Our ability to mend and recharge after a long day of obligations and stimulation from things like our devices, jobs, education, and family depends on how well we sleep. At the same time, there are several strategies to help us get better sleep, most center on the moments before we close our eyes. However, what about before that?
As significant an impact as natural sleeping has on your health, getting ready for bed can have on getting a good night’s sleep. How quickly you fall asleep and whether you have a restful night can be directly impacted by what you do before you say goodnight.
This post will discuss various strategies to unwind and relax so that you can feel more rested and ready to get some shut-eye.
Set up a sleep schedule
Routines have several advantages outside of the nighttime. Because patterns are repeated, sticking to one makes us feel more organized and balanced and supports the saying that people are “creatures of habit.”
Routines can provide a sense of stability and control during stressful times or when life seems unexpected, which can help reduce those uncomfortable sensations. Lack of structure or regularity can cause stress and anxiety, as well as a sense of unease; routines can counteract these sensations.
Routines are not always simple to follow because unforeseen occurrences can happen anytime. Many experts advise adopting a morning or evening routine to assist you in easing into the process of creating a full-day habit.
A nighttime routine can help ease the anxiety many people experience before bed. As many people become more aware of their anxiety or unpleasant sensations at night because there are fewer distractions from outside stimuli than during the day, sleep or nocturnal stress is quite frequent. Finding a means to be more consistent at night will help you get into a routine that automatically signals to your body that it is time for bed. When your sympathetic nervous system activates, which results in those tense “fight or flight” feelings, it can cause sleep disorders like insomnia.
Everyone will have a different nightly pattern, but there are specific actions you can take to help you relax at night and maintain a good schedule. This may consist of:
Setting the alarm to begin your evening routine can remind you to start unplugging.
Immediately after a guided meditation or after starting a playlist of calming music.
I am consuming a warm, caffeine-free beverage, like a calming herbal tea.
A consistent time for bedtime each night.
Good Books to Read
Reading before bed can have the same relaxing effects for adults as for many children who frequently read a bedtime tale. Reading is not only highly calming because you are physically still while doing it, but it may also serve as a diversion from some of the worrying thoughts you might have at night. Reading can also lower stress levels by up to 68 percent, depending on the book you pick.
The ideal book is any genre that interests you and doesn’t make you feel stressed. According to experts, if you can lose yourself in a book, that “escape” may be just what you need to reduce your day’s problems and stress. Additionally, reading can help you feel weary and finally fall asleep because it requires you to concentrate on the story while utilizing your eye muscles to scan the pages from left to the right. Additionally, reading in bed can help you establish this practice by connecting that location with resting and reading.
Remember that it could take some time to experience the calming effects of reading, mainly if your body is accustomed to evoking a stress response at night. The more you engage in this relaxing activity, though, the less active certain parts of your brain will become over time, which will help you feel calmer.
Limit Your Screen Time
Put away your phone, iPad, TV, and laptop, especially 30 to 45 minutes before bed. Screen usage before bed can make it harder to get a good night’s sleep for two primary reasons: the psychological effect and blue light.
Consider anything and anything that is on your phone! Engaging with this content keeps our thoughts mentally active, which is not what we need before falling asleep because there is such a wide variety of stimuli that range from happy to sad to stressful. You don’t want to be active and awake when you’re trying to wind down for the night since the more your brain is aroused by this kind of stuff, the more awake and active you are.
Blue light is also a problem since it may affect your melatonin levels, which regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Get as much natural light as possible in the morning and less at night to maintain the balance of our circadian cycle. By doing so, we can tell our bodies that we require more melatonin in the evening and less in the morning.
The most significant influence on your circadian rhythm and the suppression of melatonin release can occur when you include blue light in your nighttime routine. Keep those devices off till the morning because this continuous interference with your circadian cycle can lead to a number of harmful health issues!
Exercises and methods for physical relaxation should be used.
Physical relaxation may make it much simpler for you to feel exhausted. Numerous relaxation techniques can be helpful, and by mixing them, you can get the best level of relaxation, particularly before bed.
Breathing exercises can help you breathe more deeply, feel more relaxed overall, lower your blood pressure and heart rate, as well as lessen stress and worry. There are several methods you can use, but merely implementing them right before bed will greatly aid in the relaxing process.
A major factor in feeling less anxious in the evening is muscle relaxation. For instance, a hot bath helps ease tense muscles and lessen pain, and studies show that having one at least 90 minutes before bed might hasten sleep by ten minutes.
Getting massages is another method of relaxing your muscles that you can use throughout the day to be ready for bed. Since the body can carry a lot of tension in many different places, it can be challenging to feel completely calm, especially while trying to go asleep. A Registered Massage Therapist can help you relieve stress and worry while also lessening your pain by giving you a massage.