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Sweet Dreams!
Top Tips to help you have a good night’s sleep.
• Develop a good pre-bed routine. This should start at least 20mins before you get into bed. It could include having a bath, cleaning your teeth, dimming the lights, having a small milky drink, changing into bedtime clothes. You need to let your brain know what is going to happen so it sends messages out to your body that it is time to slow down and get into sleep mode.
• Too much light can be a problem. Bright street lamps, the light from the T.V., fluorescent lighting and high wattage bulbs can stop our brains knowing that it is night time. Our brain responds to a fall in natural light which puts us into sleep mode. If too much outside light filtering into your bedroom is a problem invest in some blackout blinds or heavy curtains. Dimmer switches or low wattage lamps can also help you to control light levels in your home to get yourself into sleep mode.
• Going to bed with worries and anxieties at the front of your mind can stop you drifting of to sleep and can also mean you wake up in the early hours unable to get back to sleep again. We often try to suppress our worries during the day as we keep busy and often it is only once your head has hit the pillow that thoughts coming flooding to the fore. Keep a small notebook and pen next to your bed so you can write down any thoughts that come into your head whilst trying to drift off. Worrying thoughts and endless ‘things to do’ need to be out of your mind until you can actually do something about them.
• Share your worries. With a friend, relative, G.P., a healthcare professional or a professional counsellor. Trying to keep worries and anxieties to ourselves creates a burden that affects every cell in our body. Be strong enough to seek help when you need it.
• Avoid stimulants such as tea, coffee, chocolate, colas and alcohol for at least four hours before bedtime.
• Avoid eating a heavy meal too close to bedtime too. Your body needs at least a couple of hours to digest a meal. Go to bed with undigested food still in your stomach and not only will your sleep be disturbed but you'll probably wake up with indigestion. Your body should be busy resting and repairing itself at night not digesting food.
• Avoid going to bed too late and try to have your head on the pillow before midnight. Try to go to bed at roughly the same time every night and try waking up at the same time too. One reason why a lot of people suffer from the Monday blues is because our sleep routine becomes disturbed at the weekend with late nights and lay ins.
• Have a milky drink, or a herbal tea (especially chamomile) as part of your bedtime routine. If you find having a late night drink has you rushing for the loo in the middle of the night then reach for some lettuce instead! Yes, a naturally occurring chemical found in lettuce can actually help induce a nice sleepy feeling.
• If you have a bath as part of your bedtime routine, don’t make it too hot as this can actually stimulate your body rather than relax it.
• Try to avoid watching too much T.V. late at night, especially anything that is likely to over-stimulate your brain. Programmes such as the news or anything containing violence or horror can put you in ‘fight or flight’ mode and adrenaline will be whizzing around your body – not what you want before you go to bed!
• Get plenty of exercise during the day, that way your body will be ready for some rest later on.
• Get out in the fresh air and sunlight during the day. The oxygen in the fresh air will bathe every cell in your body helping your body to work more efficiently both day and night. And the sunlight will help regulate natural hormone responses.
• Try not to sleep in the same room as you work. Your brain associates certain spaces with certain activities. If you do have a computer or work area in your bedroom try screening it off or putting a cover over it before bedtime. Telling your brain that work is finished will immediately help your body and mind to relax.
• Invest in a good quality mattress – you need to be comfortable to sleep well.
• Make sure the temperature in your bedroom remains fairly constant as you sleep.
• Ventilate your bedroom well every day. As soon as you get up open a window. Stale, oxygen starved air will stop you from sleeping comfortably.
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