Simple Ways To Get A Better Night’s Sleep

This first tip is incredibly simple, as it only relies on us listening to our biology. Our bodies love being in line with the daily cycle of day and night; it’s known as our circadian rhythm. So, getting some sunlight as early as possible not only helps us feel more awake in the mornings, but it also helps us sleep at night.

This one is going to sound a little out of left field, but stick with us and it’ll all make sense in the end. If you have trouble getting to sleep, doing a headstand could be the answer. A 2004 study from Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback found that this can actually aid our sleep struggles.

Dr. Sujay Kansagra, a Duke University sleep expert, told The Healthy that thinking about staying awake can actually help you get to sleep! If that sounds nuts to you, then join the club! But hear Dr. Kansagra out; he knows his stuff.

We generally spend six to eight hours every single night in our beds, so it’s no secret that having a comfortable mattress is key to good sleep. What’s often overlooked, though, is the importance of mattress pads or toppers.

Everyone loves a massage, right? They’re usually a ticket to rest and relaxation. To help you slip into the land of nod, though, there’s a specific massage trick you can use on yourself.

If you’re anything like us, you find yourself groggily stumbling to the bathroom multiple times every night to pee. This, obviously, isn’t conducive to a great night’s sleep — but there’s an easy fix. Simply avoid drinking liquids for at least an hour or two before bed.

For many people, the main thing stopping them from sleeping is stress — they just can’t get the trials and tribulations of the day out of their head long enough to nod off. Luckily, if you’ve got a furry friend in the house, you’ve got a readymade stress reliever just waiting to be called into action!

You may think that playing games before bed is a bad idea, as they would stimulate your brain too much — but you’d only be half right. While, yes, playing cell phone games would do just that, board games and things like jigsaw puzzles actually do the opposite.

Going to bed is supposed to be about winding down for the day. This is why you probably shouldn’t cover your bed in all manner of throw pillows and blankets that need to be removed before you can get under the covers!

We’re back to circadian rhythms again in this entry. When you wake up in the morning, the body’s natural clock craves fuel to start the day properly. If you don’t give it that precious fuel — cereal, coffee, eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes, or whatever else you love to munch for breakfast — then your body will be off-kilter all day.

According to Breathe Better, Sleep Better author Alison Francis, “The ‘bumblebee breath’ is incredible for insomnia.” Um, what exactly is the bumblebee breath, you may ask? Francis explains, “Turn the lights out, lie down comfortably on your back and make a bumblebee sound for ten minutes.”

Did you know that a romaine lettuce contains a compound known as “lactucarium?” It has similar properties to opium, meaning it’s quite an effective sedative — and that’s great for getting us to sleep.

If someone has a nightmare, most people will make a crack about how they shouldn’t have eaten cheese before bed. Interestingly, though, as nutritionist Cassandra Barns told Saga Exceptional magazine, “The idea that cheese causes bad dreams is thought to be a myth.”

When you’ve tried a bunch of hacks and you still can’t sleep, it’s time to think outside the box — with a gratitude journal! Simply begin writing down what you’re thankful for every night before bed.

Growing up, we would tease our dad for his regular “power naps” — 20 minute blasts of sleep he’d take in the middle of the day. Now we’re older, though, we know he was onto something.

Our brains are complicated, multi-layered things, and they’re often the key to both good and bad sleep practices. One great thing we can utilize them for, though, is the visualization exercise.

This may sound crazy to most people, but sometimes it’s not good to have your bedroom cosy and warm. As sleep expert Dr. Michelle Drerup told Cleveland Clinic, it’s best to think of your room as a cave.

In countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, many people follow a sleep hack which has now been dubbed the “Scandinavian sleep method” on the interwebs. It’s super simple — if they’re sleeping with a partner, they’ll utilise separate duvets or blankets, instead of one which covers both.

There’s nothing worse at night than freezing cold feet — they’re a sure way to hinder sleep! Wearing socks to bed will fix that issue, but it will also have another benefit, as Dr. Michelle Drerup told Cleveland Clinic.

