Sleep might seem like a waste of time. You could be doing so many other things like messaging friends, sharing on Snapchat or Instagram, playing a video game, or hanging out. Sleep may seem like an inconsequential thing but underestimating its benefits can be determinantal to our health and wellbeing. Sleep is our bodies natural way of shutting down and rebooting. It helps us to focus on school or work, think through challenges, get along with the people around us—and get well and stay well. Sometimes though, sleep can be elusive. Try out these sleep tips and free apps to help settle your mind.
To get a good night’s sleep, follow these simple and effective sleep tips:
- Stick to a sleep schedule, even on weekends. That means trying to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day.
- Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. For some people this means reading a book before bed or taking a hot shower.
- Exercise daily.
- Evaluate your bedroom to ensure ideal temperature, sound, and light.
- Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.
- Beware of hidden sleep stealers, like alcohol and caffeine.
- Turn off electronics before bed including putting your phone on silent or do not disturbed mode.
- Avoid using your phone for texts, calls, and social media 45-mintues before bed. The light on our phones can stop our brains from registering that it’s time to sleep.
- When using the music and meditation apps on your phone, be sure to place your phone face down to avoid incoming notifications.
Additional Tech Recommendations:
- Try doing 7 minute yoga with Adriene before bedtime!
- Music can also be a great way to fall asleep. Spotify has several recommendations including nature radio, ocean waves radio, and calm meditation radio.
- White Noise Lite offers a range of different sounds, including cars, city streets, rain, vacuums, and waves to help you snooze soundly.
- Sleep Cycle will collate all the data you’d ever wondered about your sleep patterns and then a whole lot more.
- Nature Sounds includes 13 soundscapes to choose from, such as relaxing oceans, rain on grass, mountain forest or calming field.
- Insight Timer offers guided meditations, including different sessions to help calm your mind, reduce anxiety, and manage stress. Try the popular ‘Sleep Deeply Right Now’ option.
- The Bedroom Calculator is a sleeping tool that quickly calculates what time you should go to sleep or wake up based on the number of sleeping hours you want.
Acknowledgement: The list of sleeping recommendations were originally developed by the National Sleep Foundation.
