Having a good night’s sleep is just as important as staying active and eating the right foods. Poor sleep can negatively impact your brain functions, hormones, and even how you perform in the gym. Lack of sleep has been proven to increase hunger and could mess up a person’s glucose tolerance.
Over the years, more people are sleeping less and/or are not having good quality sleep. Here are game-changing strategies that can help you sleep better.
1. Eat the right foods
Let’s get to it straight. Food plays a role in your sleep quality. Drink lots of coffee throughout the day and you find yourself restless in the middle of the night. It also means that there are foods that can help you relax.
Almond is a good source of melatonin, which is a hormone responsible for your sleep-wake cycle. This is a common ingredient among sleeping pills that helps treat people with insomnia. Aside from almonds, other nuts such as walnuts and cashews also contain melatonin. A review on the efficacy of melatonin showed that it is a good solution for those who are jet-lagged or individuals who need to work different shifts to sleep faster.
Melatonin is also produced by the body’s pineal gland. One way to help produce more melatonin is by eating turkey. Aside from being a high-protein meal, turkey also contains the amino acid tryptophan that can help in the production of melatonin.
2. Skip Nap Completely
One of the reasons why it is hard to sleep at night is because you’ve slept during the daytime. A lot of people tend to take naps after lunch or whenever they can. Instead, you want to do something to keep you busy to prevent yourself from dosing off. If you really can’t help but take a nap, be sure that you are only going to do it for 20 minutes or less.
3. Don’t look at the time when you hit the bed
Ever experienced looking at the clock as you try to get some sleep? Unfortunately, the more you look at the clock, the more that your mind keeps racing and prevents you from having a good night’s sleep. You’d start to toss and turn thinking why you can’t go to sleep. The next thing you know, you are a few hours away from your alarm hitting off.
What you want is to not keep any clock in your room. This prevents distractions and allows you to fall asleep faster. You can always keep your phone beside you to check the time in case you wake up in the middle of the night and you want to know if you still have time to get more sleep.
4. Keep the spine neutral
Lots of people tend to wake up in the middle of the night because of back pain or they find their neck twisted in some weird way when they fell asleep. What you want is to always maintain a neutral spine. You can do this in different ways.
One, you want to find the right mattress that supports your back. Nowadays, some mattresses provide memory foam that follows the body’s contour. Also, you need to place the pillow in a position wherein your spine is maintained straight. If you are on your side, you want to keep a pillow in between your legs.
5. Regular Massage
Massage as a way to improving a person’s sleep, in most cases, is simply anecdotal. However, it is known to improve blood flow and could event trigger a neurochemical reaction that helps the body relax. This is the reason why a lot of people feel like sleeping after having a good massage.
Unfortunately, in some parts of the world, massages aren’t cheap. You’d most likely find yourself paying $100 for a good massage. If this is the case, you can always ask your partner to give you a massage every now and then and see how this can help you relax and have a good night’s sleep. You can also invest in a fascial/massage gun to let you massage your own.
6. Stay away from your bed if you are not sleeping
A lot of people nowadays who work from home also never leave their bed. Some people tend to work in bed, others even eat in bed. What you want is to make your bed feel relaxing. Try to reserve the bed only for sleep. This means that you shouldn’t be watching TV when you are in bed. The next thing you know, you’ve reprogramed your brain to think that you should go to bed once you hit the bed.
7. Soundproof the room
If you are a light sleeper, it might be a good idea if you can soundproof the room. This prevents you from hearing noises that can keep you awake. Also, you want to have ambient sounds that can serve as your white noise. An electric fan or the sound of the air conditioning unit can serve as white noise.
8. Yoga before going to bed
Yoga is a good way to relax the body. This can help you stretch your muscles and even improve your flexibility. But for those who are having a hard time sleeping at night, yoga is a good way to improve blood circulation and relax the body.
Final Thoughts
Many find themselves having a difficult time sleeping. Whether it’s too much coffee during the daytime or stress at work, there are many reasons why we end up not getting enough sleep. With these strategies, you get to find yourself having better sleep.