Some people look at the topic of sleep as a peaceful respite from a hard day’s work. Others see sleep as troublesome, time-consuming, and something they must do. Regardless of your sleep view, there are always ways to help you sleep easier and have better results. In other words, you’ll feel well-rested in the morning. If you are having trouble sleeping, these methods can help.
Health
Your health is a major component in whether or not you are achieving a quality sleep cycle without undue interruption. One major problem affecting quality sleep levels is snoring, as it causes people to wake up frequently throughout the night.
If you suffer from frequent snoring problems, it is time to schedule an appointment with ENT doctors. They will talk with you about your health history and any concerns you may have. An ENT might conduct a sleep study to get to the root of the problematic snoring. There are many potential reasons for snoring, and they can determine the underlying problem so you can sleep better.
The same goes for your partner if they snore at night. Their snoring is disrupting more than just their REM cycle. It interferes with how well you can sleep. These situations sometimes cause one partner to begin sleeping in another room. Instead of going down the hallway, take a different path and see a medical professional.
Sounds can Lead to Having Trouble Sleeping
When you are ready for sleep, if you hear dogs barking, horns honking, or people talking, it can be impossible to tune them out. Instead, you lay awake listening to everything going on outside your bedroom.
You can close your windows and draw the curtains tightly together to silence undesirable commotion. Install thick, noise-blocking blinds or curtains if your current ones are too thin. Turn off any devices that emit a hum that distracts you.
While blocking out unwanted noises, you can incorporate desirable sounds to help quiet your mind for a more restive evening. There are a variety of noise colors that work for some people to block out other sounds and soothe them to sleep.
Watch this video for a scientific explanation of why some color sounds are better for you than others.
Technology
Set a stop time for technology usage at night. If you bring your smartphone or other devices to bed, it is time to make a change. The light emitted from your phone, laptop, or tablet can interfere with your ability to fall asleep.
In addition, it is all too easy to begin down the proverbial rabbit hole of social media or the internet. You have a limitless supply of information at your fingertips, and one thing always leads to another online. Before you know it, hours have passed, and precious sleep time has been lost. The temptation to check your socials one more time keeps you awake for too long.
If you need to keep your phone in your room as an alarm or for communication, silence all notifications from apps and emails, etc. Anything that can wait until morning should get silenced so you can sleep without buzzes or pings throughout the night.
Temperature
You probably have experienced this scenario before – your room is too hot, and you cannot fall or stay asleep. It is that simple. Hot rooms usually do not equate to a good night’s sleep. You can take proactive measures to ensure your sleeping space is cool enough for comfortable slumber.
The first thing to assess is your bedding. If you have too many blankets, pare them down. Some people feel secure with the weight of many blankets covering them while they sleep. If you are one of these people, put away the bulky blankets and invest in a light, weighted blanket.
Turning your thermostat down at night to a comfortable temperature is also helpful. Try setting it at 65 degrees an hour before going to bed. If you have a smart thermostat, you can program your optimal temperatures and let technology do its job so you do not have to get up in the middle of the night to turn the thermostat down.
Water
Getting up for the bathroom at night is one of sleep’s great disruptors. If you fall victim to this pattern, you might want to rethink your water intake. If you get up at night to take care of business, maybe you fall back asleep quickly. Or perhaps it is not so easy for you to return to slumber. Either way, your sleep cycle is disrupted, and you will feel less than rested when you wake up.
If you get thirsty due to reducing your fluid intake right before bed, evaluate how you drink water throughout the day. Staying hydrated occurs all day long. Ensure you drink enough hydrating liquids versus dehydrating ones such as coffee and tea. By keeping your hydration levels topped off while you are awake, you will be less thirsty and avoid that being a reason for your body to wake during the night.
Paying attention to your sodium intake during meals, especially at dinner, will also help with thirst. You will be more thirsty than usual if you consume an evening meal with salty foods. It will likely result in you drinking more liquids than usual between dinner to bedtime and may make staying asleep difficult due to more frequent trips to the bathroom during the night.
Recap: Having Trouble Sleeping
If you’re having trouble sleeping and staying asleep, try some or all of these tips. You may be surprised at how a few little shifts in your behavior have a lasting effect on your slumber, which leads to better health and happiness in general. Happy people are rested people, after all.
