25 Ways to improve your sleep quality
Women are 40% more likely to have insomnia than men and are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
Both depression and anxiety greatly affect sleep, and more than 60% of women lack adequate sleep.
And if you have breast cancer , the statistics are worse.
Approximately 72% of women with breast cancer have some sort of issue with their sleep.
Lack of sleep impacts your brain’s ability to function, remember, pay attention, regulate emotion, and process information.
It lowers your immune system, increases pain, and lowers your ability to regulate your hormones.
So, if you are struggling with getting enough sleep, there are many natural ways to improve your sleep that have been shown to be effective.
Here are 25 ways you can improve your sleep:
1. Set time aside for enough hours of sleep.
The recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult is at least seven hours, but women may needed closer to 9 hours.
So, if you find yourself waking up sleepy still after 2 nights of consecutive sleep, make sure to up the hours.
2. Stick to a sleep schedule
Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. This will help your body get into a rhythm and set up a proper sleep-wake cycle.
Make sure to stick to this on the weekends as well, as having a different schedule on the weekends can throw your body off its rhythm.
3. Don’t just lay in bed
If you don't fall asleep within about 30 minutes of going to bed, leave your bedroom. If you don’t sleep, anxiety will kick in, and all you will do is start thinking about not being able to fall asleep.
Instead, get out of bed and read, listen to soothing music, and go do something relaxing.
This will decrease how many hours of sleep you get, but it prepares your body the next time to fall asleep faster.
4. Get out of bed in the morning if you wake up before your alarm.
The worst thing you can do if you wake up early is try to go back to sleep.
Here is why: you wake up at 6 am and your alarm doesn’t go off until 8 am, but now you are awake and can’t fall asleep until 7:30. Once you are finally asleep, the alarm goes off. And you wake up groggy, as you interrupt a sleep cycle.
When you wake up earlier (and within a reasonable time to get up), your body is better off to get prepared for the day and prepared also to go to bed earlier that evening.
5.Pay attention to what you eat and drink
It’s ok to go to bed a little hungry, but you want to avoid being so hungry you can’t sleep.
In addition, don’t over-do it either. Eating too much and feeling stuffed will make it harder for you to sleep and affect your restful sleep.
Therefore, make sure to avoid heavy or large meals within a couple of hours of going to bed.
Are you getting sleepy yet?
6. Avoid nicotine, caffeine and alcohol.
Nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol can greatly reduce your not only to fall asleep but also to get restful sleep.
They impact your body and increase your heart rate—not letting your body rest while you sleep.
In addition, it’s important to know that even though alcohol might make you feel sleepy, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t disrupt your body’s ability to rest at night.
7. Create a restful environment
Your sleep environment greatly impacts your body’s ability to rest at night. In fact, your body needs an environment that helps lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate.
You can do this by :
keeping your room cool
making sure it is dark
keeping it quiet
having the right mattress
wearing the right pijamas
8. Limit daytime naps
Taking naps during the day can be a sign of not getting adequate sleep at night.
Therefore, it can be tempting to take a nap, and sometimes they are necessary, but often, they can interfere with your sleep.
Therefore, if you need to take a nap, make sure you don’t take one too late in the day and make it <30 mins.
9. Exercise and stay physically active
Regular physical activity and weekly exercise can greatly improve your sleep.
Exercise has been shown to have a moderate association with sleep quality; therefore, if you can exercise and remain physically active throughout your day, you will be able to either fall asleep fast, have more restful sleep, or sleep longer.
Just make sure you are not exercising too close to your bedtime, as this might wake you up.
If you don’t know where to begin, we have created 101 work outs for you to try to help you burn more calories throughout the day and improve your sleep.
The guide comes with guided youtube videos so you know how to do each movement and avoid injury as you exercise.
It also lets you know how many sets and reps to do so you don’t have to guess, and it comes with a description of the workout of the day so you don’t have to come up with a plan on the spot.
If this is something you feel would be helpful, click the button below.
10. Journal before bed.
Journaling before bed can be a great tool to help you manage stress, worries, anxiety, and help you decompress at the end of your day.
There does not have to be a specific prompt to follow, but rather, you can use your journal to dump all your thoughts in one place before bed.
This could be a to-do list so you don’t forget to do anything in the morning, a reflection of your day, or an idea canvas to write everything in your day.
11. Get rid of screen time before bed
Your body has a natural sleep and wake cycle, which can reflect the hours in a day. For example, your body will naturally be awake during the day when the sun is out and naturally start to get sleep when it gets dark.
However, this rhythm can be affected by blue light (the light on your cell phones and computer, or lap top screens).
This light can trick your brain into thinking it’s daytime by reducing melatonin (a natural hormone that tells your body it is time to go to sleep). Therefore, try setting an alarm to get off your devices when it is time for you to go to bed.
12. Talk to your health care provider
Often, the reason you are not able to fall asleep can be treated medically.
For example, maybe you have knee pain, which keeps you up at night or require a CPAP machine to help you breathe better at night.
Sometimes, by working with your doctor, you will be able to treat the issue that’s impacting your sleep.
In addition, if you still can’t sleep, you might be able to get medication or get a referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist to help.
13. Track your sleep
If you consistently get enough hours of sleep but you continue to wake up sleepy, then it may be that you are not getting enough quality sleep.
