Tips to improve your sleep

I ran a social media poll recently asking what lifestyle aspect people would like to improve in 2023; nutrition, sleep, stress or exercise. Sleep was the top answer by an overwhelming majority!

Reasons for poor sleep are very personal, and sometimes circumstantial, but here’s a few of my top tips.

1.       Reduce screen time

There is a lot of research being done about how blue light (light from a device screen) affects our sleep, and while some of the research is still inconclusive, it does appear that may well be a link between staring at your device before going to sleep and poor sleep quality as it impacts your body’s natural circadian rhythm.

On top of that there’s also the content; what you are actually looking at before you go to sleep? Are you aimlessly scrolling social media, comparing yourself to others, looking to see how many ‘likes’ your last post got or ending up in the rabbit holes of targeted marketing?

Maybe it’s the blue light, or maybe it’s the content of what you’re reading causing feelings of worry? Either way, there is a strong argument for putting down your devices at least 30 minutes before you head to bed to quieten the mind, which may well positively impact your sleep!

2.       Eat earlier

Eating close to your bedtime can cause feelings of discomfort and while that filling meal will leave you feeling full and tired, it may impact the quality of the sleep as your body tries to digest.

Try to eat at least two hours before going to sleep to give the body plenty of time to digest your food and take what it needs from the nutrients. This change of habit will possibly also leave you feeling more energised in the morning!

3.     Write a ‘worry list’

After a full on day of work, family, walking the dog, getting life-admin done and all the rest, the mind has actually had little time to settle and think. So when you get into to bed to go to sleep, the mind starts running through everything else; all the tasks, concerns, plans etc that you haven’t yet had time to think about, bubble to surface.

It’s your mind’s way of helping. by ensuring you don’t forget things or trying to release pent up stress that you haven’t had time to acknowledge throughout the day. And yet, it’s hugely unhelpful to most people. It can delay sleep all together, and it can create worry before you fall asleep. So to prevent this happening, I suggest giving yourself 5 minutes, either in the kitchen before you head to bed or perhaps in bed before you switch off the light, to write down all of the thoughts that come up. There can be a ‘tomorrow to-do list’, a ‘long term to-do list’, reminders for the morning or even a couple of sentences to get your worries off your chest (and out of your mind!). Give your brain the much needed time it desires to actually think.

4.     Reduce stimulants

Oh, it’s a boring one I’m afraid, but if all else fails and your quality of sleep is poor or getting to sleep is difficult and you can see any reason for that, then maybe your caffeine and alcohol intake needs a review.

Caffeine is the boost so many of us enjoy in the morning with our sacred morning tea or coffee. I’m a huge coffee lover. However, too much caffeine can impact how long it takes to fall asleep, as well as the depth of your sleep and amount of time to stay asleep. It can take our bodies anywhere between 2 – 12 hours to metabolize caffeine, which means a late afternoon cuppa may still be impacting you in the early hours of the morning! It’s a case of trial and error, make some changes to the amount of caffeine you have as well as the timings throughout the day.

The relationship between alcohol and sleep is still being studied and research shows it’s quite personal to the individual, but overall it seems that while a few bevs will have you drifting off perhaps more quickly than usual, it can impact the quality of sleep later into the night. It seems alcohol reduces the amount of deep, restorative sleep we get and people who drink high volumes of alcohol can experience insomnia like symptoms. I personally know that an evening of drinking leads to restless tossing and turning and a very grumpy Naomi the next day, so while I won’t be encouraging anyone to give up their favourite tipple entirely, it’s worth having a think about if you regularly struggle with sleep.

More helpful information can be found at the sleepfoundation.org