Cleaning Up Your Sleep: How To Get Better Sleep

Most of us look forward to going to bed after a long day, but some people dread it. Why? Because they can’t fall asleep, or keep waking up in the middle of the night. This isn’t just an annoying thing that makes you cranky the next day. It can cause serious health issues!

In fact, recent studies have shown that regular insomnia during your adult life is a huge indicator for neurodegenerative disease in late life. If that’s not a good reason to sleep in, we don’t know what is! But if you can’t sleep well, here are some ways to clean up your sleep.

Insomnia and Sleep Hygiene

Insomnia isn’t just having one or two sleepless nights. It’s a habitual thing and it affects millions of Americans every year. Around 30% of Americans suffer from it on occasion and around 10% have a chronic insomnia problem. Plus, it’s more likely to affect women than men.

To help fight insomnia, the first thing to do is to practice good sleep habits, also known as sleep hygiene. You could have good sleep hygiene and still have trouble sleeping, in which case we’d recommend seeing a physician, but it’s the place to start.

No Recreational Drugs Before Bed

Caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants and can interfere with your body’s ability to sleep. Taking them even hours before your bedtime can still have an effect. Try to take caffeine only in the morning and try to quit cigarettes. Nicotine addiction has a host of other problems besides poor sleep.

Limit Screen Time Before Bed

Our internal sleep clock uses light to send signals of tiredness or wakefulness. Artificial light, especially blue light from screens, will interfere with these signals. Instead of using your phone just before bed, try reading a book instead, or at least using a Kindle or similar non-color eReader to wind down.

Cut Out the Light

Besides the light from screens, sensitive people can tell when an LED is shining on them. Even the red light from a digital clock can keep them up, not to mention the growing number of blue and white LEDs on electronic devices.

It’s a good idea to hide your clock anyway when you go to bed. If you’re up and you’re staring at the digits changing, it’ll only add to your stress and anxiety. If you think to yourself, “if only I got to sleep NOW I’d get X hours of sleep,” it’s time to hide the clock.

Also, if you make your room as dark as possible before bed, that will send a strong signal to your brain that it’s time to go to sleep. You could even buy blackout curtains and use towels to block light leaking in around your bedroom door.

Use the Bed Only for Bed (and Sex)

Many people use the bed for things other than sleep and sex. They might sit up and watch TV, or even work from it. That might feel comfortable, but your brain will start to associate the bed with these other activities too and keep you up.

Make it a habit to only use your bed for sleep and sex. That’s what beds are for!

Control Your Temperature

When the sun goes down, the air gets cooler. Our bodies naturally associate that drop in temperature with sleep time. There are several things you can do to cool your room and your body before bed.

• Turn down the AC
• Sleep with fewer clothes on
• Sleep with less bedding.

To a naked human, 72 degrees Fahrenheit feels like a normal room temperature, so try to drop your room’s temperature down to the 60s. There are also cooling blankets you can buy that pump water through channels to cool you off, like the ones sold by ChiliSleep, but they’re very expensive!

Stop Counting Sheep

Counting sheep is supposed to work by giving your mind something boring to do, but for many people it’s stimulating instead. A study published in Behavioral Research and Therapy compared counting sheep, doing nothing, and imagining a peaceful scene. Those who imagined the peaceful scene fell asleep 20 minutes earlier than the other two groups.

Try Doze Off Sleep Blend

Another thing you can try is aromatherapy using our Doze Off roller. This blend uses the scents of lavender, tangerine, and cedarwood to help you fall asleep fast.

Simply roll a little on the inside of your wrists, behind your earlobes, and on the bottom of your big toes before bed. These are pulse points that absorb the benefits of essential oils much faster.

You can get both Doze Off and Relax Linen Spray by ordering our Sleep bundle. The next time you get a coupon from being a subscriber to our mailing list, you may be able to get both of them at a significant discount!

Get Some Shuteye!

Insomnia is no longer just a thing to worry about for the next day. It can lead to life-long problems and a diminished late life. So get some shuteye! Practice the tips you just read and give those two products a try. Let us know how we helped you improve your sleep!