The world moves at a fast pace which can make it difficult to slow down, relax, and get some much needed rest at the end of each day. Many people today have trouble falling or staying asleep at night and struggle to find remedies that help ease the issue. It’s not uncommon for people to try a number of medicines and techniques without any luck, which can leave a person feeling hopeless—and sleepy! Luckily, there are some simple ways to coax your body to rest if you’re willing to put in a little time and create a solid routine for yourself.

Be Predictable

Even if you choose to use supplements such as melatonin or telogenesis, having a schedule for your body can go a long way in helping you sleep. The first step in doing this is to do your best to go to bed at the same time every night. It’s important to choose a time when you’re normally tired so you aren’t lying in bed wide awake for hours, but you also want to ensure you get enough sleep.

To determine this, you need to find out what time you naturally wake up in the mornings. You want to aim for waking up at the same time every day, but this depends on how much sleep your body needs. If you notice you’re sleeping eight hours a night on average, but need to wake up earlier, then try adjusting your bed time by thirty minutes each week until you start naturally feeling tired at an appropriate time.

Being a predictable sleeper doesn’t apply only to those nighttime REM cycles, though. You also want to keep in mind that sleeping in and taking naps during the day can affect your sleep quality. If you’ve put in the work to make an internal sleep schedule, then sleeping in only confuses your body and can lead to you not getting tired at the same time of night. So it’s best to avoid grabbing those few extra hours, even on the weekends. Additionally, napping can be damaging to your routine. If you nap, try to make it before 3 p.m. and don’t sleep for more than 20 minutes.

Create a Calm Space

The next step to a good night’s rest is to have an environmentconducive to sleeping. If your bedroom has lots of bright lights or windows, it might be difficult to fall asleep even if you’re tired.

The ideal bedroom should be cool, dark, cozy, and quiet. Keep soft lighting in the room so if you’re reading before bed you aren’t bombarded with stimulating light. You can also black out curtains over the windows to reduce outside light such as the sun or streetlights that may stream into your bedroom. You also want to keep this room quiet. Watching television in bed or playing music to fall asleep can actually keep you awake.

Sometimes it’s difficult to calm down after a long day even if your sleep space is a serene place. For this issue, it’s often helpful to establish a relaxing routine that helps signal to your body it’s time to wind down and rest. A relaxing bath with some essential oils is one option, or reading a book before you turn off the lights. Some people even find it beneficial to keep a journal and write an entry before bed as a way of relieving those last lingering iotas of stress.

You might also enjoy doing relaxation exercises in the dark, such as deep breathing or visualization, until you gently drift off to sleep.

Avoid Stimulants

Perhaps the most important element in falling and staying asleep is avoiding stimulants in the evening and at night. This doesn’t just mean things designed to keep you awake. In fact, perhaps the most popular stimulant is screens. Most people don’t realize that watching television, using their computer, or scrolling through their phone late at night actually stimulates their brain to stay awake. It’s due to the blue lights that are in all of our electronic devices.

These lights flicker at high frequencies, which keeps your brain active even after you’ve turned them off. To avoid the negative effects of screens at bed time, you should aim to turn them off at least thirty minutes—but ideally two hours—before you go to bed. This is a great window to start your pre-bed routine and start to wind down for the day.

Most people enjoy a cup of coffee or caffeinated tea first thing in the morning to help jump start their day, but when the caffeine intake spills over into the evening is when it can start to affect your sleep. Just like with naps, you should try not to consume caffeine after about 3 p.m., even if you think you tolerate it just fine. Alcohol can also inhibit sleep because it affects the way your brain functions. So it might make you sleepy to begin with, but you almost definitely won’t sleep well through the night. Finally, don’t forget that digestion is a job and it takes energy for your body to do it. Eating late in the evening can sometimes put your body to work when you really want it to rest, so try eating your dinner a little earlier so you have time to digest it all before you hit the hay.

What to Do During the Day

Not surprisingly, much of what you do during the day affects how you feel at night. For this reason, physical exercise is extremely important to sleep performance. Exercising during the day helps your body use its energy reserves so it knows it needs rest when bedtime comes. It can also help to stabilize your hormones so the right sleepy chemicals are released at the right times.
Exercising outside seems to work a bit better than being in a gym because you get the benefit of exposure to sunlight, which helps your body’s natural rhythm determine the time. Keep in mind this won’t be an immediate fix. Sometimes it can take a few months for the benefits to kick in, but if you’ve established healthy habits, then better sleep is right around the corner!

It’s easy to establish a healthy sleep routine and get more rest each night if you know what processes to set up in your life. Creating a sleep schedule, having a calming bedroom, avoiding stimulants, and exercising during the day are all steps you can take to have a better night’s rest and feel more energized each day. Good sleep is in your hands!

There are a number of things that can rob you of sleep. Fortunately most of these things can be solved through practicing good sleep hygiene and making sleep a priority. Unfortunately for some people, practicing good sleep hygiene and maximizing their sleep environment doesn’t always help them sleep better. Many of these people suffer from sleep disorders that need to be diagnosed and treated starting with a sleep study.

For residents of Alaska, The Alaska Sleep Clinic is here to help. We have over a decade worth of experience in diagnosing and treating a variety of sleep disorders including sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, and many others. If you’re having trouble sleeping and think it may be a sign of a disorder, click the link below for a free consultation with a sleep specialist.