5 Natural Ways to Improve Your Sleep

by | Aug 6, 2023 | Sleep

Having a full night’s sleep will be relaxing and stimulating. To millions, however, a decent night’s sleep remains out of reach. People of all ages across the world suffer from frequent to chronic insomnia.

 

Insomnia is a condition that disrupts your ability to sleep or stay asleep. If you suffer from this sleep disturbance, you may be reluctant to turn to harsh medications to help you fall asleep. Here are five ways you can help improve your sleep naturally.

 

Eliminate Caffeine

The morning cup of coffee appears to be a common drink for many people. Yet caffeine is not always coffee. Caffeine can be hidden in the cola you drink, the tea, and even some of the food you eat. While it may not be possible to remove caffeine from your diet by 100 percent, try to reduce your caffeine intake by just one morning. Prevention Magazine warns us that the intake of caffeine, also 6 hours before bedtime, will interrupt sleep.

 

Exercise

Not only does exercise help you keep healthier body weight and improved mental disposition, but the Sleep Foundation study found that people who did workout were less tired during the day. They tend to get more sleep at night.

 

While a new exercise routine may leave you a little tired at first, regular exercise will give you more energy and help you fall asleep at bedtime. This may have to do with the chemicals that the body releases when you exercise. Neurotransmitters released by the brain during exercise have all kinds of beneficial properties and improved sleep is one of them.

 

Meditate

Meditation has a regenerative effect on the brain. There are all sorts of benefits that meditation can give for a human. Many of the benefits of meditation include reduced stress and better ability to deal with difficult issues in one’s life.

 

Meditation is great for insomnia, too. A Harvard study found that mindful meditation helped to combat insomnia. It invokes a relaxation response from those who participate, helping them to relax enough to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep throughout the night. If you don’t know how to meditate, there are a lot of guided meditation audio programs that you can buy or check out from your library.

 

Get Up Every Morning

Getting up at the same time every day and avoiding nap helps your body to keep up with the circadian rhythm. According to Verywell, that is all we need to sleep well at night. 

 

Avoid tapping the snooze and prepare yourself to wake up every day at the same moment. If you hit the snooze button once or twice (or 6 times), you’re not training to get up at the same time every day. If you realize you don’t need to get up before 7:30 a.m., stop scheduling the alarm for 7 a.m.  Save yourself 30 minutes of interrupted sleep and set the alarm at 7:30 a.m., get up the first time it rings.