6 Tips For Better Sleep

Tip Number 1.

Be sure to get some type of physical exercise during your day. Whether its walking, running, yoga, pilates, weight lifting, swimming, hiking or any other movement you enjoy. This not only helps you sleep better but increases your feel good hormones and increases your fitness and wellbeing.

Tip Number 2.

Avoid eating just before bed time.

you shouldn’t eat before bed, says Alexis Supan RD from the Cleveland clinic (resource clevelandclinc.com) , and one reason is because of the way your body functions. “When you eat late at night, you’re going against your body’s circadian rhythm,” she says.

It’s all about the way your body adjusts its insulin sensitivity. Your body is more sensitive in the morning on purpose. “That’s to help fuel our bodies, get us moving and get us through the day,” explains Supan. “But our insulin resistance kicks up at night.” The result is that those extra calories coming from your late-night meal or snack are stored as fat while you sleep instead of being burned throughout the day.

Another reason that eating late is bad is because that’s when we tend to make less healthy decisions about what we consume. “At night is when we eat the unhealthy stuff — chips, cookies, ice cream — as part of our nighttime relaxation routine. But it’s also mindless eating,” says Supan.

Tip Number 3.

Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing and at neutral temperature.

Blocking out external stimuli and distractions can go a long way in helping you fall asleep.

Tip Number 4.

Remove (or at least turn off) all phones, ipads, tv's and other electronic devices from the bedroom. Ideally stop watching tv/youtube etc. half an hour before sleep.

Studies have shown that using and watching these devices before bed suppresses the production of melatonin (a hormone released in the evening to help you feel tired and sleepy)

In 2012, the Lighting Research Centre (LRC) published a study showing that 2-hour exposure to light from self-luminous devices can suppress melatonin by about 23%.

Tip Number 5.

Be consistent. Go to bed around the same time each evening. This way your body gets into a natural rhythm. Just as when you are consistent with your meal times your body becomes use to eating at particular times of the day, the same is with your sleep patterns.

Tip Number 6.

Take time to relax before bed. Whether that is taking a bath or shower, reading something positive and uplifting, journalling, gentle stretching or all of the above, having some time to wind down and relax your mind and nervous system will go a long way in helping you drift off to sleep and have a deep, restful peaceful restorative sleep.