Having trouble sleeping can be the worst experience you can have, especially if you have work in the morning. No coffee or adrenaline fix can make everything better if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Sleep deprivation or just a lack of a good night’s rest can leave you cranky and unfocused. Who knows what might happen if you fall asleep in the middle of work?
Improve your quality of sleep with these five helpful tips.
Reduce blue light
It’s fun to sit in the dark with your phone only lighting your face. You see that cute cat meme, share it to your friends and loved ones. When you think you want to sleep, you close your eyes—you’re still awake.
Your phone’s blue light is what’s disturbing your circadian rhythm; browsing Facebook at night tricks your eyes with the app’s bright white backgrounds. It’s why some apps and phones themselves introduced dark mode and night mode to reduce eye strain and help users sleep. Another way you can do is to stop using your phone 30 minutes before sleeping to rest your eyes.
Avoid certain substances
You can’t blame yourself from being a coffee junkie, but it sure would do you good if you stop being one. While caffeine is often used as a pick-me-up in the mornings, some people are just so addicted to coffee they drink it like water.
Try to reduce your daily caffeine intake or at least don’t consume caffeine in the evenings to stop the stimulation it brings. It also goes without saying that you should also avoid substances and vices, such as alcohol, to ensure a good night’s sleep.
Redecorate your bedroom
Sometimes, it’s not your lifestyle; it’s your room. Certain colors are easy on the eyes or stimulate them a lot. Painting your walls white, blue, green, or gray can induce a calming feeling, instead of the intense red, orange, and yellow. You can also change your mattress, divan beds, or what have you and pick a more comfortable one that relaxes you.
Go outside in the morning
Your circadian rhythm is important to your sleep. Simply put, it’s your brain’s regulation of your sleep-wake cycle. By going out in the morning, you’re training yourself, cuing your body that it’s the morning. This lets your body signal you that you need to sleep at night due to the lack of light outside. Take a hike during the day. Exercise will do you wonders. Maybe walk in the park. Expose yourself to the morning light.
Take a melatonin supplement
When all else fails, and you’re still finding it difficult to fall asleep, you can use melatonin supplements to help you out. These popular sleep aids are often used to treat insomnia. You sleep faster with it and improve sleep quality, giving you pep in your step the morning after.
Take 1-5 mg of melatonin 30 minutes to an hour before going to bed. Learn what your tolerance to the chemical is and adjust accordingly. However, like any other medicine, consult your doctor first before buying melatonin for you.
Having a good night’s rest avoids turning you into a cranky, Incredible Hulk early in the morning. Get better sleeping habits to improve your sleep quality.
