A lot of us spend a majority of our bedtime doing everything but taking the time to relax the mind and ease into sleep.
We say our “good-nights” to friends, families, lovers/spouses, kids etc and then spend thirty minutes to two hours scrolling, liking, commenting on social media posts, watching movies/series instead of getting some sleep. At dawn, we wake up cranky or tired and blame the night for being too short.
Sometimes the cause of the sleep difficulties we experience lie within the ‘not so little’ activities we indulge in at night before we sleep.With that in mind we thought to curate and share a few helpful tips that could help our readers adopt better bedtime behaviors which would help in getting better sleep because you know… sharing is caring and we care about our readers.
So read, enjoy and please share with your network!
1. Keep it Light
Keep your evening meal light as heavy meals can overload your digestive system which will affect the way you sleep. Also, ensure you finish eating at least an hour before lights out.
2. Give Thanks
Some people will find a reason to complain about everything that went wrong during the day while some others will focus on giving thanks for everything that went right. If you are reading this, hopefully, you belong to the latter set. If you don’t already, start a gratitude journal as research confirms that keeping an active gratitude journal and writing in it at night helps people worry less and get better sleep. Get a gratitude journal.
3. Read
After a long day, the last thing some of us will want to do is read a book. However, this habit, regardless of how much time is spent reading, works better and faster than other methods to calm frazzled nerves such as listening to music, watching television or going for a walk.
via GIPHY
According to an article by The Telegraph, Psychologists believe this is because the human mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction of being taken into a literary world eases the tensions in muscles and the heart.
4. Take a Warm Bath
Taking a warm bath about an hour before bed relaxes your muscles and sends a signal to your body, telling it its time to slow down. This helps to initiate sleep so long as you don’t rattle up yourself with activities like a “quick drive” to the supermarket for some late night grocery shopping .
5. Unplug
A lot of us are guilty of falling asleep with our laptops, phones and other electronic gadgets surrounding us. One thing we haven’t heard much of is how these gadgets affect our sleeping patterns and the effect it has on our stress levels. Unplugging before bed can be the most difficult but it is the most powerful so shut down and unplug all gadgets and keep them across the room.
After all is said and done, Give yourself and your mind a break even for a few minutes before bedtime as this can make a huge difference with your productivity, in your relationships and boost your potential to be successful.
Images via: Artspace.com(1)