Sleep is the most underestimated part of a healthy, good, and successful life.
So many of us tend to give it short shrift – we stay up late, we get up early, especially if we’re business owners or just generally busy people. If we are moms, we think we need that me-time late at night.
We think, “Oh, I’ll get caught up on the weekend.” No, you cannot catch up on sleep. Sleep that you don’t have is gone forever. Just like time.
If you are one of those people who has a good sleep every night, then you are greatly to be envied – you’ve got a really important part of your life dialed in. But for the rest of us, here are my top three tips for getting a good night’s sleep.
1, You are not going to like this one, and it’s definitely the hardest one for me. Turn off the screens an hour before bed.
Why do we need to turn off the screens an hour before bed? Because of the blue light.
Our brain is 20,000 years old and it doesn’t understand electricity. When it sees blue light, it thinks it is daytime and it’s time to be up and awake. The blue light interferes with making melatonin and other sleep hormones, and with everything that you need for your brain to wind down and put you to sleep. This can be very hard to do in our always-connected age, but it’s really important to have that discipline.
2. This one is a lot easier to do. You need a dark, cool room to sleep in. You don’t want to be kicking off the bed clothes because you get too hot, so make sure the room is cooler than the rest of the house.
Dark means dark – and the prohibition on screens includes television. If you have to have an alarm clock, try to get one with red numbers instead of blue. Again – you don’t want to have blue light shining on you while you’re sleeping because it will cause your brain to think it’s time to wake up.
In general, you should try not do anything in your bedroom except sleep and sex. In particular, try not to have your desk or laptop in your bedroom. You don’t want to be looking at it and thinking about work when you’re trying to go to sleep.
3. There are substances that can help you go to sleep. I’m not going to talk about ones that might still be illegal in some places, but essential oils have become a real favourite of mine lately, especially lavender essential oil. I put it behind my ears, on my chest and on the soles of my feet, and it is really helpful.
If you got value from this blog post, please like, comment and share! If you would like more tips on sleep, exercise, nutrition, mindset and just living a better life, be sure to connect with me. I would love to help you feel better!