Health & Fitness
30 More Sleep Ideas to Help You Get Some Zs
Good sleep is one of the cornerstones of health and too much or too little can have adverse effects on your health. Here are 30 more ideas on how to get better sleep.
Have you tried the other sleep suggestions that I recommended? Did they not work for you just yet? Well here is a few more ideas (30 to be exact) that Dr. Mercola suggests you try because we know that...
Interrupted or impaired sleep can:
•Dramatically weaken your immune system
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•Accelerate tumor growth
•Cause a pre-diabetic state, making you feel hungry even if you’ve already eaten, which can lead to weight gain
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•Seriously impair your memory and can impact your ability to think clearly the next day
•Impair your performance on physical or mental tasks, and decrease your problem solving ability
AND, impaired sleep can also increase stress-related disorders, including:
•Heart disease
•Stomach ulcers
•Constipation
•Mood disorders like depression
Lost sleep is lost forever, and persistent lack of sleep has a cumulative effect when it comes to disrupting your health. Poor sleep can make your life miserable, as most of you probably know. The good news is, there are many natural techniques you can learn to restore your “sleep health.”
Whether you have difficulty falling asleep, waking up too often, or feeling inadequately rested when you wake up in the morning—or maybe you simply want to improve the quality of your sleep—you are bound to find some relief from my tips and tricks below.
1.Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as possible.
2.Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees. Keeping your room cooler or hotter can lead to restless sleep.
3.Check your bedroom for electro-magnetic fields (EMFs).
4.Move alarm clocks and other electrical devices away from your bed.
5.Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on your body to be suddenly jolted awake.
6.Reserve your bed for sleeping only. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and drift off to sleep, so avoid doing these activities in bed.
7.Consider separate bedrooms. Recent studies suggest, for many people, sharing a bed with a partner (or pets) can significantly impair sleep, especially if the partner is a restless sleeper or snores.
8.Get to bed as early as possible. Your body does a majority of its recharging between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
9.Don't change your bedtime. You should go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.
10.Establish a bedtime routine. This could include meditation, deep breathing, using aromatherapy or essential oils or indulging in a massage from your partner. The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed, then repeat it each night to help you release the tensions of the day.
11.Don't drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed and go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you'll wake up to go in the middle of the night.
12.Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed and a small piece of fruit.
13.Avoid before-bed snacks that contain grains and sugars. These will raise your blood sugar and delay sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you may wake up and be unable to fall back asleep.
14.Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. When your body temperature is raised in the late evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating slumber.
15.Wear socks to bed. Feet often feel cold before the rest of the body because they have the poorest circulation.
16.Wear an eye mask to block out any excess light.
17.Put your work away at least one hour before bed. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow's deadlines.
18.No TV right before bed. Even better, get the TV out of the bedroom or even completely out of the house. It’s too stimulating to the brain, preventing you from falling asleep quickly.
19.Listen to relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep.
20.Read something spiritual or uplifting. This may help you relax. Don't read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, which has the opposite effect.
21.Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed.
22.Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, may adversely effect sleep.
23.Avoid caffeine. Be aware that some medications contain caffeine as well (for example, diet pills).
24.Avoid alcohol.
25.Make certain you are exercising regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can improve your sleep. However, don't exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake.
26.Lose excess weight. Being overweight can increase your risk of sleep apnea, which can seriously impair your sleep.
27.Avoid foods you may be sensitive to. This is particularly true for sugar, grains, and pasteurized dairy.
28.Have your adrenals checked by a good natural medicine clinician.
29.If you're menopausal or perimenopausal, the hormonal changes at this time may cause sleep problems if not properly addressed.
30.Increase your melatonin. Ideally it is best to increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime (along with full spectrum fluorescent bulbs in the winter) and absolute complete darkness at night. If that isn’t possible, you may want to consider a melatonin supplement. Melatonin is a completely natural substance, made by your body, and has many health benefits in addition to sleep.
Best of luck and sweet dreams!