A Good Night's Sleep

Let's discuss how to get sustainable good sleep. Let me preface this by first saying if you're exhausted and overtired, you should see your medical professional and get help.
However, if you'd like to have that restful sleep that means you wake up feeling happy and raring to go even before your second cup of coffee, here are some thoughts for you:
Breathing is important
Make sure there's air coming into your bedroom - fresh air is vital. Don't close up your room and breathe stale air. Try to get air from non-polluted sources (have open windows on the garden side, rather than the front, facing the street).
Turn off electrical things
Turn off your mobile phone, or if you need it for alarms or such, switch it to flight mode. Your mobile phone sends a signal to the tower every five minutes (ish) and that signal, although you can't hear it, it still affects you. If you absolutely must have it on, try to keep it outside of the room.
Turn off your wifi when you're not using it, too. Those of you old enough to remember the sound of a modem communicating, that's the noise it still makes, you just can't hear it. If you remember what a mobile sounds like when it interferes with the radio, that's the noise your wifi makes. That can affect your muscles, your brain and thus your sleep, even though you can't hear it. Even try turning it off for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.
Moderate exercise
Do some moderate exercise through the day - go for a walk, especially if your job or day is usually sedentary. Humans are meant to move, so we work better all around if we do some exercise every day. That doesn't just apply to sleep - all your organs work better with moderate exercise.
Reduce alcohol, coffee, cigarettes and other toxins
I know, I know... I have my own vices, and I know how much fun they are... and I'm not in any way saying you have to cut these out completely, just cut them down. Try reducing coffee intake after lunch, for example. Have an alcohol free day every week (or week). Cut down your cigarettes by one today. See how you feel, see how your sleep is.
Sleep 'til you wake
I know this one is easier said than done, especially if you have to live to someone else's timetable! However, if you are constantly being woken up way too early, you might have to contemplate going to bed a bit earlier, or if that timetable permits, napping in the afternoon is a great way to pick up that hour you'd love to have had earlier.
Relax before bedtime
By this I mean do some relaxing things for the hour or half-hour before going to sleep. Turn off that thriller with the car chases, turn off the computer and do some simple things to relax. I even have two types of books I read - the exciting or "this makes me think" books, and those with a fun, fluffy storyline which you don't really have to think about. These ones allow me to turn off the brain and let it go into shut-down mode preparatory for sleeping. Meditation is a good thing just before sleeping, too. Essentially what you're doing here is getting the brain to relax and go into relaxation mode. You also want to give your body time away from technology to relax too.
Have a ritual
If you have specific things that you always do before you go to bed, that's a great signal for your mind and body to know "we're doing these things, we're going to sleep soon". Your ritual is just your personal routine so your body and mind know what's going on.
Use your bedroom for bedroom activities
You know what I mean. :-) Try not to watch TV in bed (there's been a study that shows that couples who don't watch TV in bed have better sex more often than those who do). If you're limiting your TV just before you go to sleep you definitely don't want it in the room with you.
Studying, learning, doing handicrafts or having your office in the bedroom are all things to try and avoid. It's similar to the ritual thing - when you go into your bedroom, your mind and body should recognise this is a place for sleeping and relaxing, not for working.
Feng shui principles would suggest that you have restful colours and such as well - fairly obvious there, really. If you have garish and clashing things in front of you, your brain will not want to sleep.

Posted in: Sleep Snoring