There are two types of people in the world: those who fall asleep within two minutes of hitting the pillow and keep tossing and turning in the bed all night.
If you belong to the latter category, then you might be very frustrated at this point – thinking why it cannot be you with the superpower of falling asleep within two minutes.
Countless research has proven that sleep is just as important as regular exercise and consuming a healthy balanced diet. Besides, good sleep can also help boost our immune system and our mental well-being, and it can help us prevent diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Physical Relaxation
Physical relaxation is as important as mental relaxation. That said, you might want to start with physical relaxation. Firstly, close your eyes and relax your face. Also, make sure to relax the muscles in your jaw, tongue, and eyes.
Subsequently, drop and relax your shoulders as far down as they go – followed by the upper and lower arm – one at a time.
The next step is all about breathing. Exhale and relax your chest – followed by your legs. You might want to start by relaxing your thighs and going downwards from there. At this point, you have relaxed your entire body – now it is time for the mind to relax too.
Mental Relaxation
The human mind is constantly processing information because we have a million thoughts throughout the day and night – and the brain is working really fast. That said, you are really going to struggle to fall asleep.
So, when it comes to mental relaxation, you need to clear your mind of everything. Once you have relaxed your body, you might want to stop thinking about anything and everything that has happened during the day.
This way, you must aim at clearing your mind for about half a minute. Now that your mind is cleared, you can start to think about nice, positive, and clear thoughts.
For instance, you might think of a calm scenario where you are lying in a canoe in a calm blue river. There is absolutely nothing else there but blue water and the blue sky.
Another potential scenario that you could come up with is that you are in a pitch-black room, relaxing in a black velvety hammock. If this doesn’t work for you, then you might want to skip all potential scenarios and don’t think about anything.
Meanwhile, keep repeating in your mind “don’t think” – over and over again – for about ten seconds.
So, the whole point of these mental relaxation techniques is to keep your mind clear of everything else.
It is important to mention that you might struggle to nail these mental relaxation techniques – however, it does require practice, and practice leads to perfection.
Eat Right
You are what you eat, and the type of food you consume has an enormous impact on your sleep cycle as well. Apart from avoiding spicy food, you should also avoid eating right before bedtime. Ideally, it would help if you consumed supper at least three hours before bedtime.
You might as well want to consume foods and drinks with sleep-inducing properties. For instance, chamomile tea is well-known to have sleep-inducing properties. You might as well opt for CBD gummies. CBD can reduce your stress level and allow your mind to relax.
Check out this link and learn more about CBD’s health benefits: https://joyorganics.com/collections/gummies. Almonds and walnuts are also sleep-promoting foods.
Set Alarms
When it comes to setting alarms – they shouldn’t only be about the mornings – but also for the evenings, when it is time to go to bed. Once you set up a specific time to wake up and go to bed, you might feel initially tired – but that is okay as our bodies love routine.
The human body is designed in a way to move within a cycle, and by setting specific alarms for bedtime and waking up, you will improve your sleep cycle in the long run.
Eliminate all Light
Allow your brain to produce melatonin. So, make sure that it is pitch dark in the room. Eliminating all light sources is crucial – even if you have a candle flickering on the side table – that light source will also affect your sleep.
Also, avoid looking at your cell phone screen or television screen before bedtime. Preferably, it would be best if you switched all tech gadgets off – at least one hour before bedtime. Usually, all phones have that Do-Not-Disturb feature.
When it is bedtime, no one should be texting you or waking you up. As we mentioned before, sleep is important and should be your priority.
Make Your Pets a Separate Bed
Yes, you read this right. No matter how much you love your pets, you must make them fall asleep at their dedicated spot – which is not your bed. While this might be a tough tip to swallow, it is mandatory for your quality of sleep.
The more you sleep with your pet, the more sleep interruption you get – consequently, your sleep quality worsens.
So, make sure that you and your pets sleep separately at night.
Get Out of Bed – If you Can Not Sleep
Suppose you have been tossing and turning in your bed for half an hour and cannot fall asleep. What would be the best thing to do? The best thing to do is to get out of bed if you are restless.
Once you are out of bed, you might want to do something relaxing. Engage in a mellow activity, such as coloring a book or reading a book. You might as well walk around a bit. Eventually, try to go back to sleep after fifteen minutes.
It is important to mention here that once you are out of bed, don’t turn on your tech gadgets to check out social media. On average, you should get seven to nine hours of sleep at night to feel refreshed the next morning.
Early to bed and early to rise is the key.
