Developing Good Sleep Habits

What you do during the day, and particularly at bedtime can have a significant impact on your sleep. Healthy sleep patterns can make a huge difference in the quality of your everyday life. If you are struggling with sleep or have insomnia, try the techniques below. You’d be surprised.. even a few slight adjustments can make the world of difference between good sleep and a restless night.

✨ Sleep and sex ONLY ✨ We want it to be patterned that when we walk into the bedroom, it is a place of rest. I know… our bed is like our safe haven… it feels amazing after a long, tiresome day at work or study. However, in order to develop good sleeping habits, our first tip is to keep it for sleep and sex only.⁣ Having distractions like laptops, TVs and phones in the bedroom can actually interfere with your transition into sleep. Avoid checking your emails when you’re lying in bed, avoid working on assignments and – dare I say it – but you might need to avoid watching your favourite TV show directly before bed.

✨ KEEP IT CONSISTENT ✨Our bodies crave consistency. It is important to go to bed and wake up roughly around the same time each morning, regardless of weekends and… yes… even vacations. Pick a bedtime and a wake-up time—and stick to them as much as possible.

✨ ONLY GO TO BED WHEN YOU’RE DROWSY ✨ Our next tip for getting a good night sleep is to only go to bed when you are feeling drowsy… not because the clock says it is 11pm and it is time to sleep. For those who are partnered, you may try to conform to each other’s sleeping pattern. But, you have to listen to what YOUR body is telling you. What are your drowsy cues? Do your eyes get heavy? Do you start to yawn?⁣ You will find that you fall asleep more easily and sleep better through the night, when you go off your cues and not other external cues.

✨ NO “CLOCK-WATCHING” ✨ Take the clock out of the bedroom. If you keep checking the time while trying to get to sleep, you will only increase your inability to actually fall asleep. Turning over to look at the time during the night will make you stress at how many hours sleep you’re going to get, or what time you have to wake up… as your stress and frustration increases, your ability to fall asleep will decrease. If you need to wake up to an alarm, turn the clock around so you can’t see the time.

✨ THE HALF HOUR RULE ✨ Our last tip to getting a good night sleep is to follow the half-hour rule. We recommend that you don’t continue to lay in bed for more than 30 minutes before turning off the lights, or when you wake up in the morning. ⁣ ⁣ If you’re not asleep within approximately half an hour (remember – no clock watching), try going to another room and reading a book or doing a relaxing activity. When you feel drowsy, head off to bed again. Repeat this process until you fall asleep.

To watch my vlog where I delve into these points further, click below:

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