This may seem like an obvious tip, but avoid caffeine later
in the day. Many people don’t realize
that their afternoon mocha or coke with dinner can affect their sleep. Caffeine can last in our bodies for 8 hours
or longer. If you love your coffee, try
to keep it limited to the morning time.
Also, foods that seem like they are morning foods, like oatmeal, cereal,
yogurt, and bananas actually can help you fall asleep. Avoid any sort of big meal before bed because
if the body is busy digesting a large meal, that can keep you awake.
Exercise
Not everyone loves going for a morning run, and that’s okay,
you can exercise later in the day as long as it is not before bedtime. Exercise is a great way to tire yourself and
make yourself sleepy, just don’t do it in the hours before bed. Exercising gets the heart rate up, and that
is the exact opposite of what you want when you are trying to relax and fall
asleep.
Light
Our bodies all have an internal biological clock called our
circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm regulates
when we are sleepy and when we are awake.
Our circadian rhythm responds to light and dark signals. It’s a complex process, but to put it simply,
light cues can alter our biological clock, causing us to feel awake when we should
be feeling sleepy. The best way to help
ourselves get more sleep is to be aware that the light coming from our computer
screens, phone screens, TV screens, etc. is affecting how sleepy we feel. About an hour before you plan to go to bed,
start turning the screens off, or lowering their brightness. Then about a half-hour before you plan to go
to bed, lower the overhead lights in your bedroom, or turn them off completely
and just have on a low-lit table lamp.
This lowering of the lights helps to mimic a sunset and helps you to
feel sleepy. (There are alarm clocks
that you can buy that will slowly dim the light as you approach your sleep
time, and then slowly light up at the time you set the alarm to wake up. This makes it easier to wake up, and is much
less jarring than a loud alarm noise in the dark. I highly recommend them, I have one and I love
it!)
Room Temperature
It’s tempting to pile on the blankets and want our beds to
feel super cozy, but we actually sleep better when the temperature is cool.
This doesn’t mean that the room should be freezing, because being too cold will
wake you up, but when things are on the cool side we tend to have less
disrupted sleep.
Thoughts
One way to guarantee that you won’t fall asleep is to put
your head on the pillow while thinking of everything you have to do the next
day. If you need to do this, do it
before getting into bed. For many
people, it is helpful to read for a few minutes before turning out the
light. Read something for fun that is
entertaining, but not so engrossing that you won’t want to put it down. After you finish reading, lie down and close
your eyes, continuing to think about the characters and the story that you just
read. Let your thoughts drift there,
until you drift off to sleep.
Next time I will share some tips on what to do if you have a
hard time staying asleep.
