Are you constantly feeling tired and not getting enough sleep? Have you noticed that the lack of good-quality sleep impacts your everyday performance? You are not feeling as productive, you have difficulties staying concentrated and the quality of your work is not at the top level. If you answered yes to these questions, then it might be time to take some action to improve your sleep quality.
Sleep is so important to our mental and physical health, and sleep is often the one thing we compromise in our health routines. While we sleep, the body is recovering and taking care of many important health related functions such as reorganising neurons in your brain, getting rid of toxins, repairing muscles and regulating hormones. Improving the quality of your sleep is one of the most effective performance hacks. Next, I will share three hacks on how you can improve your sleep.
1. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU EAT AND DRINK
Do you have a habit of having a late-night dinner? Or do you like to have a snack before going to sleep? If yes, and you are having difficulties falling asleep, you may want to reconsider your eating habits. And here is why. Whatever you eat or drink a few hours before you get to sleep is likely to affect your sleep or ability to fall asleep.
When you eat dinner late in the evening, your body is probably still digesting it when you go to bed and try to fall asleep. If you find yourself tossing and turning and not being able to fall asleep, you may consider changing your dinner time earlier.
If you have a tendency to drink liquids later in the evening, let’s say, a cup of tea, kombucha, a glass of wine or beer, you might find yourself waking up in the middle of the night having to pee. Alcohol and caffeinated drinks are also very likely to affect the quality of your sleep and you may end up getting less restorative sleep.
I usually don’t eat after 6 pm and I have two lunches instead of a dinner. If I’m exercising in the evenings, I have a recovery protein smoothie but I don’t have a big meal after 6 pm. Once I started eating earlier, I noticed that I could fall asleep a lot faster and my overall sleep quality improved.
2. SLEEP IN A COOL TEMPERATURE
It’s very tempting to crank up the heat and feel cosy when you go to bed. But sleeping in a warm room above 22 degrees may not do any favours for the quality of your sleep. So what to do? Air out the room, where you sleep before going to bed and ideally have the room set around 18 degrees. When you sleep in a cooler temperature, you still want to ensure you are staying warm by having a warm enough blanket. If you end up waking up in the middle of the night feeling cold, that’s not ideal either for a good night’s sleep.
If you are living in a country, where condensation in the houses, is a problem (such as Australia and New Zealand) consider running a dehumidifier a few hours before going to bed or overnight, when the windows tend to get consendated. Sleeping in a damp room is not doing any favours to your health and may affect to your sleep. Once I started running a dehumidifier over night during the winter while living in New Zealand, my sleep improved remarkably and I was no longer waking up at the middle of the night.
3. TURN OFF DEVICES AND AVOID BLUE LIGHT
Do you have a habit scrolling your phone while lying in bed and just before going to sleep? The phone stays the whole night next to you on the bedside table charging. Sounds familiar? I think most of us are guilty of this at times. Unfortunately, this habit is not doing any favours to our sleep. So here are some hacks on how you can improve your sleep by switching off the electronic devices.
First, turn off wifi and set your phone on aeroplane mode or switch it off completely before you get to bed. This way you’ll reduce your exposure to electromagnetic radiation, which can have a negative impact on the quality of your sleep. For the same reason, it’s also recommended not to charge your phone in the same room where you sleep.
If you are working late at night, consider different ways of blocking the blue light from your devices so the blue light will not mess up with your circadian rhythm. The blue light can make your body think it’s still a day, not an evening and time to sleep. You can block the blue light, for example, using blue light-blocking glasses.
I’m trying to avoid screen time in the evenings, but that doesn’t always work as planned. So, if I’m using my phone in the evening, I have set a speed command that switches the blue light off. I also charge my phone during the day and make sure it’s in aeroplane mode while I’m sleeping.
To sum it all up, if you are struggling to fall asleep in the evenings or to get enough good quality sleep:
- Pay attention to what you eat a few hours before going to sleep
- Air out the bedroom in the evening
- Run a dehumidifier a few hours before going to bed or overnight if there is dampness in the bedroom or condensation in the windows
- Keep the air temperature cool in the room, where you sleep
- Turn off electronic devices and wifi at night times
- Avoid blue light in the evening.
Hope these sleep hacks will get you started on your journey towards better sleep. Stay tuned for more sleep and performance hacks in the Aloraway Transformation Blog.
