5 Ways to improve your sleep
This purpose of this post is to introduce five ways to improve someone’s sleep. The focus of this article is to discuss less commonly known ways to improve sleep. Most everyone knows no screens before bed, sleeping in a cool room, melatonin, and keeping a consistent sleep schedule can improve sleep, so we’re going to skip all of those.
1- Lighting below eye-level 2 hours before bed
Ever since the industrial revolution, we are able to have lights 24-hours a day. Before that, however, people went to sleep when the sun went down and got up when it came up. Our bodies are very much affected by light that is over our head, as it tells us it’s still day time - as if the sun is still up. Lighting that is lower, is less intense and we can still see around the house, but it won’t keep us up the same way.
At night, if you keep any lights on - try to keep them below eye level, or facing downward. Such as lamps, under-cabinet lights, low LED strips, etc.
2- Intentional sun/Bright-light exposure
Get in the sun as quick after waking as possible for optimal effects on your circadian rhythm. If you wear sunglasses, do not wear them in the morning when you’re driving to work. However, do wear your sunglasses after around 1 PM when outside. Our circadian rhythm responds to the sun and changes depending on when we get our sun exposure. Before our lives became very comfortable as humans, we were subject to the sunshine almost all the time. So when the sun came up, there weren’t blackout curtains to keep it from hitting our eyes.
Get light and/or sun exposure as quick after waking as possible.
Don’t wear sunglasses before 1PM
Do wear Sunglasses after 1PM
3- Add sound to your room
It’s often under-rated to observe how babies respond to and do certain things. Most babies sleep with a sound machine in their room, which helps them to calm down as it is similar to being in the womb before they were born. One overlooked piece of sleep is our inability to turn off our mind. When it is too quiet, out thoughts feel so loud. Try to add some white noise or a sound machine with a low rumbling sound at night.
If you have a child who uses a sound machine, make sure not to steal theirs…
Add a sound machine in your room - There’s a reason babies fall asleep quickly in the car. Notice the low rumbling sound next time you’re driving.
Turn on a fan for sound.
Don’t confuse background sound for white noise - A TV may be even worse than sound at all.
4- REgulate your body temperature
Ever notice when you wake up earlier than you are used to, you feel extra cold? On the flip side, sometimes you might wake up at night because you feel super warm and it keeps you from falling back to sleep for over an hour.
Our bodies temperature regulator changes over the 24-hour cycle. When we are supposed to be calming down and getting ready for bed, our internal body temperature should drop some. Also, when we wake up our internal body temperature should rise a little.
Try taking a hot shower right when you wake up to increase your internal body temperature.
Exercise will raise your internal body temperature - try getting into a routine of early morning exercise.
Try sleeping with a fan to circulate air in your room.
There’s some cool devices that cool your bed at night. There are some bed covers you can add to your existing bed that have a cooling effect, as well as whole mattresses that heat and cool and change according to your body temperature, check out Eight Sleep.
5- Make a list for the next day before getting into bed
Making a list and writing down your to-do’s for the next day is a great way to unwind and empty your brain. We already mentioned our thoughts can keep us up at night and unloading them onto a piece of paper is a fantastic way to prevent having a bunch of thoughts in the first place.
Try writing down your to-do list for the next day and see how clear your mind feels when getting into bed.
For some people, waking up and doing the same thing every single morning helps them feel a sense of routine, which can keep our minds guessing - leading to less thoughts before bed.
Bonus: Meditation
Meditation has been shown to improve sleep quality, decrease signs of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and overall fatigue, check out the article. Some articles say even as little as 10 minutes of meditation a day, at any point in the day, can improve sleep quality. Maybe it’s the mindfulness aspect, or even just the breathing. As slow, deliberate breathing alone has been shown to improve sleep quality and decrease stress levels.
Try meditating at least 10 minutes a day, focusing on slow, deep breaths.
The list for improving sleep can go on and on. We barely scratched the surface. But why is sleep so important?
Our bodies recover in almost every single way while we sleep. Our brain processes information from the day while we sleep; our bones, muscles, and ligaments repair themselves; we have the highest amount of growth hormone release between 10PM and 2AM every night. The list goes on and on.
The important thing is finding a routine that works best for you and sticking to it to continue having great sleep every night.
If pain is limiting your sleep, chat with us, or send us an email. We often see people who have issues with sleeping because of their pain, and there’s usually a quick trick that can improve it significantly.
Ways to reach us:
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If you’re having issues with sleep, pain, or want to improve your performance - We hope to hear from you soon!
