5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep
Improving your sleep can be challenging because so much of sleep relies on habits. Trying to go to sleep earlier can be hard if your body is used to staying up late. Changes to diet to improve you gut - and sleep - health take time to have an impact. Being patient when working to improve your sleep can be hard, AND discouraging. If you need some quick wins to boost your sleep and keep you motivated to make those bigger changes, this list will help.
Read on to discover 5 easy and practical ways you can improve your sleep today.
1. Turn Off Your Phone
Everyone knows that you should stop looking at screens for about 30 - 60 minutes before bed. But about 60% of Americans watch TV right before bed and the average person spend about 50 minutes scrolling on their phone in bed right before sleep.
Our use of phones is 100% impacting our ability to fall asleep and get quality sleep at night. In fact, the level of power our cellphones has over us psychologically is impacting us in many ways even during the day.
One of the easiest ways to improve your sleep today is to pick up a book or a puzzle or another non-digital hobby before bed to give your brain a screen break at least 30 minutes before bed.
2. Lower Your Room Temperature
Our bodies love sleeping in cooler rooms. While warmth is cozy and can make you feel sleepy, it is cooler temperatures that actually improve the quality of our sleep. Our body temperatures rise and fall naturally throughout the day. When our core temperatures get warmer we are more alert and energetic. When our bodies cool down, drowsiness and sleep occur.
If you want to sleep better tonight, crack that window and turn on that fan and use biology for your benefit.
3. Meditate
One of the most commonly sited reasons that people struggle to sleep is a racing mind and anxiety. Instead of laying in bed, letting your mind wander, immediately try meditation.
Meditation is a historical practice proven to help slow down the mind and reduce disruptive thoughts. The breathing technique that often goes along with meditation improves oxygen levels, making us sleepy and more relaxed.
Because many people do use their phones to guide meditations (seemingly contradicting the point above), it can be a good idea to set one up before your bedtime routine and then simply press play once you’re settled in bed. You can also turn the brightness down on your phone, too. Just make sure not to let putting on a meditation lead you into scrolling through Tik Tok for hours before sleep.
4. Get Outside During the Day
If you want to sleep better tonight, move your body and breathe fresh air during the day! Getting outside in general is a great way to improve your overall health. It lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety, boosts oxygen levels and can even improve your immune system. Lower anxiety and higher oxygen levels inadvertently improves sleep.
Exercise, fresh air, sunshine and — if you’re lucky enough to live near the coast — salt air will help you snooze soundly at night. Working your body and exerting energy will simply make you more tired.
This point is actually really important for people trying to break late-night bedtime habits. If you’re trying to get to bed earlier more consistently, burn more energy during the day!
5. Book a Sleep Test
If you’ve struggled with sleep for a while and need of seeing change sooner rather than later, talk to your doctor about getting a sleep test done. Sleep tests are covered by OHIP and can provide much-needed insight into what happens to you while your sleeping and trying to fall asleep. There are many chronic sleep disorders that can lower the quality of your sleep, making you feel tired and unrested.
Sleep disorders are often called the “dark side of health” because no one can really know what they do while they’re sleeping. Especially because so much of sleep happens in the brain, there are many unknowns. Sleep tests by companies like ACCQ SleepLabs can shine a light on this darkness and provide you with a lot of clarity around your sleep.
Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep
Although there are many parts at play and that contribute to a good night’s sleep, these are some easy changes you can make to help yourself sleep better now. Try them out and let us know if you notice a difference!