Sleep is an important part of the health puzzle. Do you find it difficult to fall asleep, or do you often wake up at night? Try to follow these simple tips to improve your sleep.

Nutrition:

  1. Limit sugar and caffeine intake, especially in the afternoon/evening. Take microsleeps during the day if you feel tired, or just sit down and relax for a few minutes, rather than relying on caffeine.
  2. Eat a light evening meal and avoid late-night snacking or alcoholic drinks, as digestion requires energy. When a large meal is consumed at night, it interferes with the body’s ability to rest.
  3. Avoid late-night beverages, even those so called “night-time teas”, to avoid middle-of-the-night bathroom runs!

Environment:

  1. Remove all electronics from your room. These devices emit artificial “blue light” that can affect your body’s production of melatonin. If you use a mobile phone as your alarm clock, put it on airplane mode.
  2. Reduce exposure to light and sound, for example, with thick curtains, and eye mask or earplugs.

Daily rhythms:

  1. Spend at least 10-20 minutes outside (without sunglasses) in the morning. Exposure to the morning light is critical to set our circadian rhythm, or “internal clock”. You can do this by having your morning cup of coffee or tea outside (wrap yourself up if needed!), parking your car within a 10-minute walk from work, taking a short break to go outside for a walk…
  2. Create a bedtime routine. Going to bed and waking up at a similar time each day makes it easier to fall into a regular sleep pattern.
  3. Do some restorative & relaxing activity in the evening, such as meditation, journaling, reading a book or a hot bath. Avoid screen time in the 1h prior to going to bed, particularly violent or disturbing films/series.

Sweet dreams!