Sleep is important to your success. This is why it becomes amusing to know that many are not getting as much sleep as they need. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S., 40 million people suffer from chronic long term sleep disorders annually. It seems people are struggling to find sleep. To address such an issue here are some hacks that can prove useful.
1. Improve your breathing
What is popularly known as the “The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise,” has been proven to promote better sleep. What this breathing exercise does for you is to regulate your breath.
According to Dr. Andrew Weil on his website, “Breathing strongly influences physiology and thought processes, including moods. By simply focusing your attention on your breathing and without doing anything to change it, you can move in the direction of relaxation.”
What this sleep hack does is silence your mind and eases it from distracting thoughts.
2. Take a warm bath before sleeping
A bath helps to cool your body temperature and embrace sleep. Once you come out from a bath a message is sent to your brain that you are ready for sleep. Although scientists cannot explain this phenomenon it appears, that having such a bath mimics our body temperature.
3. Keep your feet outside your blanket
You can sleep faster if you keep one or both feet outside of your blanket. Since our biological rhythms and temperatures fluctuate throughout the day, this hack seems ideal because when your body temperature starts to drop before you fall asleep, a cooler temperature will also help it induce sleepiness. The feeling you get from having your feet outside your blanket and embracing cooler temperature is similar to having a warm bath before you go to bed.
4. Avoid bright light before sleeping
Blue light from TVs, smartphones and computers can suppress the production of melatonin in the body. What may be stopping you from getting that sleep you need may be the screens you are staring at. You could try and dim the lights from your screens or wear amber tinted glasses to reduce the effects of such light.
5. Eat a decent meal of small, carb-filled supper before bed
Eating a small portion of food that is rich in carbohydrates can induce a good night sleep according to research. So try some bowl of cereal or a slice of toast before you go to bed.
6. Improve the darkness in your room
Light ticks the brain that it is time to be active and get things done. However the opposite becomes the case when light is reduced in the room. Your bedroom should not have any lights on whether from a TV or any electronic device if you want to get some sleep.
7. Improve the smell in your room
According to an article by Wall Street Journal sprinkling lavender oil on bedclothes could lull you to sleep. According to researchers at the University of Miami School of Medicine, the aroma in lavender has been shown “to slow down heart rate, slow blood pressure and put you in a parasympathetic state, which is a relaxed state.”
8. Have a list
Listing your problems and penning down possible solutions for them could help you get the problem out of your head and focus on sleep. According to a study, this action makes you more relaxed for bed.
9. Use the 90 minute rule
Our brains completes several 90 minute cycles through different stages. So if you want to know the ideal time for sleeping take several counts of 90 minutes backwards to the ideal and appropriate time to sleep. For example waking up at 7 am should mean that you sleep around 10pm or 11:30 pm.
10. Avoid smoking before bedtime
Many smokers believe smoking keeps them relaxed. However since nicotine is a stimulant this may not be the best method to get sleep. Just like coffee you should expect to wake up several times throughout the night.
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