A good night’s sleep.
I don’t know about you but I have been struggling to get a good night's sleep recently. For a while I was putting it down to a certain amount of over indulgence around Christmas. But a week into healthy-ish eating (I like a wee chocolate or two) and dry January I am still finding it a bit tough to get to sleep. I am fairly sure that like the rest of the world I am just a bit out of my comfort zone at the moment. Once again we have found ourselves in a lockdown situation. Our whole lives turned upside down or put on hold by something we cannot see, hear or touch. Through no fault of our own we find ourselves stuck back in that limbo we had all hoped that we left behind.
I am sure I am not the only one who is feeling this way. So I have been doing a bit of research into what could help me get a better night's sleep and I thought I would share it with you. Let me know if it helps.
Research suggests that we should get between 7 and 9 hours sleep a night, everyone is different so this will vary a little for each of us. For example I am fairly sure I need closer to 9 while I know some people who have functioned perfectly well on 5 and actually feel awful if they sleep longer. So I find the rhythm that suits you.
So how do we get that perfect shut eye. These are a few tips I have found on the sleep foundation web page.
Create a restful sleep space and make sure you can shut out the light. Our bodies are ancient and the part of our brain which governs sleep was created before electricity. So light makes our brains think it is time to wake up, vice versa darkness signals it's time for snoozing.
Try to keep the space nice and quiet. If that is difficult for you try earplugs or headphones. I have used the soft silicone ear plugs before and I think they work really well. They cut out the vast majority of background noise eg; my cats playing at 3am or someone snoring, but I can still hear my alarm in the morning.
Try scents, I love the smell of lavender and quite often put a little essential oil drop on my pillow. But there are many scents which can help ease us off into a restful sleep, Chamomile, Sandalwood or Bergamot. You can also get blended essential oils specifically for this.
Get a before bed routine, and stick to it. This can be doing some gentle yoga practice before bed, doing a relaxing meditation or breathing technique, reading a book. This also leads us quite nicely to the next point. This signals your brain that it is time to wind down from the day.
Unplug from our devices, make sure you step away from your phone, tablet, computer etc at least 30 minutes before you plan to go to bed. This comes back to that part of the brain which governs our sleep again. The light from our devices makes our brains think it is the middle of the day and we should be wide awake.
For more tips on getting a better nights sleep why not head to https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/healthy-sleep-tips
Good night.
Kate x