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5 Tips on How to Get the Best Sleep

It goes without saying that we need to sleep in order to function at optimal levels. Sleeping well improves your appearance, brainpower, memory and other vital body functions. It also reduces your risk of gaining weight, feeling fatigued or developing chronic health conditions. 

Both adults and children need 8 hours of sleep every night for optimal health. However, just because you’re getting the recommended hours of sleep each day does not mean that your body is getting the rest that it needs. 

A lot of women toss and turn all night and can suffer night sweats because of per-menopause and the fluctuations in hormones. Due to this they don’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning and drink plenty of coffee to avoid drowsiness during the day. 

If you’re suffering from such sleep problems, then you need to improve the quality of your sleep. Here are a few top tips on how to boost your sleep quality.


Sleep in a Cool, Dark & Quiet Room

Sleeping with the lights on is one of the major causes of sleep deprivation. When your eyes are exposed to light, neurons are aroused, and this disrupts your sleep. 

Research has also shown that light exposure before sleep suppresses the production of melatonin – the hormone that controls your sleep and wake cycles. A reduction in this hormone at night normally leads to varying levels of sleeplessness. 

To avoid sleep disruption due to nighttime exposure to light, always sleep with all the lights off. This includes the light emitted from electronic devices, so make sure your computer, phone, tablet and other light producing equipment are either turned off or stored outside the bedroom.


To help with night sweats, you want to try and keep as cool as possible while you sleep. Make sure you keep the window open and ensure the room is well ventilated. If you still find that you’re too warm after doing this, go to bed wearing lighter clothing and consider investing in a lighter duvet or even sleeping on top of the covers.

Noise is yet another thing that can have a detrimental impact on the quality of your sleep. To minimize the amount of noise in your room, make sure there’s nothing in the bedroom that could potentially make noises while you sleep. If it’s noisy outside your bedroom, try sleeping with earplugs.


Avoid Caffeine in The Evening

As you probably know, coffee is a rich source of caffeine. These chemicals change the brain’s chemistry by binding with sleeping inducing receptors known as adenosine to keep you awake. 


The stimulating effects of caffeine can wreak havoc on your sleep because they take hours to wear off. Therefore, if you are an avid coffee drinker, you might want to try having your last cup of coffee before 2pm.


Try Essential Oils

Essential oils such as cedar wood, roman chamomile, sandalwood, valerian or lavender oil are all-natural relaxants and can help you have an amazing night’s sleep. There are lots of ways you can use essential oils to enhance your sleep quality. 

If you are having a bath before bed, try putting a few drops of your favorite essential oils from above into the bath and then allow the aromas to work their magic. 

Alternatively, you can add a few drops of these essential oils to a diffuser, place it in your bedroom and let the relaxing scents slowly spread around the room while you sleep. I also like to add a few drops on my pillow before I lay down – beautiful.


Unwind Before Bed

One final way to maximize your sleep quality is to start unwinding and getting ready for bed a few hours before you sleep. You can do this by disconnecting from the Internet, switching off the TV and your other electronic devices and then spending the last few hours of the day doing a relaxing activity. 

Then for the last 30 minutes of the day, stop everything, empty your mind and focus fully on getting ready for sleep. I like to do a few lovely light stretches just before bed and find it really helps me sleep. Try rubbing magnesium cream into your legs as well, it can help relax your muscles.


Summary

If you’ve been struggling to get a good night’s sleep, I hope this article helps to enhance your sleep quality. These 5 tips are very simple to implement but surprisingly effective. 

Give them a try today and start enjoying better sleep. If you like more tips or help on getting better sleep and overall midlife wellness – let’s talk! 

Schedule a FREE 1:1 Wellness call to discuss how I can help you.

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