‘Morning shows the day’, goes the saying. One of the important factors that determine how alert you shall be, or how well you shall perform as the day progresses depends on your ‘sleep hygiene’.
Your sleep hygiene consists of a ‘sleep cycle’. During the day, your behavior and activities determines the quality of your sleep at night; and the quality of your sleep, in turn, dictates the quality of your actions and activities during the day. Depending on your sleeping pattern or your activities, you could experience a refreshing healthy sleep or suffer from insomnia. Let us understand what do we mean by this term ‘Sleep Hygiene’ or ‘Sleep Habits’ and what all it encompasses.
Sleep Hygiene are healthy habits and practices that are conducive to sleeping well on a daily basis. They are a guide as to how to sleep better at night naturally. It promotes good sleep and contributes to a healthy living.
So, here are 7 tips to help you sleep better. Read on to find out which of them you are not following:
1. Identify your Bio-clock:
The body has an internal clock. It is the circadian rhythm, which is a natural, internal system that regulates sleepiness and wakefulness in the body over a 24-hour period. It is controlled by that area of the brain that responds to light. Thus, humans are most alert while the sun is shining and are ready to sleep when it gets dark. So, it’s best to align your body clock by tuning it to nature’s day and night cycle.
2. Establish a Sleeping Routine:
Stick to a regular sleep schedule where you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and every night. Maintain this even on the weekends. This regulates your body's clock and promotes better and faster sleep. You can also look for online medical advice to help create an effective schedule.
3. Create a Conducive Room Ambience:
Have a clutter-free, clean bedroom. Clean bed sheets welcome you to tuck into the bed. Moreover, cool temperatures between 60 °F to 67 °F are ambient. By ensuring that the room is free of noise and also free of any light, it paves the path to knowing how to sleep better and faster. You can cut out distractions by using blackout eye shades, curtains, or ear plugs and further enhance it by using white-noise machines that produce soothing sounds like a gentle breeze blowing or waterfalls, thus inducing sleep.
4. Comfortable Mattress and Pillows:
Ensure that your mattress is comfortable and supportive. If you are using an old one, you may exceed its lifespan and it may need replacement. Good quality mattresses have a lifespan of 9 – 10 years. These are pre-requisites to good sleeping. The mattress needs to be of optimum hardness to prevent any kind of back ache.
5. Bed Alignment, Sleep Orientation and Sleeping Posture:
Among home remedies for good sleep, one of the simplest methods is to align the bed in the east – west direction. You may also place it in the north south direction. However, do not sleep with your head toward the north because it interferes with Earth’s magnetic field and has harmful effects. Regarding sleeping posture, sideway sleeping to the left is among the best. This is because the heart is on the left and the posture supports good blood circulation.
6. Light Dinner: Food and Water Intake:
How to sleep well at night naturally is also a result of what you eat at dinner. At night as activities are reduced, the body metabolism is slow. As a result, you should have a light dinner and less of water to avoid frequent urination that will affect your sleep.
7. Practice a Pre-Bedtime Ritual:
Another home remedy for good sleep is to indulge in some reading or light activity. Do not use phones or read from tablets as the light emitted from them defeats the purpose.
