Lets talk about sleep. Getting enough sleep is really important for all round health and wellbeing, in fact it is just as important as both nutrition and exercise. This is because it gives your body time to repair and grow and our body is optimally enhanced by sleep, in fact not getting enough sleep can detrimentally impair the health of our body and our mental health. The optimum amount of sleep needed each night is 8 hours, and for those of you who struggle getting anywhere near this amount of sleep here are a few things that might help you get what you need.
- Reduce caffeine. Try swapping your regular coffee or tea to a decaffeinated option after 3pm.
- Try drinking an infused herbal tea before bed. Many brands have various different infusions to help promote sleep.
- Take a hot relaxing bath. The drop in body temperature has been shown to make you feel sleepy and the relaxing bath will help you slow down and relax any tensions you are feeling. Try adding magnesium flakes to help relax your body.
- Make sure your room is cool in temperature and dark. Reduce your lighting in the evening before bedtime to promote a natural sleepiness.
- Reduce screen time before bed and ideally be free from it at least an hour prior to going to sleep. Blue light prevents the adequate levels of melatonin from being released.
- Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed. Now it may feel that you getting sleepy after a wine or two, however the quality of sleep if affected and you wont get as much REM sleep as you need.
- Eat your last meal at least 3 hours prior to going to bed. Digestion can interfere with sleep and the level of sleep you have.
- Sticking to a sleep schedule, even at the weekends will help your body become accustomed to a sleep pattern, which will make falling into a deep sleep much easier.
- Take a magnesium supplement.
- Essential oils are perfect for spraying on your pillow at night to help you feel sleepy.
Our brain activity fluctuates whilst we are going through the sleep cycles and this plays a big role in our brain health and it has huge effects on our emotional and mental health. REM sleep is where the brain processes emotional information, which can influence mood and emotional reactivity, and this is linked to mental health disorders and the severity in which we have them.
Leading sleep researcher Matthew Walker refers to REM sleep as overnight therapy. REM sleep can help to heal emotional wounds, strengthen fear responses, and separate emotions from memories, so that when we wake in the morning, we feel better.
For some, sleep can be a difficult process to get into and I know some of things I recommend, which help you sleep better are things I currently do and can’t seem to stop. However if you try at least some of the tips for a good night sleep you will be strides ahead. Never feel guilty for not being able to change the habits you currently keep, habits take a long time to become a habit so it’s understandable that it takes a long time to get out of them too. Plus I love my evening scroll on Instagram and we need to find that balance in life between what makes us feel good and what is affecting our health.
If scrolling pre bed is a habit you would like to reduce or cut out, try dimming the light settings on your device and putting it on night mode, or put your phone outside of your bedroom so that it isn’t easily obtained when you feel that itch to check out your favourite social media channel.
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