How to Get Better Sleep - Lifestyle and Beauty Fashion

HOW TO GET BETTER SLEEP

Sleep is one of the pillars of good health but it can be hard to get sometimes.  

1) sleep in a cool room not a cool! room but a colder temperature. So the National Sleep Foundation actually recommends temperatures around 60 degrees Fahrenheit which is roughly eighteen point five degrees Celsius. now that does sound a little cold and I don't think I've ever slept in a room that cold but I started to reduce the temperature in my room when I slept and I found that it makes a big difference. When my thermostat is set to higher I tend to wake up in the middle of the night kicking off the sheets because I'm too hot. So it does work. Now what's the reason behind this? It's because when we go to sleep our internal body temperature naturally drops and a lower body temperature promotes deeper sleep and when our temperature is too high we have very fitful sleep. So if you're having trouble sleeping consider sleeping in a colder temperature room. If you're interested in more about the science I will link it in the description box below. 

2) sleep in darkness or use blackout curtains. The reason for this is when we are exposed to light our bodies can't produce melatonin that well. Melatonin is a sleep hormone if you don't produce melatonin properly you're not going to sleep well so any exposure to light isn't a good idea and I personally struggle with this. When I'm sleeping in a room that has a little bit of light I can't fall asleep. I wake up many times in the middle of the night Now I do have blackout blinds but I find that there's a little gap between the blinds and that's enough light to be disruptive so I am planning to invest in blackout curtains this year so I can sleep in complete darkness. 

3) Use a white noise machine if necessary. Now if you sleep in a really quiet environment and you're not a light sleeper you probably don't need a white noise machine but if you live in the city the way I do there's a lot of street noise and sometimes if you're a light sleeper you can wake up in the middle of the night. Use a white noise machine to drown out that sound. So white noise machines have sounds like a waterfall or an electric fan or just regular white noise. These noises can basically drown out any of the extraneous sounds so you won't wake up in the middle of the night. 

4) Avoid devices before bed. So devices such as a computer a laptop television phone all of these devices produce blue light. The problem with blue light is your body thinks it's daylight and because of that it can't produce the melatonin and you can't fall asleep properly. So if you're struggling with sleep try to limit your device usage before bed. I try not to use my phone an hour to an hour and a half before bed but you know let's face it sometimes you do use your phone so there is a little thing that you could do. So a lot of phones have something called the blue light filter and my samsung has it. So I just click that blue light filter and I don't have to worry about blue light being emitted from my phone. If you don't have a blue light filter on your phone directly you can actually get it an app - there are many apps to deal with this. The other option which isn't it.. It isn't ideal but I should mention it because it came up in my research. So you can use orange goggles. So you can buy these off Amazon and these orange goggles can block blue light from everything so you don't have to use those filters on your phone anymore. Just wear the goggles but I don't know I just don't see myself wearing orange goggles around the house so I try to avoid my devices before bed now. 

5) Develop a sleep routine. So the National Sleep Foundation recommends that you have a sleep routine because when you wake up at different times on the weekend than you do on the weekday it confuses your body. It's sort of like when we travel we have that trouble with sleep schedule in a new time zone. It's because our bodies aren't used to it. So let's say you sleep at 10 p.m. on weekday and then on the weekend you're sleeping at 2:00 a.m. your body is going to be rather confused. To get proper sleep throughout the week it's a good idea to stick to a sleep schedule - a sleep routine. 

6) Get enough exercise. So studies show that people who exercise more often specifically aerobic exercise tend to get better sleep quality so if you are having trouble with sleep try exercising. And I think this works. The days I exercise I'm exhausted by the end of the day and I need to get my sleep and I fall asleep rather quickly. Now the timing of exercise it varies- some people can exercise before bed and have no problems but other people cannot it tends to make them feel a little awake. So you need to figure out what works for you I personally don't exercise in the evening I don't find that it works for me I tend to get a little revved up and then I can't sleep so I try it in the morning. 

7) Avoid caffeine in the six hours before bed there's actually a study on this I will put the link in the description box below but there are also studies that show that caffeine and sleep aren't interrelated so it's a little confusing now personally I can have caffeine and fall asleep very quickly caffeine does not work that well on me in terms of keeping me awake but everyone's a bit different so that's why I think the studies are not very conclusive because everyone's genetics impact how caffeine affects them so if you happen to be one of those people who's having trouble with sleep try to cut down the caffeine and see if it works. 

8) To get enough magnesium consider taking supplements or eating more magnesium so magnesium is known as the relaxation mineral it can help relax your muscles and it can help you sleep better the problem with magnesium is it's only available in whole foods it's not really prevalent in processed foods there's very little so people who are relying mostly on processed foods don't get enough and even if you're eating whole foods sometimes it's hard to get enough magnesium because our soil doesn't have as much as it used to so a lot of people are a deficient in magnesium and it impacts how you sleep so if you're having trouble sleeping and you think you might be low in magnesium consider taking a supplement. I like to take magnesium citrate now and then or you can eat more magnesium rich foods on a regular basis. 

9) Getting into the fun stuff lavender essential oil so lavender is known as a relaxation essential oil and it does work I was able to find a few studies that show that inhaling lavender can promote better sleep in one study that I looked at which I will link in the description box below they basically took a cotton ball put it into a container and then put a few drops of lavender essential oil on that cotton ball and they asked the study participants to basically inhale that lavender oil ten times before going to bed and it made a difference so it definitely is worth the shot. It doesn't seem like it's a very difficult thing to do. Now if you have cats or dogs I do urge you to do your own research based on what I found that the ASPCA says that lavender is toxic to cats and dogs I will not be diffusing lavender in my home I don't want to take the risk but I do use lavender. I do it the way that they did in the study I'll put it on a cotton ball and I'll inhale iut or I'll inhale it straight from the bottle I'm not sure if that's good but I'll do it occasionally. 

10) Chamomile tea so chamomile tea has been known as a sleep aid for a very long time but the research on it is scant so I couldn't find anything that's conclusive but I did find something interesting while chamomile tea and sleep don't necessarily have a strong connection there is a much stronger connection in the research with chamomile and anxiety so if the reason you're not able to sleep is anxiety or you know stress then chamomile tea probably will work for you I personally do find that chamomile tea works really well on me. I'll have a cup of it and within half-an-hour I'm out. So I think it works but you know it may not work for you we're all different so at the end of the day the research can say yay or nay but if it works for you great so try it out and see if it works...