Sick of counting sheep? Have your best night’s sleep yet! Here are tips to enjoy a great slumber:
1. Only Use Your Bed For Sleeping: Train your mind to only use your bed to sleep. Avoid doing homework, eating, and lounging on it throughout the day, because this way, when it becomes bedtime your body will go into sleep mode right away.
2. Shut Off The Screens: Watching TV or engaging in constant interaction on your phone will slow down melatonin production, stimulate your mind and counteract relaxation.
3. Eat An Early Dinner: This will allow your body to digest everything before you hop into bed.
4. Download a Sleep Cycle App: There are a variety of free apps that will tell you what time to wake up based on what time you are going to bed. These will calculate your sleep cycle, that way you aren’t being interrupted in the middle of a cycle and waking up cranky and still tired. These apps are amazing! Avoid the ones that tell you to sleep with your phone in your bed or under you pillow, just use it to set your alarm to the provided time in the morning.
5. Keep a Regular Sleep Pattern: Start tonight! We all have crazy busy schedules and most of us tend to start our day at different times throughout the week. For this reason, prioritize and find a consistent time within a half hour that you can head to sleep each night. Regardless if you start your day at different times each morning, try to wake up at the same time too. That way you won’t have dramatic staggered wake up times confusing your body.
6. Keep The Room Cool: If you keep your room at a cool temperature, you will have an easier time falling asleep. Extreme temperatures will cause your body to wake up more often throughout the night. Also, a steady and comfortable temperature will regulate your dreams.
7. Make Healthy Choices: When your body is in balance, your life will follow suit. Cut down on caffeine, sugar and alcohol and drink more water!
8. Say Your Prayers: It helps! Take your mind off of your work and the stresses of the day. Focus that energy towards personal reflection and just maybe divine intervention will help with the sleep process.
9. Relax: This may be the only part of your day that you get to truly settle down. Embrace it! Take deep breaths and get cozy and comfortable. Leave your stresses behind, close your eyes and relax.