A good night’s sleep is something for which everyone craves. When we wake up from a deep sleep in the morning, we feel refreshed, energized, and happy. Not only that, but good sleep is also beneficial for our physical health. It helps in brightening our skin, makes our hairs glossy, and enhances our work productivity.
On the other hand, a broken and disturbing sleep makes us frustrated and lazy. Getting good sleep can be tricky due to our lifestyle and physical environment. Due to this, we have compiled a list of ways that can help you in getting a perfectly good night’s sleep without any problems.
All of these tips are simple yet effective. These are related to things that people seldom notice, but can affect their sleep. Some of them are scientific, while others are psychological. Are you also curious to know about these sleep invoking ways? If yes, then keep scrolling.
1. Get up and Try Something Meaningful:
If you are facing a problem with falling asleep, then get up from your bed instead of lying there. Getting up and trying something meaningful will save time and invoke better sleep. Otherwise, you will end up getting shallow sleep that too, after a lot of struggle.
So, get up and do something which requires a little bit of energy like solve a puzzle, read a book, draw something or anything else which you love to do. Go to bed again only when you start feeling sleepy.
2. Avoid using any Blue Light Emitting Devices before Sleeping:
People who use the phone, laptop, and other electronic devices before going to bed generally face sleeping issues. Nowadays, every person uses the phone or laptop at night, but you have to limit its usage to get good and healthy sleep. These devices emit blue light, and according to a study, blue light suppresses your sleep-inducing hormone – Melatonin.
For normal production of Melatonin, stop the usage of any such devices 2-3 hours before your bedtime. If you can’t ditch your habits, then use these devices with night mode or by turning down the brightness level for better sleep.
3. Try Reverse Psychology:
Reverse psychology says that try to stay awake by opening your eyes wider when you aren’t able to fall asleep. According to a study done at the University of Glasgow, lying in bed and trying to be awake can invoke sleep faster rather than trying to fall asleep by closing your eyes.
4. Make and Rigorously Follow a Bedtime Routine:
Following a regular routine and time of sleeping can help in getting better sleep. Our body also understands our sleep time and the same actions when we follow the same schedule daily. Choose a preferable time and activity which you will daily do before going to bed.
It could be changing into comfortable clothes, drinking a glass of milk, or anything that soothes your body. Doing this same thing daily at the same time will result in a good sleeping experience.
5. Maintain a Medium Room Temperature:
A cool temperature is not only required in summers. Even in winters, you should maintain a medium cool room temperature to get better sleep.
According to experts, our body temperature drops a little when we try to sleep, and keeping our room temperature properly aligned to our body temperature invokes sleep. Considering this, ensure your room temperature is 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit/15-18 degrees Celsius at night.
6. Practice Yoga and Meditation:
Usually, people face issues in falling asleep because of stress. It’s necessary to release stress in order to get good sleep. You can get rid of unnecessary stress and tensions by practicing yoga and meditation regularly.
Yoga improves your breathing patterns and body movements that are helpful in releasing accumulated body stress. Meditation can boost the level of melatonin in your body. All of it will lead to a peaceful sleeping experience.
7. Take a Warm Bath before Going to Bed:
A warm bath relaxes your body by easing up the stress and body pain. Apart from it, stepping into a cooler atmosphere after a warm bath quickly drops your body temperature.
This drop slows down your heart rate, breathing, digestion, and blood pressure; which is an ideal condition for falling asleep. So, take a short hot bath one hour before your bedtime.
8. Use the 4-7-8 Breathing Technique:
4-7-8 breathing system means inhaling continuously for 4 seconds then holding the breath for 7 seconds and then forcefully exhaling for 8 seconds.
This whole procedure is known as the 4-7-8 breathing technique; which is very useful in falling asleep within a few minutes. All you have to do is to repeat this procedure 3 times when you go to your bed. Do it properly to see the magic!
9. Smell Lavender:
Lavender is a fragrant flower that is famous for its relaxing properties. Use lavender flavor room freshener, try lavender oil massage or just keep a few fresh lavender flowers under your pillow. All of this will soothe your body and mind; which will help you in falling asleep easily.
10. Dip your Face in Ice Water:
It may sound a little crazy, but it is a scientifically proven fact that dipping your face in a bowl full of chilled water can invoke better sleep.
When we do this, we trigger a phenomenon known as Mammalian Dive Reflex; which is our body’s built-in way of reacting to chilled water. This reaction lowers our heart rate and blood pressure immediately; which in turn soothe our nerves and helps us in falling asleep quickly.
11. Schedule your Workout Session in the Evening:
Most of the people work out in morning hours because they don’t know the benefits of doing it in the evening. Doing an intense workout 1 -2 hours before going to your bed at night reduces the level of stress-inducing hormone- cortisol.
Due to this, your body eases up quickly; which in turn invokes sleep. It also increases the level of your tiredness; which is good for getting a peaceful sleep.
12. Decrease the Lighting of your Bedroom:
Our body is designed in a way that it becomes sleepy in low lights and becomes more active in bright lights. In ancient times, human beings used to fall asleep when the sun goes down and wake up with the sunrise.
This philosophy indicates that we can’t fall asleep easily in any type of artificial light. It can be anything like our fluorescent light bulbs or LED lights. So, try to switch off all the artificial lights and use candlelight to fall asleep quickly.
13. Have Some Relaxing Time before Going to Sleep:
Your body needs proper time to relax and slow down before sleeping. So, don’t hop directly on your bed after completing your day’s work.
Instead, try to do some relaxing activities like reading a book, listening to soft music, take a walk in your street or doing anything else which you prefer doing. This helps in winding up your body and mind; which is essential for getting good sleep.
14. Choose a Comfortable Mattress:
A sagging and old mattress can be the real enemy of your sleep. Such a mattress is a reason for physical discomfort due to which you can’t fall asleep easily. To solve this problem, you need to buy a new mattress that suits perfectly to your sleeping style.
Proper body comfort is the first essential factor for inducing sleep. So, contemplate on your mattress and if it’s not comfortable, then change it as soon as possible.
15. Get a Quality Pillow:
When it comes to physical comfort, your pillow is as important as your mattress. A quality pillow maintains the ideal body temperature and provides the necessary neck support. So, ensure that your pillow is doing both the tasks correctly for you.
If it’s not doing it, then change it. Try orthopedic pillows for a better sleeping experience.
16. Eliminate your Day Nap:
You don’t feel sleepy at night, and then you wake up tired. You feel lazy during the day and take a nap to get rid of this lethargy. Now, if you are following this schedule, then you should know it is a vicious cycle for your sleep.
To break it, you have to eliminate your day naps no matter how sleepy you feel at that time. Fight it off through caffeine or a good tea. You will get proper sleep at night; when you won’t sleep during the day. It’s as simple as that.
17. Try Acupressure:
Acupressure is very helpful in providing a peaceful sleeping experience. You can try this easily at your home as well. Apply gentle pressure on areas like your eyebrows and in between them for a minute. Massage both of your ears for a similar time duration. Try all this as you lay on your bed for sleeping. Doing this regularly will surely affect your sleep positively.