10 Ways to Upgrade Your Sleep
How would you rate your sleep on a scale of 1 - 10? Do you wake up energized and ready to start the day or groggy and needing a cup of coffee? Do you sleep through the entire night or wake up multiple times? Do you have an easy time falling asleep once your head hits the pillow or do you toss and turn with racing thoughts?
Believe it or not, sleeping is one of the most important things you can do for your health! If we don’t get enough, it can lead to numerous diseases, weight gain, anxiety, and even depression. Sleep affects how we look, feel, and perform on a daily basis. It has a major impact on our overall quality of life. Besides just making us feel restored and energized, there are many miraculous things that happen when we sleep.
Proper sleep can help us improve our memory and learning capabilities, reduce inflammation, boost creativity, sharpen attention, regulate appetite hormones allowing us to maintain a healthy weight, increase immunity, lower stress levels and boost our moods. If those reasons aren’t enough to make you want to get better sleep, I’m not sure what is! So what exactly happens when we fall asleep and why do we need it for these benefits?
Sleep Stages
Nearly a hundred years ago, scientists discovered that humans sleep in cycles. These cycles are 90 minutes in length and have five stages, including light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
Stage 1
Between being awake and falling asleep
Light sleep
Stage 2
Onset of sleep
Becoming disengaged from surroundings
Breathing and heart rate are regular
Body temperature drops
Stage 3
Deepest and most restorative sleep
Blood pressure drops
Breathing becomes slower
Muscles are relaxed
Blood supply to muscles increases
Tissue growth and repair occurs
Energy is restored
Hormones are released, such as growth hormones which are essential for growth and development, including muscle development
REM
Provides energy to the brain and body
Supports daytime performance
The brain is active and dreams occur
Eyes dart back and forth
The body becomes immobile and relaxed, as muscles are turned off
Sleep cycles are important to know because depending on what stage of sleep you wake up in determines how you’ll feel. Have you ever woken up super groggy even though you got 7+ hours of sleep? This is likely because you woke up in the middle of a sleep cycle.
This means that sometimes you can actually feel better rested with less sleep. For example, if you wake up after 6 hours, that’s 4 full sleep cycles, but if you wake up after 7 hours you’ll fall short of 5 full cycles leading to that groggy feeling.
To get the most out of your sleep, both quantity and quality are important. Below is a table from the CDC on how much sleep you need a night on average. Remember the amount of sleep needed varies from person to person based on lifestyle and the individual's health.
Now that you know how important sleep is and how much of it you need to function optimally, how do you improve your quality of sleep? Luckily there are many simple and easy adjustments you can make to your daily routine and environment to get better sleep. Here are 10 sleep hacks to get the best nights’ rest.
Have a consistent wake and sleep time
Our body is running on a 24-hour internal clock, which we call our circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm dictates when we’re tired and awake based on the earth’s cycle of sunlight and darkness. When it’s daylight, we feel awake, and when it’s dark, we feel tired. This internal clock is super sensitive and if we don’t keep a consistent sleep schedule, it gets thrown off resulting in poor sleep and energy levels throughout the day. It can be easy to sleep in on the weekends but do your best to treat every day the same by going to bed and waking up at the same time.
Sleep in a dark environment
Since our bodies run off of a circadian rhythm, which is strongly linked to the outside environment, any light we let into our bedroom, whether it's from the moon or a lamp, can disrupt our sleep negatively. Our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin at night to make us sleepy. This hormone is produced by the pineal gland in the brain and is extra sensitive to any type of light - especially light from electronics. Exposure to light can slow down the production of melatonin making it harder to fall asleep. The first thing to do is to turn off any lights in the home when it’s time for bed and use blackout curtains to block light from outdoors. You can also wear an eye mask over your eyes when you go to bed.
Get outside during the day to see the sun
One of the best ways to ensure you’ll be ready for bed at night is to get exposure to natural light during the day. Just like we discussed above, light stops the production of melatonin - which is what we want during the day to keep us awake, so when it comes night time we are actually tired!
Establish a bedtime routine
To help you keep a consistent sleep schedule and go to bed at the same time every night, create a bedtime routine. Your bedtime routine can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour in length. Choose calming and relaxing activities to fill this space. These activities might include things like prayer, journaling, a warm bath, or stretching.
Drink tea before bed
Chamomile, Valerian Root, Lavender, and Lemon Balm are herbal teas that can help you wind down and fall asleep easier. Sipping on a warm cup of tea is a great calming activity to add to your bedtime routine. Keep in mind our bodies react differently to herbs, so experiment with what works best for you.
Keep a cool bedroom
At night our body’s core temperature tends to drop, just like in nature the outdoor temperature drops. It is important to keep the room you sleep in cool to mimic how we would sleep in nature. If we sleep in a room that is hot or stuffy it can keep us up at night tossing and turning trying to get comfortable. Depending on the season, utilizing a fan or keeping the windows open is a great way to reduce the temperature in the room.
Eliminate noise at night
Even the slightest sounds can keep one up at night. If you have sounds in your home or outside that prevent you from getting a good night's rest, earplugs can help. Earplugs are especially great if you have a partner or family member who snores! On the contrary, some people actually have a hard time falling asleep if the room is dead silent. If you fall into this category, turning on a fan or something that mimics white noise can help.
Try Aromatherapy before bed
Scents are powerful! When we smell something, it sends signals to our brain that can trigger a response from our nervous system. Essential oils can be a great way to help you fall asleep and calm down before bed. Lavender is one of the most popular for calming the nervous system and lowering blood pressure. Other oils to try are lemon, bergamot, clary sage, and jasmine. You can diffuse these oils into the air or rub them onto your wrists with a carrier oil. Inhale the scents and breathe deeply. You can also put essential oils in a mister bottle with some water and spritz onto your pillows to promote feelings of relaxation and peace.
Avoid snacking before bed
It’s ideal to give yourself at least 2 hours to digest your last meal before bed. If you eat a large meal right before bed, your body won’t get optimum sleep because it’s still digesting the food you ate. The process of digestion takes an immense amount of energy. Large amounts of food can also trigger heartburn and acid reflux making it uncomfortable to fall asleep and relax. Feeling hungry before bed is also not ideal because this can keep you up. If you’re hungry late at night, have a small, light snack low in sugar to keep you satisfied.
Avoid long day time naps
It’s important to keep your naps around 25-30 minutes max. Some people may call this a “Power nap”. Power naps can be a great way to recharge and give you an extra boost of energy to make it through your day. Remember that a full sleep cycle is 90 minutes. If you find yourself needing longer than a 30-minute nap during the day, just be careful about how long you sleep because you may wake up feeling even groggier. Take your nap before 4 PM, so you can still fall asleep easily at night.
As you can see there are many ways to improve your quantity and quality of sleep! You don’t have to adopt all of these practices, but experiment with what works best for you and remember to give it time. Lifestyle changes can be difficult, but they are worth it in the end for better health! While some may not think sleep is that important, I hope you can see now why it is so vital to our well being!