“What do you do to improve your sleep?”
From own experience I can tell, that good sleep starts long before bed time. There isn’t just one thing to make your sleep good, there are a lot of small steps you can do. But keep in mind, we all are different. Things that work for me, maybe not helpful for you. So you need to find your own way by trial and error, at least that is what I did. Habits that help you in general: No social media, no alcohol, no drugs, healthy home made meals. Be aware of what you stuff into your body. Avoid the news if possible or just stick with a lose overview. If you can not change it, there is no need to carry it. If it doesn’t make you happy, it has to go (goes for everything, people and things). Make your bed every morning. It’s less about being tidy, but more about you deserve a tidy bed when you go to sleep at night.
In the evening, have dinner early, so your body gets a chance to sort that out before you go to bed. Have a steady rhythm, go to bed around the same time every night. Melatonin will help falling asleep but it will not make sure you sleep through. And, everything below 5 mg is totally pointless. So if you do not have trouble falling asleep, you can just ignore it. Safe that money. Get a good herbal tea instead.
My biggest problem with falling asleep and stay asleep what constant pondering in circles. Audio books helped a lot to break that. The story itself doesn’t really matter that much (as long as it doesn’t make you feel bad in any way, shape or form), but the voice that is reading the story to you. Just last week I noticed that again. I was listening to an entire series of one author, all together 8 books and I loved them. When I saw, that there was another series from the same author I thought nothing could go wrong, after all, same author, the books must be as good, right? Wrong! Different person was reading the books and for me her voice was soooo annoying. I stopped after 1 book (even when I got 3 at ones – see, if it doesn’t make you happy, it has to go). Anyway, I set the timer to an hour and usually I’m asleep long before the hour is over.
Before you ask, yes, I wake up during the night, mostly around 3 am, but that is no problem. I go to the rest room, then maybe get something to drink and then I go straight back to bed. I simple repeat what I did when I went to bed in the evening. I turn the audio book back on, timer to one hour, and go back to sleep. Works every time, like a charm.
And then there is my secret sleep weapon. My dog! She sleeps with me in my bed (actually it’s her bed), under the covers. It is incredible cozy and nothing on this planet is more peaceful then a snoring dog.
Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite you.