Here’s a great tip from Redditor Amelia Parks — if you’re having a hard time falling asleep, just lie the other way around! She explained, “I’ll flip around and put my feet toward the headboard and my head at the bottom of the bed.”

Often when we’re having issues sleeping, we’ll rack our brains to think about what we’re doing wrong — but the answer may be right under our heads. Comfortable neck alignment is integral to a great night’s sleep, yet many of us still underestimate the importance of our pillows.

If you’re lying in bed staring at the ceiling, here’s an unusual tip — try blowing bubbles like when you were a little kid! Reverie CEO Martin Rawls-Meehan told The Healthy the technique can be as effective as deep breathing.

Bananas are full of nutrients which have been proven to aid sleep. They contain magnesium, which is great for keeping up a normal circadian rhythm, but it also increases the natural melatonin — a hormone that promotes sleep — in our bodies.

Everyone’s heard of counting sheep to lull your overactive brain into slumber — but what about crafting intricate stories in your head? Redditor “janes4c411b247” — catchy name, right? — swears by this unusual technique.

Sometimes we need a little treat to convince us to do something — we’re only human, after all! This little trick can be applied to sleep, too — you just need to trick your brain into letting you do it.

Fascinatingly, the color of our bedroom walls may actually be a contributing factor in many people’s insomnia. Our brains react differently to different colors — yellows, reds, and oranges tend to be energizing, while purples, blues, and greens do the opposite.

As any parent will tell you, bathing a baby before bed is one of the many tricks they use to encourage the little bundles of joy to sleep well. It stands to reason, then, that this tactic wouldn’t only apply to babies!

In the morning, we all tend to need a pick-me-up to get us going — it’s why so many of us mainline coffee as soon as we wake up. This hack follows a similar theory, but the boost isn’t for the brain — it’s for the skin.

According to Healthline, “Cortisol is a stress hormone the adrenal glands release. It helps your body deal with stressful situations…” Naturally, it’s not ideal for restful sleep to have a high level of cortisol in your system at bedtime.

This suggestion obviously won’t work super well at certain times of the year, but in the summer it can be a game-changer. Once again, it’s all about the circadian rhythm — our bodies love the 24-hour natural cycle of sunlight and darkness.

ASMR — autonomous sensory meridian response — videos are all the rage on the web these days, and their champions insist the relaxing whispers can help them get to sleep. The science, to be fair, would back this up!

Look, we love coffee. Like… really love it. But while caffeine gives you a quick boost of energy which wakes you up in the morning, it also dehydrates you because of its acidity. And dehydration can feel a lot like sleepiness.

This sleep hack from Redditor “satitus9” is genius. They wrote, “Never look at the time if you wake up in the middle of the night. It puts a stop to the, ‘Oh, no, only four hours until I have to get up’ cycle.”

Fitting in a couple of chapters of a book in the lead-up to bedtime is a very effective way to calm the mind and prepare us for sleep. Here’s the deal, though — you should read in another room, or before you turn out the lights in your bedroom.

These days, technology rules the roost — and the world of sleep is no exception! A lot of people love keeping track of their sleep patterns and statistics with fitness trackers or smartwatches. They feel this gives them valuable insight into their slumber.

A body scan is a meditation technique in which you focus all your attention on parts of your body in a systematic fashion. You start at the top of your head, making mental note of the sensations you feel, then work your way down your body.

When Buzzfeed asked for readers to send in sleep hacks, a smart cookie named Elle from Arizona suggested, “Disposable self-heating eye masks are amazing! I cannot stand regular eye masks to block the light.”

On his Living Honey blog, Dr. Ron Fessenden detailed the sleep benefits of a spoonful of honey. He wrote, “... honey facilitates restorative sleep by contributing to the release of melatonin in the brain” — but that’s not all.

Redditor “runner1399” had some intriguing advice for ensuring you sleep better — make your bedroom a no-go area until bedtime. They posted, “I don’t do anything in my bed besides sleep and read, and I try to stay out of my bedroom during the day as much as possible.”

Being honest, the last thing we usually want to do first thing in the morning is to go for a 20-minute stroll through the neighborhood. That sounds too much like hard work! But it’s worth thinking about seriously.