How to Create the Perfect Sleep Environment and Remove all Sleep Busters
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I had a great time joining the hosts of The Goods and helping them to create their perfect sleep environment. You can catch the full episode here and my segments starts at the 25.39 mark. Find out what I tell Jessi and Steven to make them change their sleep position!
Here’s how you can focus on your five senses to help you sleep better:
Sight
Installing black-out blinds or panels can help darken a bedroom and can be an inexpensive way to help someone fall asleep. There are many factors that influence our natural circadian rhythms, the main one being our external environment and the light and dark of the day. Darkness turns the sleep switch on. When it’s dark outside our sleep drive is stronger making us more tired at night. It’s important to make your sleep environment dark, as in cave like, to rev up your sleep drive and naturally release the sleep hormone melatonin, which aids in you falling into a blissful slumber.
Sound
If a snoring partner or loud external sounds are keeping you awake, you may want to consider installing a white noise machine or sound spa to drown out the noise. Any consistent sound like static, running water, rainfall, a fan, etc. can help push you into your next sleep cycle more easily and into more of a restorative sleep.
Touch
Keep the temperature in check – too warm or too cool means that our body is working too hard to keep the body at an ideal temperature and is ultimately keeping us in a lighter phase of sleep.
Taste
Avoid caffeine and sugar before bedtime. Replace caffeinated drinks like coffee, tea, and pop, with a soothing bedtime herbal tea, like chamomile tea, which has been shown to reduce anxiety and provide a calming response throughout the body. Or try a glass pf warm milk and honey. We don’t know for sure that a warm glass of milk actually helps us sleep better, but we do know that it’s a very comforting drink to have before bedtime, perhaps bringing you back to a moment from your childhood. The relaxing sensation it provides in itself can encourage sleep.
Smell
The scent of lavender has been proven to promote a more restful and restorative sleep, as well as decrease anxiety. There are many ways you can introduce lavender to your sleep environment. You can spray it on your pillow or use lavender oil and rub three drops into your cupped hands and inhale until you feel relaxed. You can also make your own small satchels filled with fresh lavender and throw it under your bed or on your night table.
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Alanna McGinn is a Certified Sleep Consultant and Founder of Good Night Sleep Site – a Global Pediatric and Family Sleep Team. She provides free child and family sleep support through her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She invites you to join her sleep community as she works towards Good Night Sleep Site’s mission of a healthier rested family unit. For more sleep tips please visit Good Night Sleep Site. Join our movement and #BringBackBedtime.
