Optimise Your Sleep For Better Performance

• How to Sleep Better At Night

We’ve all been there - no matter how hard you try, you just can’t fall asleep. Sleep is a huge part of our health cycle, and it affects our productivity as well as physical health factors like our weight and our disposition towards certain health problems and diseases. It’s incredibly frustrating when we can’t fall asleep, especially when it becomes a chronic problem. Be sure to see your doctor if your sleeplessness becomes so problematic that it severely interferes with your daily life. However, there are several little changes you can implement in your routine that will really help you sleep better. Here are ten of the best ways to help you sleep better all night long.

• 1. Stick to a schedule.

One of the biggest things that interferes with our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep is varying the times when we go to bed and wake up. For example, many of us sleep in on the weekends, or go to bed a few hours early if we have had an extremely tiring day. While this is unavoidable at times, try your best to stick to a consistent schedule when it comes to your sleep. Yes, this may mean waking up earlier than you want to on weekends, but after a few weeks of this, you will find yourself sleeping more soundly.

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  2. Turn off your electronics at least an hour before bedtime.

Our sleep schedules are highly regulated by our exposure to light. Electronic devices like computers, TVs, phones, and tablets emit very high levels of blue light, which have been shown to be very detrimental to our sleep schedules. To avoid this problem, take time to do something before bed that doesn’t involve your tech toys, like reading a book.

• 3. Exercise regularly.

Exercise is not only a very important component of maintaining our health overall, but it also can help us sleep much better at night. If you don’t normally exercise, try adding just a quick walk to your daily routine - you will likely notice that you will fall asleep much more rapidly. Just make sure to schedule your workouts towards the beginning of the day, because if you exercise right before bed, the endorphins will actually make it difficult for you to sleep.

• 4. Use your bed only for sleep, nothing else.

Although it can be tempting to spend time surfing the internet or using your smartphone in bed during the day or early evening, this makes it very difficult for you to fall asleep at night. Your brain needs to associate your bed with rest and relaxation, so if you spend time on your bed focusing on other activities, it will be very difficult for you to switch gears and fall asleep.

• 5. Be careful about how much caffeine you drink.

• While a cup of coffee in the morning or a tea in the early afternoon is fine for most people, be careful about how and when you consume caffeinated beverages. Even one small drink in the middle of the afternoon could keep you up for hours.
  

• 6. Avoid naps during the day.

Although it can be really tempting to take a quick siesta after lunch, try to power through that mid-day slump. Taking naps during the day can offset your sleep schedule at night, and make it more difficult for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you feel like you absolutely cannot make it through the day without a nap, try to keep it to under twenty minutes, and go somewhere quiet and comfortable so that your sleep quality will be good.

• 7. Eat a healthy, balanced dinner.

What you eat right before you go to bed can have a surprisingly huge effect on how you sleep. If you eat something too heavy, spicy, or sugary, you may find yourself having trouble sleeping, because your digestive system can’t process everything quickly enough for you to go to bed. However, make sure you eat enough that you feel satisfied, so that you aren’t distracted by hunger. A nutritious meal with a good balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat is the best option.

• 8. Dim the lights in your home before you go to bed.

A lack of light will produce melatonin, which will help induce you to fall asleep faster. Don’t leave all of the lights on in your house right up until your bedtime. Instead, start turning them off one by one over a period of two to three hours, so that your brain can get used to the darkness.

• 9. Use white noise to help you relax.

If you are often distracted by noises, like traffic outside your home, neighbors talking or walking around, or even your own pets and children, then it can be
helpful to put on a fan to create a neutral, relaxing sound. If that doesn’t work for you, there are also apps that you can use that will create white noise for you.

• 10. Use positive visualization to help you calm down if you are stressed.

Stress is one of the biggest inhibitors of sleep. To help you relax your mind and forget about the things that have been bothering you during the day, try visualizing positive images that make you happy. You can use guided meditation recordings if you need help with this process. This will help distract you from the pressures of daily life and result in a much better sleep. A great app we recommend is Head Space, available on iPhone and Android.



We hope these tips have helped you shine some light on how to sleep better at night. Feel free to comment and messages us on our social media channels with your thoughts!