Daily Practice Routine
We’re now at the part in your daily routine where you’re just about to go to bed. It’s important to note that while there are behaviors and tips you can do in the evening, these will not be as effective depending on what you’ve done during the day. If you practice healthy habits from the moment you wake up.
Let’s get to it.
4 Tips to Sleep Better at Night
1. Sleep In Complete Darkness
I want you to sleep in complete darkness or as close to it as you can get. Light hitting either your eyes or body can disrupt your circadian rhythm, your sleep-wake cycle, and negatively impact your sleep. Investing in good blinds, and removing disruptive sources of light in your bedroom, like an alarm clock or night light, is a good way to fix this problem. If there is something you can’t remove, I suggest using tape to cover the light source. You will find this tip to be very useful for your sleep quality, in fact many of my clients feel very energized after sleeping in total darkness.
2. Keep A Consistent Sleeping Pattern
As important as it is to wake up at a consistent time, it’s just as important to go to sleep at a similar time. You should go to bed, and wake up, at the same time everyday, even on the weekends. This will help your body get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and wake up. Aim to be in bed 8-8.5 hours before you need to get up. We want you to have enough time to sleep, which is what we call sleep opportunity.
Get to bed as early as possible, sleeping before midnight is twice as restorative as sleeping after midnight. This is because our systems responsible for stress hormone and adrenaline production, do most of their recharging and recovering during the hours of 11PM and 1AM. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake during this time, the toxins back up into your liver which then back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health.
3. Keep Yourself Cool Before Going To Bed
Another tip to improve the quality of your sleep is the temperature of your bedroom, which is often overlooked. To successfully initiate sleep, you want to drop your core body temperature by 1-degree celsius. The temperature most optimal to sleep in is 18.3 degrees Celsius or 65-degrees Fahrenheit.
There are also many other ways to lower your body temperature before bed. A hot bath or shower in the evening will raise your temperature initially, but it will fall by the time you go to bed. This has also been shown to increase the amount of deep, restorative sleep you get. Wearing socks will also lower your core body temperature. The warmth in your feet will draw heat out of your core, which will help facilitate sleep. This can also help with waking up in the middle of the night as your feet have the poorest circulation in your body and can wake you up if they get too cold.
4. Journal, Read and Stretch Helps to Destress and Sleep Peacefully
Many of my clients have trouble falling asleep because their minds are racing or they feel wound up. There are a couple of things you can do to help with this. The first tip is to try journaling. Keep a notebook beside your bed and write down thoughts that are running through your mind. The act of putting thoughts to paper can allow you to disconnect and destress, almost like unloading the burden of that thought.
You can also use the same notebook as a grateful log. Write down 1 to 5 things that you are grateful for. This has been shown to help people relax and feel more at ease. It primes your thoughts for positivity and will help you fall asleep faster. There are many ways to implement a grateful log into your routine, which I will include on the page below this video.
Reading something relaxing rather than stimulating will also help you wind down. Reading exciting and compelling content will not help your body relax and it’s more likely you will read later into the night. A few of my clients are guilty of this.
Stretching in the evening is another proven way to help calm your nervous system and wind down. Aim for at least 15 minutes of stretches, either a general variety, or stretches specific to your individual needs. If you stretch right after showering, your body will be warm and you will see even more benefits.
These behaviors are relatively easy to implement into your nighttime routine and I suggest trying as many as you can. Whichever you choose, it’s important to build an evening routine that you can consistently follow, and it will lead to a great night’s sleep.
Chris Munro
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In this 10-part sleep series, personal trainer Chris Munro emphasizes the importance of getting enough nightly zzz's and regulating your sleep cycle. Explore how to improve your quality of sleep from the moment you wake up until your head hits the pillow.