Set a daily bedtime
and wake time. Establish your
bedtime rituals.
Our bodies love routine. When we
constantly vary our bedtime and
wake times, we interrupt our internal
clocks, which can make it difficult
to fall asleep. To avoid lying awake,
try and keep as close to the same
bedtime and wake time each day
(including weekends). Having relaxing bedtime rituals (e.g.
reading a book, having a shower or
brushing your teeth) will allow you to
fall asleep quicker, as your body comes
to associate these cues with sleep.
Exercise regularly. Noise, light and uncomfortable beds
all contribute to a poor night’s sleep.
Make sure your bedroom is as dark,
quiet and cool as possible. A room
that is too hot or too cold will make
it harder to stay asleep, so try to keep
your bedroom between 15 and
23 degrees.
Noise, light and uncomfortable beds
all contribute to a poor night’s sleep.
Make sure your bedroom is as dark,
quiet and cool as possible. A room
that is too hot or too cold will make
it harder to stay asleep, so try to
keep your bedroom between 15 and
23 degrees.
Get out of bed if you
can’t sleep.
If you find that you don’t fall asleep
after 20 minutes, the best thing to do
is to get out of bed and do something
relaxing. If you continually toss and
turn in bed, your body will have a hard
time associating your bed with sleep.
Once you feel sleepy, go back to bed
and try again. Also avoid doing other
activities in bed other than sleeping for
the same reason.
Write down
your worries.
Our brains seem to think the best time
to worry about life’s struggles is while
we are trying to sleep. One way to
help minimise the impact of this is to
write down your worries. Doing this
will help you see your worries for what
they are and allow you to tackle them
when you wake up.
Create a sleep-inducing
bedroom environment.
Avoid caffeine late in
the afternoon.
As caffeine is a stimulant, it keeps our
body awake rather than helps us to
fall asleep. Caffeine can stay in your
system for approximately 4–6 hours so
try to have your last coffee or
tea mid-afternoon.
Stop clock watching.
Constantly calculating how little sleep
you are getting before you need to
wake is quite stressful. Being stressed
keeps us alert, which makes it more
difficult to fall asleep. So take the
pressure off by changing your goal to
being rested rather than on getting
eight hours of sleep.
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