The Secrets To Better Sleep
It’s something that absolutely everyone has in common; we all love our sleep. A good sleep cycle improves our mental health, physical health, and generally puts us in a far better position to face whatever life may have to throw at us.
Getting a good sleep can, however, be difficult. We can have disturbed sleep for a variety of reasons. We could be unwell, there could be events in our life adding serious amounts of stress to our daily comings and goings, or we may not have optimum sleeping conditions.
Whatever the reasons, here are some tips and tricks to combat poor sleep.
Go Dark
Every single one of us spends a portion of our day looking at some kind of screen or another, with many of us doing so while in our beds. Doing this in bed while trying to sleep can supercharge the brain, causing it difficult to switch off before trying to sleep. This is due to a disruption in the production of melatonin caused by the distraction of the bright screens.
Save your bedroom for sleeping, sexual activities, and any low impact mental tasks such as reading. By doing so, you avoid melatonin production disruption and your brain will naturally begin to correlate the bedroom with nothing but sleep.
Cut Back On Caffeine
Similar to the previous point, caffeine supercharges our brains and has an impact on our sleep patterns. Because caffeine is a stimulant, most people use it after waking up in the morning or to remain alert during the day. While it is important to note that caffeine cannot replace sleep, it can temporarily make us feel more alert by blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain and increasing adrenaline production.
Many people avoid caffeine after a certain time, usually 6pm, if not altogether. This stops the caffeine from inhibiting sleep cycles, leaving you feeling far more energetic and vibrant. It may be difficult to cope without initially but in the long term removing caffeine from any diet is a good option.
Look For Ways To Reduce Stress
This seems like an obvious one, and few people go looking for it in life, but cuting back on stress will improve your sleep hygiene. Stress reduction comes in all shapes and sizes, but taking on less tasks and giving yourself more “me time” are the main ways of going around cutting out stress.
One particularly good stress buster that is easy to implement it to treat your feet. Try soaking your feet in cold water, perhaps with some Epsom salts or bath oils. Dry your feet vigorously with a towel and give them a massage. This will stimulate the 72,000 nerve endings in your feet and help your nervous system relax.
Exercise Regularly
Again, it may seem obvious, but people often misunderstand this point. When told that exercising regularly will help them sleep, people often envisage spending 1-2 hours in a gym in a daily basis to achieve this result. This couldn’t be further from the truth; simply getting 30 minutes of exercise in on a daily basis can be enough to tire out the body and mind and help us with our sleep hygiene.
Jane has worked with world-renowned plastic surgeons and dermatologists in the development of her line and lectures all over the world on its benefits.