change our current approach and strategy towards sleeping better. It’s not just going to happen magically. We need to invest time and effort just like everything else. It’s not going to be easy If it were easy everyone would be sleeping 8 hours straight with no interruptions. Sleeping absorbs 1/3 of your life; so I think it’s important to take a closer look at our sleeping habits and invest more time improving ways to sleep better. Being proactive is the way to go.
5. Stress is becoming a health epidemic in the US and is a leading cause of sleepless nights. Employees take over 6 million stress-related sick days every year in the US alone, Stress causes anxiety, migraines, physical pain which translates to NO SLEEP. Here are five things you can do now to reduce stress levels.
1. No alcohol- It may take the edge of for that moment, but will not help when to rest your body in the long run.
2. No Caffeine – Coffee, energy drinks and anything related to caffeine go hand in hand with stress. They work well together. Try to avoid caffeine as much as possible especially at night.
3. No smoking – With over 7000 chemicals in cigarettes affecting all organs no wonder we can’t sleep. Smoking affects how the immune system functions by causing stress which transforms into tossing and turning.
4. No arguing- Don’t go to bed angry. It arouses the nervous system, increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to muscles, blood sugar level and sweating. You think you can sleep while angry, think again.
5. No water – Drinking any fluids before going to bed will cause you to empty your bladder, therefore, interrupting your beauty sleep.
