7 Tips for Establishing Healthy Sleeping Habits

Sometimes, turning your life around doesn’t just mean exercising more often or eating well. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, you need to focus on getting plenty of restful sleep each night too. The more exhausted you feel each day, the more likely you’ll be to skip your regular workout session and crave high-fat foods. That’s why establishing healthy sleeping habits is so important.

However, if you get 7-9 hours of sleep each night, then you could find that you start each day feeling positive, energetic, and ready to get the most out of your routine.

Here are 7 tips that will help you to get your sleeping habits on track.

1.   Only Go to Bed When You’re Sleepy

Your bed should only be for sleep and sex. If you use it to browse through social media on your phone or watch videos on your tablet, then you’re going to confuse yourself into thinking that it’s a place to relax – not just a place to sleep. Go to bed only when you know you’re ready to start falling asleep, and you’ll be more likely to start associating your bed with your slumber.

2.   Have a Routine

One of the easiest ways to trick your mind into associating a certain time of night with sleep is to maintain a regular routine. Some people start winding down around an hour before bed by having a hot shower or drinking a cup of relaxing chamomile tea. Other people like meditating or reading a book. Find the routine that works for you.

3.   Cool Down Your Bedroom

While most people associate sleep with being warm and snug, you actually need a relatively cool bedroom to support better sleeping habits. Make sure that you have plenty of ventilation in your bedroom, so you don’t feel sweaty or overheated when you go to bed. Stick to breathable pyjamas and bedding too.

4. Avoid Caffeine After 3pm

Although you might need a dose of caffeine to help you feel focused throughout the day, you should stop eating or drinking anything with high caffeine content after 3pm at the very latest. This will give your body time to metabolize the stimulant and get it out of your system before it’s time for you to go to bed.

5.   Get Plenty of Natural Light

When you wake up each morning, expose yourself to as much natural sunlight as possible. Sunlight tells your body that it’s time to wake up and be alert, which causes the brain to produce cortisol. As it gets darker through the day, this tells your brain when it’s time to begin producing melatonin for sleep. Getting sunlight each morning puts your circadian rhythm on track.

6.   Don’t Eat Too Late at Night

While no one likes going to bed on an empty stomach, it’s a good idea to avoid eating too much at night. The more food you put into your stomach, the more work your body has to do to process those calories, this article can give you more insight about sleeping after eating. If you do feel like you need to eat something just before you go to bed, stick to something light like a banana or some tart cherries that are packed full of melatonin.

7.   Get Up at the Same Time Every Day

Finally, no matter what you do, make sure that you’re getting up at the same time each day. The best sleeping cycles are based on consistency and routine. If you wake up and go to bed at the same time each day, then you’re less likely to fall into bad habits. Remember, you need to also get up the same time as usual on weekends and days when you’re not at work.

We hope these tips for establighing healthy sleeping habits will improve your general health and wellbing