It is important to get quality sleep every night. It might sound obvious but many people are struggling at this. If you relate, your worry is logical because sleep greatly impacts your daily activities. On that account, there are reasons that lead to insomnia. It might be a disease, stress or even too much coffee. It is advisable to find out what your reason might be.
Here are 10 great tips that will help you achieve that:
1. Make a Comfortable Bed
This includes everything that makes up your bed: your mattress, pillows, bedsheets and covers. If you wake up feeling all numb or stiff, it may be a red sign to try out a new mattress or pillows. You might not notice but after 8-10 years, your mattress becomes worn out, thin and lumpy. Which definitely affects your sleep. A comfortable mattress or pillow is highly subjective, therefore research on the wide options available then settle for the one that sorts you best. It is also advisable to purchase your mattress at a store where they provide generous return policy. You might never know if you have truly found your kind of mattress until you have spent a week in bed.
2. Exercise
Many people try to solve their insomnia by exercising regularly, relaxing before bedtime, and going to bed early. All that effort is great and essential, but equally as important in your pursuit of better sleep is your sleeping environment; your bedroom. Invest some energy in making a sleep-friendly bedroom, because it might be the cause of your insomnia.
3. Keep Your Room Dark
The human body is programmed to sleep when it’s dark. If you doze off when the lights are still on, the eyelids will still detect light therein you will be forced to wake up at some point. It is therefore essential to make your room as dark as possible. You can achieve this by turning off bright night lamps or any source of bright light. If street lamps and moonlight shines through your room, you can get heavy drapes, blackout curtains or automatic louvers; either will give you the effect you need.
4. Get Rid of Clutter
Most people take clutter very lightly yet it can be the root cause of your insomnia. When you get surrounded by many items that are unnecessary, it sends visual stimuli to your brain that your life is out of control. This simultaneously causes stress which makes you feel distracted and unable to relax. Therefore it is to your biggest benefit to declutter and most importantly maintain an organized bedroom. Just a tip: you can start decluttering your room by designating the items you are going to keep, donate or trash. After cleaning up you might consider investing in storage boxes to help maintain order. In the end, keep your bedroom as spacious as possible.
5. Keep Your Room Quiet
While you are at it, after decluttering, do away with any sleep distracting sounds. For instance, if unfortunately your room is exposed to a noise coming from the streets, you can get earplugs or heavy drapes to help buffer the noise. Another hack that will help develop a calm ambiance to your room is playing soothing music. Music is a definite stimulus to relaxation. With that said, many people have different tastes, yet this is not the time for fast tempo dancing music or hard metal rock. Whichever music you choose, pick the one that will have you in a calm and positive frame of mind. Classical music often works perfectly.
6. Get Rid of Electronics
Unlike music, visual electronics like the television, laptop or smartphone take away relaxation. Electronics actually tend to keep you awake because they are very distracting. Getting rid of them from your bedroom is better said than done considering the addiction to social media and all things online that most people suffer from. But the benefits of keeping your phone away from bedtime are priceless. It gives you an opportunity to have your own space and thoughts. You get to meditate on your life or situation without getting distracted by predigested information from your electronics.
7. Paint Your Bedroom Right
You want to own your bedroom and make it feel inviting to serve its purpose, which as per now is sleep. One way of achieving that is by painting. The color you use on your wall will play a role in setting the sleeping mood. Choose the right shade for your wall, which should give you an air of relaxation. The good news is, you can choose from a wide range. Though you might consider going with soft colors found in nature such as the serenity of Calm Ocean or soft tones of green or soft shades of brown for the best effect.
8. Use a Scent
Most people are ignorant of the importance of using fragrance in their bedroom. It plays a huge role into sending you to sleep. Sweet aroma like lavender or vanilla will always work in keeping you calm.
9. Personalize Your Bedroom
This means making your bedroom more self-appealing as much as functional. Display things that are important to you. This can be photos of loved ones or of places you love and you can also display a doll you love. You don’t want your room looking cluttered with all your memorabilia, therefore, just pick enough items that will bring good relaxing memories and help you drift off calmly.
10. Put a Sound Machine in Your Bedroom
Sound machines have helped many insomniacs from asleep. Check out the sound machine reviews online and look for the one that offers features that suit you. A sound machine can really help you to sleep and most of them are totally worth buying.
The Bottom Line
Prioritize your sleeping hours as the tips above help you achieve the right environment for your room. Sleeping has an untold number of health benefits that might be very beneficial to your productivity.
