Sleep is near-universally accepted by health practitioners and experts in high-performanceand low-anxiety individuals to be one of the most important areas of one’s routine. Studies abound about the negative effects of having less thansix hours of sleep a night; they likewise warn against oversleeping, which can be as detrimental to one’s health and energy levels. The problem is, so many people in the world habitually experience awful slumbers; here are some top tips to get you back on your natural sleep cycle, which will, hopefully, in turn,lead to a happier and more peaceful life.
Remove Screens from Bed
The most major change in the last 100 years when it comes to human sleeping patterns has been the insertion of the television, the laptop, the tablet or the smartphoneinto the bedroom, and often into the bed itself. While the television is usually located somewhere beyond the foot of the bed, it still spills out light and sound so that our brains (which are programmed with a natural sleep cycle spurred by sound and light levels) find it even harder to fall asleep.
The LED pixels present in more modern screen technology are even more damaging to your sleep. You hold them closeto the eye, and they are as bright as a sunny midday street. Thistricks the brain, again, into believing this is no time to be shutting systems down. The added negative when it comes to smart devices is their addictive quality and their push notifications, which both stimulate you to check the device even as you are preparing for sleep. The upshot of this is that you lose a good deal of slumber each night. The solution, however, is to leave your devices outside of the bedroom, where they can cause no disruption or use an EMP shield for EMF protection..
Try Natural Relaxation
A good proportion of the US population are habitual takers of sleep medication, and others still self-medicate in ways which unfortunately precludes the beautiful feeling of naturalsleep. Instead of sleeping pills, which one can very quickly become reliant on, why not try natural sleep remedies which are proven to be effective and are often more about a mentalassociation than the presence of a certain drug in your system that forces your body into its nightly sleep mode.
Examples of natural remedies for relaxation abound and can range from sandalwood incense which is often usedin meditation and sleep practice, all the way to melatonin-infused tea (caffeine-free, of course) which will prepare you for a rich and rewarding slumber. There are hundreds of such remedies. To find the right one for you, it’s perhaps the best idea to search online and read some product reviews before investing in natural remedies to replace any sleeping pills you may be presently taking.
Sound Therapy
How many of us go to sleep with the radio, a podcast or a TV show providing some form of background noise? Some use classical music, while some use ‘brown noise’ which is the static sound that blocks out the sudden sounds out in the street that may keep you awake. Thisis not to mention noisy neighbors or those who are forced to sleep at noisy times in the day or night due to split shifts or on-the-job sleepers such as doctors.
More and more people are looking foralternative sound therapies to help in this department, asking for instance: do binaural beats work? There is scientific backing for the ability of binaural sounds to coax you into deep relaxation and a deeper sleep which could be your answer to enjoying a natural and fulfilling, energizing sleep. Some enjoy the sound of gentle waves lapping on a shore, or woodlandat night chirping with magical and serene sounds. Give these remedies a go if you’re someone who loses sleep over disruptive sounds beyond your control.
Food and Exercise
A healthy sleep can be affected by those two cruxes of a healthy lifestyle: regular exercise and a decent diet. More specifically, having gone out for a run, a swim or a cycle tires out your body so that you feel you want to dive into your bed at the end of the day. Ensure you warm up and cool down after such exercise to avoid aching muscles that keep you awake and instead enjoy the sensation as you slip into the sleepof a welcome rest for weary bones and muscles.
When it comes to your diet, there are some obvious foods and drinks to avoid before bed. Sugar, including that which is producedin your body through the break-down of carbohydrates, is an energizing element of your diet and should be avoided at all costs in the hours before you hit the hay. Indeed, your digestive system should not be working at full capacity when you head to bed as this will keep your body awake for longer than you’d like, so ensure you eat your final meal of the day a good amount of time before you attempt to slip into sleep.
Routine
In busy and varied lives, it is sometimes difficult to establish a reliable routine. There’s after-work drinks, dinner parties, late-night shows, stressful days, and a host of obligations and worries that can keep you up late at night and wrench you awake before you’ve had your full sleep. A sleepagenda is, however, one of the most important factors in achieving fluid and glorious natural sleep, so you should do whatever you can in your power to set yourself a regular 7 or 8-hour sleep cycle that is as consistent as possible. In reality, a ritual is anything that you do repetitively to connect with your inner spirit.
You should work back from the time at which you have to wake up for work or to get your kids up for school. It might be that you wake up at 7 am, in which case you should set midnight as your absolute latest hour to be in bed ready to sleep. This way, you’ll always be giving yourself the right segment of time to sleep in, and your body and mind will reward you for this foresight and preparation with better sleep.
Take these tips with you in order toimprove your sleep cycle, making for a more satisfying slumber that will play out in positive effects in all areas of your life.