A sound, uninterrupted sleep ensures regeneration of the body and good mood during the day. But what to do when we are not able to get a decent rest at night, when we are plagued by problems with falling asleep, awakenings, shallow sleep on the verge of wakefulness, inability to enter the state of deep rest, insomnia? You need to know that sometimes the best solutions are right at your fingertips. We give you some proven and not difficult to implement methods to improve the quality of your sleep. Thanks to our tips you will stop waking up with a headache, in a terrible mood and with a feeling of tiredness already in the morning. Find out how to sleep better and feel better every day!
Table of contents
How to sleep better – take a look at your bedroom!
If the quality of your sleep is poor, the problem may be external factors that are interfering with your night’s rest. Sleep disorders very often have to do with the environment in which we find ourselves. Only some people are lucky enough to be able to sleep in any, even spartan conditions, but most of us need a properly prepared space for full sleep comfort.
For example, too high temperature in the room, stuffiness, presence of cigarette smoke, too little fresh air, too warm, inadequate for the season pajamas and duvet can have a negative impact on the quality of sleep. Therefore it is worth to choose appropriate night clothes and bedclothes, always before going to bed ventilate the room and turn on the heating. Besides, if only the temperature outside allows us, it is good to sleep with an open, or at least minimally ajar, window.
As far as the environment is concerned, it is worth knowing that problems with sleep can be connected with too much light in the room. Sleep may be disturbed not only by lit lamps, turned on TV or computer monitor, but also the light coming from the street, from adjacent rooms in the house or the moonlight. Even seemingly insignificant LEDs in a modem or an electronic clock with bright numbers can shine into your eyes and disturb your night’s rest. So if you have trouble sleeping, make sure you have blackout blinds or curtains, set up light-emitting devices so they don’t dazzle your eyes, and turn off your monitor and TV.
The ideal sleeping room should also be completely quiet. Sometimes, of course, this is not possible, for example if you live in a busy area or if other household members go to bed at a later time. In this case, earplugs will work well to dampen any noise. Loud, aggressive music or a “talking” TV are also enemies of a good night’s sleep. If you must fall asleep in the presence of some sounds, choose soft relaxing music, which will soothe your nerves and put you in a dreamy atmosphere.
How to sleep better – get yourself a comfortable bed!
Have you ever wondered whether your bed is really friendly enough to your body to give it a perfect rest for 7 or 8 hours? If you think not really, do something for yourself and change your bed! You can also change the mattress itself, the main thing is not to sleep on a piece of furniture that’s too hard or too soft, has protruding, biting parts, or collapses in certain areas.
Each of these solutions is definitely unfavourable for the spine and causes us to adopt unnatural sleeping positions, we often wake up, turn over on the other side, sleep shallowly and after waking up we feel pain in our back, neck or limbs.
Comfortable bed is the basis of healthy, undisturbed sleep, as well as well-chosen, not too hard and not too soft, not too small and not too big pillow. Another important thing is airy, fresh-smelling bedding, which is also worth taking care of on a regular basis.
How to sleep better – food matters!
Do you like to have a snack before you go to bed? Or do you even wake up at night and wander into the kitchen for a treat? Know that eating at night is not a good habit, it can bring with it not only problems with sleep, but also overweight! Remember to eat your last meal about 2-3 hours before going to bed, so that you don’t feel hungry, but also so that your body can digest the food in peace. Important note, try to eat something light for dinner, for example: cottage cheese or cold meat sandwiches, boiled eggs, vegetable and rice salad, chicken jelly, vegetable cure. Heavily digested foods are definitely not an ally of good sleep.
If we are already talking about food, it is also worth mentioning drink. Immediately before going to bed it is better not to drink too much fluids. A full bladder means frequent visits to the toilet during the night – in such a case it is difficult to talk about an undisturbed, hard sleep. Finally, a word about alcohol. It is a myth that it helps in falling asleep, unless it is really drunk in symbolic quantities. Otherwise alcohol disturbs natural, healthy sleep, moreover it does not allow the body to regenerate well. Instead of 2 beers in the evening, it is better to treat yourself to a cup of warm milk – this drink will certainly awaken the climate of sleepiness in you and will improve the quality of night rest.
How to sleep better – lie down tired
Want to sleep like a baby? Learn to discharge your energy like a baby. If you don’t give your body the right amount of physical and mental exercise during the day, it can result in shallow sleep, a flurry of thoughts when trying to fall asleep, nervous rolling from side to side, and even long-term insomnia. A great way to help this body fatigue, which then results in a deep, sound sleep, is an afternoon or early evening workout, such as a jog or bike ride around town. If you get into the habit of physical activity, the quality of your sleep will improve permanently.
How to sleep better – help yourself to the treasury of natural medicine!
Lack of healthy night rest makes you feel worse every day? Herbs are a recognised natural remedy for sleep problems. Internal relaxation and sleepiness will be promoted by lemon balm, valerian, chamomile and hop cones (and invaluable lupulin contained in them).
Apart from herbs, for problems with falling asleep, night awakening and too shallow and short sleep, it is also worth trying melatonin available in tablets and capsules, which plays a very important role in our organism, namely regulates the daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. A ready-made solution for people who want to comprehensively support their biological clock and eliminate insomnia are sleep tablets rich in both herbal extracts and melatonin, for example Melatolin Plus.