Raise your hand if right after you turned 50 all things started falling apart, like sleeping. Though I do my best to sleep well, I’m so restless, and it seems I can never stay asleep for long either. Today, I’m going to share how to get a good night sleep in 7 super simple ways.
I know many women who still suffer from menopause barely sleep at all. Hot flashes, night sweats, ooph. It’s just too much!
Why you need to get a good night’s sleep
Sleep is not only important for your mental well-being but it will also help your physical well-being. Getting enough sleep could be argued as one of the most important things to do throughout your life.
Not only will sleep help reduce the chances of you getting ill, but it also helps improve your day to day performance as well as your mood. It is recommended that you get around 7-9 hours of sleep each day. Are you anywhere near that?
If not, you are not alone; many people struggle as well. Below are 7 ways to improve your sleeping pattern and one tiny trick from me.
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What helps you sleep all night?
I used to get up 3-5 times a night, yes you read that right, just to pee. I would stop drinking any fluids around 7 pm, and that still didn’t help.
I eventually moved that drinking window to 6 pm and now try to cut off all beverages after that time. It’s hard to do that, though, but I try.
So what helps to sleep all night?
This > I also recently just started taking melatonin, and that has been my saving grace. It has little to no side effects and is a nonaddictive nighttime pill. Hello, sign me up!
You might enjoy this cute video I found from this lovely lady on YouTube. Take a few minutes to watch it.
Now let’s just get right to this…
how to get a good night sleep in 7 steps
1 Reduce Your Screen Time Before Bed
Many of us are guilty of going on our mobile phones or watching TV just before going to sleep.
Did you know that this can actually reduce the chances of you getting a better night’s sleep? Yup.
Before going to bed, try reducing your time on a mobile device and see if it makes a difference. If you really feel the need to go on your phone, try using the night mode option that most devices now have. This option reduces the harshness of the light coming from your device, helping you get a good night’s sleep.
2 Exercise Regularly
Exercise is not only good for your heart and losing weight, it is also good for helping you get a good night sleep.
By exercising, you are using your muscles and your energy supply. This means that you tire your body out, helping you get a good night’s sleep and a deeper, more quality sleep as well.
Sleeping helps your body repair and heal itself to get ready for the next day.
You don’t have to do extreme sports to exercise, even the smallest of changes like walking an extra 2,000 steps a day can make a big difference. Why not buy yourself a new pair of bamboo leggings for motivation (say what? ya I said bamboo leggings!), or ask your friends or family to get active with you and start exercising more?
If you can’t get out at the moment, there are many different exercises that you can do in the comfort of your own home.
3 Keep A Sleep Diary
If you are struggling to sleep, try keeping a sleep diary of what you have been doing during the day and in the evening. Even when you have a good night’s sleep, keep track of it. This way, you can start to see any patterns that are being created whenever you are having a bad sleep.
Maybe it’s something small that you didn’t realize you are doing which is having a big impact on the amount of sleep you are getting. There are many mobile apps that you can use to track your sleep if you prefer to do it that way.
4 Reduce Your Alcohol Intake
If you are regularly drinking alcohol, you may find that this is the reason you are not sleeping very well.
Yes, sometimes alcohol can make you feel drowsy, but what you will often find is that your quality of sleep deteriorates when drinking. You will need to get up during the night to go to the toilet, and your body reacts as the effect of alcohol wears off of you.
Of course, enjoying a glass of wine over the weekend is not a problem, but drinking excessively can be a big problem that leads to even more problems.
5 Your Sleeping Conditions
What are the conditions of the room you are sleeping in?
It may seem obvious, but often, the conditions of your room can have a big impact on how well you sleep. Things to consider are:
- The temperature – is your room too hot, causing you to wake up due to being uncomfortable?
- Or is it the opposite and the room is too cold?
- How much light gets into your room, could it be that the morning sunlight is waking you up?
- Or is the road outside your house particularly noisy causing a lot of noise to come into your room?
It may be that you haven’t noticed these things but they are what is causing your restless sleep. Pay attention to your surroundings as well and try to adjust them accordingly.
6 Dealing With Stress
One of the most common causes of not being able to sleep very well is stress.
When winding down and getting to sleep, are you thinking about your day-to-day worries? If so, this could be what’s keeping you up. It happens to many people and is something you should try to address.
Learning how to relax and forget about your day-to-day stresses is important and something you should work on. Maybe a mindfulness app may help, or listening to calming music before you go to bed.
7 Eating Before Bed
The foods you are eating before going to bed could be the cause of your bad night’s sleep.
If you eat a sugary snack before bed, it can keep you up, just like drinking a cup of coffee will due to the caffeine in it. Try to pay attention to what you eat before bed and look at the sugar content.
It might be that the snack you are eating is causing you to wake up frequently during the night.
As with a sleeping app, there are also apps that you can download to help track the food that you are eating. These apps will also let you know of any nutrition factors that you may be missing in your diet.
How to get to sleep in 5 minutes
I’ve been doing this one simple little trick that usually knocks me unconscious within 5 minutes. Besides taking a melatonin tablet (mine are only 5 mg, by the way), I’ll turn on a guided sleep meditation either on YouTube or Insight Timer and let it play.
For real, within minutes, I’m sawing logs!!
When the room is quiet, our minds are loud, and that’s what keeps us awake—all the chatter in our heads. But when we play something else, it drowns out the chatter and, poof, puts us to sleep.
How to get to sleep when you can’t
It’s frustrating as hell to try to get to sleep when you can’t, but the longer you stay frustrated and mad at yourself for not being able to sleep, the longer you’ll stay awake.
It’s important to try deep, soft breathing, lay quietly, and focus on your breath—nothing more, nothing less. If having soft music playing helps you, then put some on. But just breathe.
I want to get a good night’s sleep, dammit!!
Don’t we all?
Overall, there are many ways to improve your sleep and get a deeper, more fulfilling night’s rest. Try going through the above and see if any of the points help you. Hopefully, you will soon notice a difference.
Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep? What do you do to improve your sleep? Let me know in the comment box below, I would love to hear from you.
mad love
ox iva xo
Thank you for your tips on helping to get a good night’s sleep. I find that visualisation helps. I just imagine that I am in a forest surrounded by deers and rabbits. I’m holding a rabbit, it is soft and warm. I can smell lavender and am surrounded by daisies and poppies. You can visualize whatever you like, but this works for me. Good luck.
Wow I love this visualization!! Thank you so much for sharing it. I remember years ago trying to count sheep and I also remember it actually worked!! Ha!!