Summer has finally graced our UK shores; sunrise is super early, daylight stretches into the late evening, we are all stepping out in sandals, summer dresses and wonderful vibrant colours, and everything is just bright and beautiful. But with all of that comes hot sticky nights. For most of us, that means tossing and turning and fighting with the sheets all night. If you’ve been battling restlessness due to the humidity, here are five ways to get a good night’s sleep. But before that, let’s look at why sleep is important.
Why is good sleep important?
Sleep is an important factor in maintaining our general wellness, and ensuring we lead healthy lives. “Everyone should get seven to eight hours of sleep per night to feel rested; otherwise you will feel tired throughout the week”, says Dr Susheel Patil, of the John Hopkins Sleep Centre. Here are three more specific reasons why sleep is important.
Good sleep gives you a clearer mind
Been feeling “foggy” lately, or feel like you just can’t concentrate at work? You could need a few more hours of shut-eye. Research shows that sleep helps with your learning and improves your memory in the long term.
Good sleep helps you maintain a healthy weight
For a number of reasons, poor sleep patterns can make it difficult to keep obesity at bay. First off, sleep produces appetite-regulating hormones. So if you are regularly skipping out on your seven to eight hours per night, it could be the reason you are overeating. Secondly, if you’re tired in the day, you are less likely to want to engage in exercise or physical activity. Also, a lack of sleep interferes with your metabolic processes.
Good sleep reduces your risk of disease
Cardiovascular problems, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but research suggests that these are some of the chronic diseases associated with a lack of sleep. Dr Susheel Patil explains, “heart problems can influence sleep, and sleep can influence heart problems,” says. There’s quite a lot of overlap.”
“Often, people will try to catch up on sleep over the weekend to repay the “sleep debt” we accumulate over the week. While this can help, one weekend of increased sleep is not enough to repay it”, Dr Patil offers. If you find it hard to drift off to sleep or wake frequently at night, bedtime can fill you with dread. Well instead of allowing that to happen, why not incorporate healthy habits into your nighttime routine, fight insomnia and ensure you get a good night’s sleep?
Five Ways to Get a Good Night Sleep
1. Take WellBeSleep products
WellBeSleep products are a range of tasty products to savour before bedtime. The products are innovative in format, beautifully packaged, delicious and made for individuals who sometimes experience difficulties falling asleep.
Formulated by WellBeMed, WellBeSleep shots dark/oat bar all contain the ingredient of lemon balm, a herb that has been used over centuries for its calming effect. What is more, they taste great. If you’ve been dealing with frustrating sleepless nights – especially if it’s affecting your productivity during the day, then it’s worth checking these products out. You can find them at wellbemed.com or on Instagram at @wellbesleep.
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2. Read a book in bed
As old-fashioned as this seems, reading a book actually helps you to drift off. Why? Because it is proven that reading helps to relax the body and mind. Incorporating reading into your nighttime routine can help you to attain consistent good sleep and rest over time.
Enjoying this? You may also want to read: 7 Ways to Rekindle Your Love for Reading
You should be careful of what you do read though – remember the goal here is to relax. So make sure you avoid reading anything that will make you overly excited or anxious. If you are looking for book ideas, then why not browse through my catalogue of book reviews? Also, it’s best to read a traditional book rather than an e-reader or your phone (in fact, put the phone away!)
3. Set the mood for bedtime
So, it’s 10 pm and you expect to be in bed at 11. But you’ve just had a Twitter argument with someone in the TL, your TV is on, your kids are not asleep yet and your bedroom is a mess. Listen, I am not judging here – in fact, I am sometimes also very guilty. BUT the reality is that you cannot expect to wind down for bed when you’ve been so wound up just moments before.
This is what I would suggest: firstly, make your bed in the morning when you wake up (your later self will love it. Trust me), limit your social media consumption as you draw towards the end of the day, make your house quiet (switch off or lower the TV, swap loud music for soothing, relaxing music etc), and lastly turn off the harsh lights and put on a night light instead or light a scented candle (lavender is a good one).
4. Get it off your chest, and onto paper
I would also go as far as also saying, do not let the sun go down on your worries, anxieties and tomorrow’s most pressing tasks. This is because your mind cannot go on standby for the night if you have a million and one thoughts swirling around in it. And even if you do – the quality of your sleep is not likely to be that great.
A great way to combat this is to talk through your thoughts with your spouse or whoever you may live with, and if you live alone, journal your thoughts. Getting everything down on paper works for many people and it could work for you. Writing your thoughts down not only allows you to release them but also helps you to explore the root cause of your feelings and even come up with a temporary (or permanent) solution that will allow you to get some sleep for the night. Also, who knows? Your notes could inspire that bestselling novel you might write one day!
5. Maintain your sleep pattern
Taking long naps during the day or staying up all night to binge on Netflix series are sure ways to ruin your sleep pattern. And when that happens it can take some time to get it back on track.
This is how it goes: It’s 11 pm and all of a sudden you have a great blog post idea that you just need to type out there and then (cue the previous point). Or perhaps there’s a TV show you can’t stop thinking about, and before you know it you’re up at 3 am because of a lack of self-control. This will obviously leave you tired in the day and in need of a long nap, or several cups of coffee (which is also very bad for sleep!)
And that’s it! These are five ways to get a good night’s sleep. Can you think of any more?
Let me know. Don’t forget to check out WellBeSleep, and have a good night’s sleep.
Disclaimer: this post is sponsored.