As you all know, I value a good night's sleep and try to improve my sleep every now and then. You cannot get around to the fact that sleep is cure for everything: bad mood, sickness, losing weight, living healthy, avoiding cravings, recovering from your workouts and the list goes on...
Previously, I wrote about my bad sleeping habits and how you can sleep better. But after that I gave into coffee again so now I am trying to improve my sleep even more.
Here are few things that I am going to change in my routines:
- Stop drinking coffee or don't drink it in the afternoons. Research has shown that caffeine can stay elevated in the blood for 6-8 hours. I stopped drinking coffee. Again. Read more in here. This was a real game changer for me and my sleep .
- Eat more carbs in the evening. Especially oat porridge makes you sleep better because oats, eggs and bananas include magnesium, potassium, vitamin B and tryptophan which will have natural sleep inducing effect. So as it from today, I will have an oat porridge or banana pancakes (recipe here).
- Other sleep improving food items are nuts, almonds, dairy, chamomile tea or Ashwagandha root *.
- Try to sleep and wake up at consistent times. This has been a problem for me.. Saturday mornings are OK because my internal clock wakes me up around 6 or 7 am but when I have slept better that night, I am not that tired in the Saturday evening so I might stay up longer than usual which will resort to the fact that I am not able to get up at 6 or 7 am on Sunday. So I'll try to work on this...
- Get your dose of (sun)light. This is very important because it affects your circadian system. You can strengthen your circadian rhythm and sleep cycles by exposing your eyes to natural sunlight in the morning. If you are not able to do this, try light therapy lamp. I put this on every morning when I have my breakfast and do my make-up. It has made a big difference on not experiencing polar night depression. Also, spend time outside as much as possible during the daylight. Vice versa when the evening comes, dim your lights.
- Relating to the previous tips, spend enough time outdoors so you will get fresh air. This is really important and I notice the lack of fresh air in me and in my son. Thus, if we don't spend enough time outside, we don't sleep that well. Your lungs need fresh oxygen!
- Invest in a traditional alarm clock and leave your phone in the living room. Or put your phone on a flight mode.
- Skip the nightcap. Consuming alcohol in the evening can disrupt sleep patterns.
- Avoid eating late in the evening. Consuming a large meal before bed can lead to hormone disruption and might interfere your digestion system so it will be tougher to fall asleep.
Do you have any other tips I could try? Please comment below if you have.
Let us all sleep better in the following night,
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