Have you been tossing and turning each night wondering why is it so hard to fall asleep or get even a good night’s rest? Well read this article and I will tell you some easy steps you can take to fall asleep faster and get a good night’s rest for sure.
Not only is good sleep important but getting a good night’s rest will help you to reset your body’s energy and help recover muscle if you have workout previously that day.
Of course, everyone has heard that you need the proper amount of sleep each night and most people say 8 hours. However, it is recommended that you can between 7-9 hours. No more and no less to get the best sleep possible.
It is possible to oversleep and that is why you feel so drowsy the rest of the day after getting 10+ hours of sleep.
Some helpful tips to increase your sleep:
- Creating a routine
- Use white noise, earplugs, blackout curtains
- Avoid stimulants
- Turn off screens
- Limit the number of naps during the day
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Creating a Routine
This means making a good sleep schedule for yourself as in going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning.
It is also good to get the proper amount of sleep for your age. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, these are the general sleep guidelines for different age groups:
- Birth to 3 months: 14 to 17 hours
- 4 to 11 months: 12 to 16 hours
- 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours
- 3 to 5 years: 10 to 13 hours
- 6 to 12 years: 9 to 12 hours
- 13 to 18 years: 8 to 10 hours
- 18 to 64 years: 7 to 9 hours
- 65 years and older: 7 to 8 hours
According to the National Sleep Foundation recommend falling asleep somewhere between 8 pm – 12 am. Personally, I try to go to sleep between 10 pm – 11 pm and wake up around 7 am – 8 am. It all depends on each person and what time they need to wake up according to their work or school schedule.
It is also recommended to do some relaxing activities such as taking a bath or some little yoga right before bed.
Use White Noise, Earplugs, Blackout Curtains
Using white noise, earplugs, or having your curtains blacked out will definitely increase the amount of sleep you can get due to fewer distractions.
Also keeping your temperature cooler in your room will help you go to sleep faster.
Avoid Stimulants
Avoiding smoking or nicotine a couple of hours before bed will help you go to sleep easier. If you do it before bed it will take a while to wear off and it will make it harder for you to fall into a deep sleep.
While alcohol may make you sleepy, it may also disrupt your sleep throughout the night as well.
Turn off Screens
Turning off your phone, computer, TV, and any other devices a couple of hours before bedtime will help you go to sleep faster.
If you need to look at a screen before bed for work or homework or just like watching TV before bed then I would recommend buying a pair of blue-blocking glasses.
Blue light is being emitted off your screens and lowers your melatonin levels which the more melatonin you have the easier it is to sleep at night. Blue-blocking glasses stop the blue light from touching your eyes.
Some phones and computers have a blue light filter setting so you can set it to turn on at night and it won’t emit blue light when it is dark out so you can fall asleep easier.
Blue Light Blocking Glasses Link
Limit the Number of Naps During the Day
Limiting your naps to just 30 minutes of sleep during the day will help you get better sleep at night.
By having longer than 30 mins total of naps throughout the day can make it a lot harder to sleep during the night and mess up your sleep schedule.
Conclusion
Just by following these short easy steps you can go to sleep easier at night and get a good night’s rest. This will help you to rebuild your body and muscles. Getting good sleep not only makes you feel better but changes your mood. I’m sure most of you reading this have had a day where you are super grumpy because you had poor sleep. I for one have had many of those days and after doing this research I will now follow these easy steps to get a better night’s rest.
