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A bedtime routine is one of the most overlooked aspects of this adulting life. Like most bedroom activities, sleep requires a fair amount of foreplay if you want to get the most out of it. While all it takes for that one lucky fella to fall asleep is to extend a blink for a few seconds, most people need a little help wooing sleep.
If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re one of those peeps who spend half the night tossing and turning and thinking about that slice of cake they pretended they didn’t want at the office party last year. But it’s time to put all that behind you. Here’s a few things that will help you get to dreamland quicker;
If you ask, the tweeps on your midnight Twitter timeline, they’ll probably confess that the reason they can’t sleep is that they lack peace of mind. Makasiriko and sleep do not work well together. The less questionable decisions you make during the day, the less time you will take at night wishing you had done things differently. Accept that slice of cake. Don’t scroll past that MoKo mattress Ad without placing an order. Make the right decisions.
Hacking your sleep pattern to sleep faster is an activity that requires a good amount of preparation during the day. Maintaining an active daytime schedule will help keep your body active help you not to take naps which otherwise make it hard for you to fall asleep when you want to.
The exclamation mark is meant to make this point louder for the people at the back who have been preaching the gospel of not showering during the lockdown. Here is a scientifically proven fact you might appreciate – cooler temperatures help us get deeper sleep, and fall asleep faster. Wanna guess what helps with that? I guess a cold beer could do, but it is not as soothing as soaking in a cold bath for a solid hour. Take that shower. Kapische?
You’ve had a day of good vibes and eaten a perfectly ripe avocado with your dinner. This is the time to prepare yourself for sweet dreams. Chat with bae, listen to your favorite playlist, tell your kids a story, read your favorite self-help book, scroll through MoKo’s Facebook for some entertainment or make some art. Whatever activity you enjoy doing (not necessarily one that makes you sleepy), do it.
This is for those who need a sign or need to hear it from someone. Caffeine lovers mostly have it as a refreshment to stimulate the body and improve focus. Having it before bedtime greatly affects how quickly you sleep and the quality of your sleep. Caffeine is not a friend to sleep so if you wish to sleep faster and have quality sleep, restrict it to just the earlier times of the day. This will allow your body time to gradually shed off its effects and fall into rest when the hour comes. A good replacement for caffeine is chamomile tea/ hot milk when you’re ready to hit the sack.
Say you have your MoKo mattress as the first ingredient to an optimal sleeping environment, what can you do to make it sleepier? You can start by ensuring your sleeping area is noise/distraction-free..we know how this can be a pain if you sleep light. Dimming/ totally switching off the lights is also instrumental in helping you fall asleep quicker as it helps in the production of melatonin( a hormone produced at night) which makes you drowsy. Ensure the temperature is just right by choosing light covers & pajamas for those who get hot at night and heavy covers & clothing for those who get cold at night.
If we had money we’d bet your smartphone probably rests close to you or even under your pillow as you go to sleep..did we win the bet? Of course, we did! A lot of us plead guilty to the habit of checking on social media as we wait for sleep to catch up. As much as it’s nice to know you’re connected & up to date, you probably don’t need that information where you’re going…to dreamland :-). Scientific research has shown that the blue light from your phone inhibits the production of melatonin, a hormone in your body that helps in sleep matters.
A lot of experts have advised on cutting screen time completely at least 30 minutes before bed which allows your brain to settle into resting rather than receiving constant news and information which won’t allow that. The more you scroll through your Instagram feed at bedtime, the further your sleep runs from you, literally!
As much as sleeping in socks is a personal preference, those cold feet of yours may be the culprit behind your sleepless nights. According to the National Sleep Foundation wearing socks to bed promotes blood flow to your feet which helps you to fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer. We will not pretend to know the science behind it but isn’t it something to try if you’re really desperate to catch those ZZZs?
If you still can’t sleep at this point then you do not have as much control over your brain as you thought you did. It’s nothing to worry about. We will result in cunning ways of dealing with a rebellious brain – trickery. Yes, it’s legal (I checked). They call it reverse psychology. A brain like yours loves doing the exact opposite of what you tell it to do. Guess what would happen if you told it to stay awake and read a chapter from a book or plan for the next day? That’s right, sleep at last!
They say that a habit is a disease. Keep practicing this routine because the art of getting good sleep is the kind of disease we want for you.
