Now that we are entering the new year and a new decade, take this moment to get ahold of your sleep habits! After reading multiple sleep articles and watching psychology YouTube videos, I’ve put together this list of 16 quick tips to help you fall asleep at night!
1. Sleep in a colder environment
According to health professionals, the most ideal temperature for sleep is 65-68 degrees. 65 is cold! This helps to slow down the body and release melatonin, the hormone that triggers your circadian (daily) rhythm to make you fall asleep. Of course, the most comfortable temperature will vary for each one of us.
2. Take a hot shower or bath
Taking a hot shower or bath heats the body quickly, causing your blood to flow to the surface of your skin and making it red. Once you step out of the bath or shower, the heat leaves your body and your blood flow slows down making you tired and in turn, causing you to fall asleep more easily afterward.
3. Actually invest in a good mattress, sheets, and pillows
Yes, mattresses can be pretty expensive, but it is a worthwhile investment, especially if you have trouble sleeping. A good mattress could solve your problems of back pain, neck knots, and overall poor sleep. The good thing is, you don’t have to replace it until seven to ten years later! If you can’t afford to get a new mattress right now, try turning yours around to see if the bottom end provides better support and is less sunken.
4. Put away your clock
When we can’t sleep at night, we tend to keep looking at the clock to see the hours ticking by. Instead, try turning off your clock or putting your phone in a drawer or across the room. Time monitoring is strongly linked to stress and waking arousal, so put away the clock!
5. Avoid caffeine, sugar, or nicotine
Caffeine, sugar, and nicotine before bed are shown to contribute to poor sleep in adults. It’s important to only drink decaffeinated coffee or tea after 2 pm and avoid sugar and nicotine. Things such as chocolate, caffeinated coffee, some teas, and soda can take up to 8 hours to wear out fully, so it’s important to limit these things as much as possible, especially at least a few hours before bed.
6. Avoid eating too close to bedtime
Don’t go to bed starving, but don’t go to bed completely full either! It’s best to avoid eating anything after 8 pm if you want to get a restful night of sleep.
7. Exercise in the morning
Overall, exercise is great. We are naturally active beings that crave movement on a daily basis. Exercise is an amazing way to prepare your body for sleep after it has exerted its muscles and wants to rest. However, exercising at night two to three hours before bedtime actually triggers you to be more awake. If you can, exercise in the morning!
8. Don’t take naps after 3 pm
Naps are great as long as they’re kept at 20-30 minute intervals in the day, but once its past 3 pm, a nap can be detrimental to getting a good night’s sleep later on.
9. Take melatonin supplements
Melatonin is a natural hormone in the brain that is released to help manage our circadian (daily) rhythms and tells us when to be awake and when to feel tired and go to bed. There are plenty of melatonin supplements to choose from that help with insomnia and jet lag.
10. Have a clean, quiet bedroom
Having a clean room is important for keeping the mind at ease and organized, but is also helpful in allowing us to fall asleep. Not only this, but it’s important to have minimal light and sounds if possible! Professionals stress that these three components are key for getting good sleep.
11. Actually relax before bed
Instead of finishing homework and getting into bed, actually plan to set some time aside to do something relaxing for yourself. One hour or thirty minutes is extremely important to get the mind to calm down. You can try activities like perfecting a skincare routine, reading a book, yoga, brushing your hair, and meditating.
12. Get sun exposure during the day, minimize light at night
Sun exposure for at least thirty minutes a day is crucial to helping your body stay on its circadian rhythm and feel sleepy later in the day when the sun sets. Once the sun is down, it’s important to dim lighting and minimize blue lights from screens (turn on night shift if you have Apple products or buy some blue light glasses from Amazon).
13. Get off your phone before bed
We’re all guilty of this, but I must stress it’s sooo important to not use your phone before sleeping, especially in the dark. Set a certain time to put your phone away before getting into bed, and try your best not to pick it up.
14. Meditate
Sitting still and continually clearing our mind of distractions is a helpful way to end your night and get to sleep. Meditation is said to reduce stress, control anxiety, enhance self-awareness, lengthen attention span, decrease blood pressure and so much more. Set fifteen minutes aside for sitting on the floor, breathing slowly, and letting your mind find grounding. Systematically relaxing your body one limb at a time helps a lot.
15. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (even weekends)
Yes, even on weekends. If your body is set on a strict sleep routine, you will find it easier to wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. If not the same exact time, having a small buffer is good too! Say you want to wake up at 7:30 am every day and sleep by 11 pm: give yourself an hour and a half buffer either way for both morning and night and it helps too.
16. Practice these tips every night!
We are creatures of habit, and our bodies love it. Sticking to a routine is key for falling asleep at night. If you can practice a couple of these tips above every night for two months (66 days), it can become automatic, and you’ll improve your sleep!
The Bottom Line:
Sleep should be taken seriously, even as busy college students who need to work hard. It’s nice to complain to friends about how hard you worked, having to stay up until 5 am studying, but it’s important to time-manage to get the sleep you need. All-nighters aren’t fun and too many of those will lead to burn out. If sleeplessness occurs over weeks, months, or even years, there can be harmful effects that may impact the rest of your life. It is important to talk to your doctor if you believe this to be a problem. From there, your doctor can help you figure out the best way to get restful nights of sleep.
It’s 2020, and the best time to get ahold of your sleep habits is tonight!