What can you do if you want to be as healthy as possible? One option is to ensure you have a healthy, nutritious, well-balanced diet. Another idea is to exercise regularly – ideally at least three times a week for 30 minutes at a time. More thoughts include cutting back on alcohol and quitting smoking.
Yet there is one thing you can do that is so easy and is actually something we have to do anyway. If you can do this, you’ll instantly feel much healthier and more positive, meaning that all the other things you have to do to stay fit are easier to achieve. What is this one thing? It’s a good night’s sleep.
If you can sleep well every night, you stand a much better chance of being healthy overall. Poor sleep can lead to depression, anxiety, stress, and physical issues such as high blood pressure and heart disease. On top of this, you’ll be far less productive during the day, which won’t help you either. With that in mind, here are some tips for getting a good night’s sleep.
Re-Set Your Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock. It tells the brain when it’s time to wake up and when it’s time to sleep. Sometimes, the circadian rhythm can get out of sync, especially if you work shifts, if your lights are too bright at home, or if you have a lot of screens around you before bed (or in your bedroom), as they emit blue light, which confuses the brain and makes it think it’s daytime.
In order for the circadian rhythm to tell the brain when it’s time to sleep, you may need to do something to reset it. This is not as hard as it sounds. One way to do it is to get enough fresh air and sunshine, so try stepping outside for just a few minutes a day if you don’t currently do this. Another idea is to stop using any screens at least an hour before you intend to go to bed.
Use Natural Oils
Natural or essential oils can sometimes have a bad reputation, but that’s often because people don’t know exactly how much they can help you. One of the ways natural oils can help is by giving you a good night’s sleep. There are some that are ideal for this, including lavender, chamomile, peppermint, and CBD oil. You can use these oils in your bathwater, sprayed on your pillow, as a massage oil, or, in other forms, they can be drunk as a tea, enjoyed as CBD gummies, or taken as a capsule.
Try Not To Nap
If you are tired because you didn’t sleep very well (this might mean you couldn’t get to sleep or that you had a lot of broken sleep, which is just as bad), you might be tempted to have a nap at some point during the day. This makes sense; you’re tired, and you’ll be catching up on the sleep you missed.
The truth is that you’re not really catching up because this nap won’t be long enough to do that. All it will do is confuse your circadian rhythm even more and, despite being tired, sleep might be difficult to come by again come bedtime. If you find you’re very tired during the day, get some fresh air or do some exercise to help wake you up, and try to sleep at the right time later on.
Now you know how to get a better night’s sleep!
