15 Sleeping Tips….

Want to get into the land of nod, with no problem each night?

Here are a few tips to help you with that….

Consistency

Ideally, we should set the same wake and sleep time. This is because your body clock (or Circadian Rhythm) expects you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. If you can’t do this set this up your alarm to wake you up at the same time 7 days a week. Avoid having long weekend lie ins to catch up on lost sleep as this creates a problem called Social Jet Lag. This is similar to the long-haul jet lag we experience when travelling across time zones and can make it harder to get to sleep on Sunday night.

Are you a night owl or morning lark?

The theory behind our chronotypes (or sleep preferences) is that our ancient ancestors had different bed and wake times as it kept the tribe better protected. They lived in cool, dark caves, with fire for light, some went to bed and woke early (Morning Larks), some went to bed late (Night Owls). This meant that the tribe in total was awake longer. It’s worth working out what type of sleep preference you have with one of the online sleep preference tests as sleeping in tune with your chronotype is proven to give us both a better quality and quantity of sleep. Arguably morning larks have an easier time fitting into the modern (early start) work schedule. Night Owls can tweak their body clock with careful lifestyle and sleep hygiene management, but we are talking marginal not wholesale shifts. For the rest of us (called Dolphins) getting to sleep somewhere between 10pm and midnight is the ideal time to nod off.

Create a relaxing and focused wake up routine

When you get out of bed open the curtains/blinds to get some sunlight. Sunlight first thing helps to strengthen our body clock and makes it easier to get to sleep at night. In terms of routine do some early morning meditation to set up your intention for the day. Imagine staying calm and relaxed, and getting to bed on time. Avoid looking at your tech until after your breakfast as this can increase your stress levels. Instead ease yourself into the day with the intention of staying grounded and relaxed throughout.  

Exercise

Doing cardio exercise is proven to increase quality of sleep by increasing deep sleep. It also produces endorphins which are great for your mood and reduces stress. If you don’t like cardio, walking for 20-30 minutes a day will also improve sleep. Getting outside first thing would be ideal to get your dose of daily sunlight. However, you should stop cardio about 3 hours before bed. A heavy cardio workout will increase your core body temperature and your cortisol levels, and both can keep you awake

Stop caffeine at lunchtime

If you are struggling to get to sleep this is one of the first things to consider. All caffeinated drinks (coffee, tea, sodas) can interfere with your sleep as it keeps you alert and adrenalized and it takes your body 6 hours to remove ½ of it from your body, so you need quite a gap before sleep time. Caffeine blocks a receptor in the brain which is designed to register how long you have been awake.

Avoid the late-night tipple/booze

Stop drinking alcohol about 3 hours before bed. Alcohol is a sedative (not a sleep aid) and will disrupt your sleep during the second ½ of the reducing our amount of REM or Rapid Eye Movement (Dream) Sleep.

Eat for sleep

Have a healthy, ‘Mediterranean’ diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, fish and a little red meat. Aim to eat different types of fruit and vegetables (all the colours of the rainbow) to get a range of vitamins and minerals. Look after your gut bacteria/biome with foods such as fresh Yoghurt. Your gut bacteria help you to get to sleep at night. Make sure you finish your dinner at least two and ideally three hours before bedtime. However, in terms of maximising our metabolism, it’s now widely accepted that we should eat Breakfast for a King, Lunch for a Prince and as the Chinese say give our dinner to our enemy. 

Evening wind down routine

Dim all your lights to help with the production of Melatonin your sleep hormone. Create a regular sleep routine such as bath, book, meditation, and bed as this sets up your brain that sleep is coming. Learn some mindfulness techniques, or use Yoga Nidra, or Progressive Muscle Relaxation to help you switch off. These None Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) techniques are proven to help you get to sleep more easily

Set your bedroom up for sleep

Keep your bedroom, cool, dark, and quiet like a cave. Black out blinds are great as absence of light is the biggest ‘initiator of sleep’. Your bedroom should be quite cool (65F or 18C). Your core body temperature needs to drop by about 1 degree C to help get you to deep sleep, so if it’s too warm you may struggle. Always get as big as bed as you can, especially when sleeping as a couple.

Get out of bed if you can’t sleep

Avoid lying awake in bed building up anxiety. Allow 20 minutes to nod off. If you can’t get to sleep, get out of bed, have a warm drink, or read a book in a dim light and then come back to bed when you are feeling tired. This means your brain associated your bed with getting to sleep, rather than lying awake.

Avoid all technology within one hour of sleep

There are three problems with tech and sleep these being that they emit blue light, increase stress levels and lead to time displacement, all of which rob us of sleep. Technology such as mobile phones and computers emit blue light (so do TVs). This is the type of light which the sun is designed to wake us up and blocks the production of Melatonin (our sleep hormone). Always put filters on your tech to help. In addition, the stimulation of being on social media and apps will also keep your brain too alert. This also prevents you from switching off once you are in bed. Buy yourself an alarm and try to keep your phone out of the bedroom, to avoid the temptation of using it in bed which leads to time displacement as we often lose track of time whilst on social media, texts, and emails.

Learn to breathe through your nose

This increases the oxygenation of your blood and is proven to help you sleep better. If need be, consider taping up your mouth with tape

Try yoga and meditation especially at night

Yoga and meditation help you to create brain waves which are similar to the delta waves of deep sleep and are great at getting you out of your mind and into your body. This relaxes you before bedtime. These None Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) techniques are proven to help you get to sleep more easily

Breathing exercises

Getting your breathing to slow down can help reduce the activity from your ‘fight or flight’ nervous system. Technique such the 4-7-8 technique and military technique are proven to help you get to sleep. So would breathing out longer than you breathe in. Combining Progressive Muscle Relaxation with breath work is a great way to help you switch off.

See your GP

If you are struggling to sleep. Sleep is vital for our long-term health and your GP can check your system and suggest best ways you can go. For example, if you are snoring excessively and waking up at multiple occasions you may be suffering from Sleep Apnoea which is a medical condition which needs intervention. 

Make tonight the night to implement the changes you need to get a good nights sleep!

Dave Gibson - AKA Our Sleep Expert/Guru/Well-being Warrior