How to get a restful night’s sleep: 7 Easy Tips

Getting enough restful sleep at night can be difficult, especially with the speed and complexity of modern day living. Artificial light sources enable us to sleep later, but they also trick our brains into remaining alert. The quick pace of modern life provides little opportunity to slow down as the day draws to a close. A never-ending stream of physical stimuli keeps us physiologically stimulated at levels well above what our forefathers experienced.

There are many different ways to improve the quality of your sleep and the tempo at which you fall asleep.
Here are seven steps you can attempt tonight to help improve your resting experience.

1. Limit the quantity of light in your room to get a good restful night’s sleep

What was once scientifically suspected is now agreed upon: different kinds of light affect how you sleep. Artificial light, particularly blue light—the kind you get from LEDs, fluorescents, and computer screens—can mess with your natural rhythms of sleep and wakefulness. Limiting your exposure to blue-spectrum light allows your body to release melatonin, the hormone that signals the body it’s sleeping time. Don’t get rid of the blue light all the time, though. During the day, blue light can increase alertness, elevate the mood, and boost reaction times.

So what’s the plan and what can one do to tackle this modern life problem?

Limit exposure to computer screens, LCD devices, fluorescent lights, and yes, TV screens, after the sun goes down.

EXTRA TIP: If you’re really ambitious, install black-out curtains in your bedroom to limit the amount of artificial light that comes in from the outside.

2. Practice mindfulness and discover better rest

But what is mindfulness to begin with?

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your awareness on the present moment — thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and the environment around you — without adding personal thought, judgements, or evaluations of any of it.

Let it come in and let it go. Why can this improve your sleep? It helps to eliminate one of the primary causes of sleeplessness — worry.

TIP: You could find out more about how to start simple mindfulness practices like putting your attention on the rhythm of your inhalation and your exhalation, or slowly scanning your body from head to toe for tightness or tension, gently releasing it as you go. Meditation has also been reported to help tremendously with alleviating sleep disorders.

3. Establish a healthy sleep routine

Can you recall when your parents reminded you that it was time to get ready for sleep? Did you know that they were essentially initiating a mental habit that started the process of winding down your mind before you went to bed? You were getting ready to sleep.

Human minds respond intuitively to routines and developing patterns that alert your brain to the impending arrival of rest.

A well defined routine is required in order to initiate the shut down for the night.

TIP: Make a list of the tasks you finish before going to bed and start developing a routine of completion. Allow for around thirty minutes. Begin by reading a good book, stretching or doing another soothing activity, dimming or shutting out lights, brushing your teeth, and perhaps taking a shower or bath. Your body will eventually identify this as the pre-sleep practise.

4. Bedroom should only be used for bedtime activities

You could be keeping yourself awake by watching TV, using a laptop or smartphone, or reading a good book in bed. If you link the bedroom with both restful and awakened activities, your mind won’t know what to do when you go beneath the sheets.

The reasoning behind this theory is that your subconscious mind will associate going to bed with falling asleep and getting a good night’s rest.

TIP: Leave all electronic devices and reading material in a different room, and use your bed only for sleeping or other bed-related activities.

5. Caffeine and good rest don’t mix

Caffeine has a half life of about 4-6 hours. That implies it takes your body five to six hours to eliminate half of the caffeine you ingested.
When you’re enjoying an afternoon cup of coffee or tea after dinner, take that into consideration.

Decaffeinated tea can help you avoid some of the negative effects of caffeine, such as the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Both decaffeinated and normal teas are high in flavonoids, which are potent antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties.

If processed tea and coffee are not your first choices, consider naturally caffeine-free teas such as Rooibos, chamomile, ginger, and many others.

TIP: After lunch, try to cut back on your coffee intake. In the afternoon and evening, save the coffee for the morning and replace it with water or other herbal, non-caffeinated beverages. This easy change should help with getting a restful night’s sleep.

6. Pamper youself with a massage

The advantages of getting a foot massage right before bedtime will help you sleep better.

A peaceful and pleasant foot massage will help you relax, enhance blood circulation, and calm your stress.

As a result, you’ll have a more restful night’s sleep

• Place your foot in your lap and sit up straight.
• Press in and around the huge plantar pad of your big toe with your thumb.
• Do this on each of your big toes for at least a minute.
• After that, massage the bottoms of your feet with warm coconut, olive, or even mustard oil for 10 minutes.

TIP: Consider some other alternative oil infusions as well. Perhaps it would be a good idea to also research the benefits of CBD oil.

7. Aromatherapy – the easiest way yet to get restful sleep

Aromatherapy is a type of alternative medicine that uses smells for medical purposes and relies only on our sense of smell. Essential oils are used in aromatherapy for a variety of purposes.

Most notably, aromatherapy is used as a sleep aid because particular aromas encourage relaxation and favourable mood changes.

Essential oils can help you relax your body and mind, resulting in better sleep and less fatigue. Many prefer essential oils over sleeping pills because they are natural and do not cause drowsiness.
Unlike sleeping drugs, no other adverse effects have been reported.

Before going to bed, consider using incense sticks in order to enhance the sleeping experience.
Don’t forget to leave a window open and be sure to ventilate the bedroom thoroughly before actually going to sleep.

Did you find any of the tips above helpful? Or perhaps you would like to share yours as well? We’d love to know your thoughts in the comment section below.