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Many ignore the dangers of sleep deprivation and believe that they can still stay up as late and wake up as early as they did when they were teenagers. However, this is far from true, and the older you get, the more you need to focus on establishing great sleep habits for a restful night. 

Of course, this isn’t so simple. Various factors affect our sleep quality such as the environment, health, stress, and much more. It can feel impossible for the average person to get a good night’s sleep, but there are ways to improve your sleep health. 

You’ll Feel Better 

If there’s one thing all humans have in common, it’s that they want to feel better, even if they feel pretty good already. There are few things better than a good night’s sleep and you’re sure to wake up feeling rested and ready for anything. 

Likewise, you will have more energy even if you wake up earlier than usual. This benefit helps you maintain your circadian rhythm so you can sleep well every night instead of it just being a one-off now and then. Rather than feel you’re crashing by 2 PM, you can keep pushing yourself until the evening when it’s time to settle in for bed.

A lack of sleep often equals more stress. You close your eyes and feel like you wake up instantly. You’re frazzled. You can’t focus, and you’ve got a hundred (and one) things to do. The less sleep you get, the worse this issue becomes, and you will eventually burn out by trying to do too much on too little sleep.

Establish Consistency 

Consistency is critical to a good night’s sleep. It starts in the morning. Set your alarms to get up as early as you need and maintain this each day. If you feel exhausted waking up each morning, start going to sleep earlier and stick to it. 

It will take time for your body to adjust to going to bed earlier, but once it does and you begin to enjoy at least seven hours of sleep every night, you’ll feel more energetic as you sleep through the night and only wake up when your alarm rings. 

If you struggle to go to bed at a suitable time, start a nighttime routine that prepares you for bed. Many people opt to switch the TV off and read for half an hour as they wind down. You can also adjust the lights to something softer so your brain gets into time-for-bed mode. Your routine will help you prepare to go to bed with half an hour to an hour to unwind, relax, and ease toward sleep. 

Comfort is essential for any restful sleep, but you could struggle to find the perfect spot in bed. Your bedroom could be too hot or cold. Your bed could be lumpy. Your partner snores almost immediately, or your skin always itches at night, making it impossible to drift off. 

You can use fans or different duvets to overcome temperature issues while encouraging your partner to sleep on their back should minimize snoring. As for itchy skin, beauty products and lotions applied before bed can work wonders. 

It’s safe to assume most people scroll through their phones in bed. These are all the same people who complain they can’t get a good night’s sleep. Your phone’s blue light tricks your brain into thinking you should be awake, so removing distractions like your phone makes a huge difference. 

Leave your devices downstairs overnight to avoid the temptation. But what if you use your phone as an alarm clock? How about buying a regular alarm clock? 

You can’t permanently eliminate disturbances, but you can find ways to minimize them. If there is a bright streetlamp outside, invest in blackout blinds to block the light. Many blackout blinds can also dull sound, which is beneficial in a noisy neighborhood. 

Have you ever got to the end of a day where you’ve been on your feet from start to finish and crashed into bed? If you have (and you almost certainly have), you know how welcoming your mattress is and how easy it feels to fall asleep. This is similar to exercise, which will tire you out while providing health and fitness benefits. 

Not only that, but exercise is also excellent for enhancing your sense of well-being, meaning you feel better when you get home and won’t spend all nig worrying, making it impossible to get to sleep. Make sure you don’t exercise too close to bed though, as your heart rate may still be too high for you to sleep.

 

Speaking of high heart rates, caffeine can also increase your heart rate and make you more alert, but this is the last thing you want when trying to sleep. Experts recommend avoiding caffeine at least four hours before going to bed, although it is likely better to avoid caffeine altogether in the afternoon, depending on how your body reacts to it. 

The same goes for certain types of tea. You can still enjoy herbal tea, but anything with caffeine will get you too wired to get a fully restful sleep. 

You’re not a teenager anymore, so sleeping in is entirely out of the question for anyone who wants to improve their sleep schedule and health. While you may want to treat yourself to an extra hour on weekends, you shouldn’t spend too long in bed because it takes your body and brain longer to register you’ve started your day, which carries through to the evening. Instead, get out of bed as soon as possible and start your day. 

Some people can simply close their eyes and drift off to the land of nod but others toss and turn for what feels like hours before finally getting to sleep. If this sounds at all like you, these tips should hopefully show you efficient ways to get to sleep easier and even sleep through the night so that you wake up tomorrow feeling better than ever.