Tracking your sleep may sound tedious, but it is a helpful tool to learn what you struggle with the most and whether you are getting enough sleep during the week.
Sleep is more than just how many hours you get but is also encompassed in how much deep sleep you get, how much light sleep you get, and how fast you are able to fall asleep.
The goal is to fall asleep fast and have your night be mostly deep sleep (otherwise known as REM sleep).
14. Upgrade your mattress
If the temperature in your home is comfortable, your room is dark, your place is quiet or has comfortable background noise, and you have cozy pj’s, and you’re still struggling to sleep, then your mattress might be to blame.
A mattress that's too old, too firm, or too soft can cause you back pain, discomfort and greatly affect your sleep.
Therefore, by ensuring you have the right mattress and pillows, you will be able to make yourself more comfortable in bed.
15. Align your body with each sleeping position
Your body has natural curvatures that the bed does not support, such as your lower back and neck.
These curvatures can be better supported according to the position you sleep in, and if you use your pillows correctly, you will be able to relieve yourself from a lot of pain.
Let me explain, if you sleep on your side, then having a pillow between your thighs will help your hips be stacked and aligned with one another, and if you sleep on your back, then having a small pillow placed on your lower back will support the natural curvature of your spine and provide you with relief and comfort.
16. Get natural sunlight in the morning
Research shows that getting enough sunlight and vitamin D in the morning and throughout day is part of good sleep hygiene, as vitamin D helps the body produce melatonin.
In fact, low levels of vitamin D could result in low levels of melatonin, and therefore decrease your ability to sleep.
17. Bathe or shower at night
Taking a shower or bath one to two hours before bedtime can regulate your body's circadian rhythm, which also relies on temperature.
A stress-reducing nighttime bath can improve blood flow and induce sleepiness.
18. Eat more protein
It is normal to get hungry before bed; however, learning which food to prioritize before bed could help the natural promotion of Vitamin D, tryptophan, and magnesium, each of which affects melatonin.
Foods that can help you improve your sleep include kiwis, turkey, almonds, fatty fish, walnuts, white rice and foods high in protein (egg yolks, saltwater fish (such as salmon and tuna), cheese, and mushrooms.
19. Learn to relax before bed
Put down the phone, and pick up a book.
Studies show that reading before bed can help you destress and set your mind at ease.
Much of this research has to do with putting down your phone, setting a nightly habits that tells your brain to shut off and prepare for bed, and getting your mind to rest on something other than life.
20. Stimulate your senses
Using different types of background noise, such as white noise, brown noise, pink noise, black noise, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), or even water noises in the background can all help your body relax and bring your body into a comforting sleep.
These stimuli focus on simple sounds that help soothe your body and bring you to a deeper sleep.
21. Use relaxation techniques
There are many physical and mental techniques to use which can help relieve tension in your body before bed, such as progressive tension, meditation, and grounding.
Progressive tension is a technique used to squeeze different muscles of your body, starting with your feet and working your way up to your head and as you squeeze you then relax your muscle and move on to the next muscle group feeling your body relax after tension.
Meditation, on the other hand, is a breathing technique that allows you to empty your mind and relax your breathing.
Grounding techniques are intended to take your focus away from tomorrow's anxieties, bringing your attention back to the moment and help you stay centered on today.
22. Cuddle up
There is nothing better than bedtime cuddles.
Cuddling and snuggling up before bed can release oxytocin. Research shows that oxytocin is a hormone which helps reduce reduce stress activity, promote rest, and improve your mood to help you sleep.
23. Set an alarm & turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode
Before bed, make it a habit to set your alarm.
When you double check your alarm, this can bring you peace that you will be able to wake up on time in the morning.
In addition you want to set your phone on “do not disturb.” It is way too common to be checking your emails and text messages at night.
Instead, put it to rest in order to be able to fall asleep.
24. Use your bed for sleep only.
Your brain responds to habit and discipline.
The more disciplined you are, the easier to continue doing a familiar task.
But your brain also responds by association. So, when your eyes see something, a response will be associated with it.
For example, sometimes by just being in the bathroom, you might suddenly need to use the bathroom.
This can either work for you or against you. So, if you are someone who works in bed, your brain might have a hard time associating your bed with sleep, and instead, it will keep you up at night.
Therefore, train your brain to see your bed and only think of sleepy time.
25. Supplements and teas
Lastly, supplements and some herbal teas can help induce sleepiness.
Supplements, like melatonin and magnesium, can be helpful in improving your sleep. Meanwhile, chamomile or lavender tea can help induce sleepiness.
Melatonin is a hormone that can help to regulate sleep, making it easier to fall and stay asleep.
*** Disclaimer, be sure to always talk to your healthcare provider first and ask them whether it is safe for you to take supplements. Some supplements and teas can have a poor interaction with cancer therapies and may be harmful for you to take. In addition, not all supplements are created equal; therefore, it is important to get the right supplements from trusted brands. ***
Women need on average more sleep
There are many ways to improve your sleep
So, if you want to learn how to make your sleep last longer, wake up feeling better, fall asleep faster, and sleep better, try out different techniques to see what works best for you.
There is not one-size-fits-all, and what may work for you may not work for someone else.
So, see what works best for your body, and let us know which tips have helped you the most.
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