How To Get the Best Sleep of Your Life
Getting a good quantity and quality of sleep is crucial to a happy, energetic and productive life. Lack of sleep will leave you feeling drained, lethargic, and unfocused. Rather than seizing the day ahead, you’ll struggle just to drag yourself through it.
In this article, I’ll lay out 5 hacks to achieving a great night’s sleep.
Why Sleep is So Important
Lack of sleep has been linked to:
Reduced attention span
Memory and vocabulary loss
Diminished analytical thinking ability
Diminished creativity
Diminished sense of humour and social skills
Diminished communication and decision skills
Diminished resistance to viruses
Reduced work productivity
Enhanced risk-taking
Increased likelihood of heart attack
Increased susceptibility to diabetes
Increased susceptibility to cold and flu
Increased irritability
Fat gain
General lethargy
Fatigue
Lack of interest in what is going on around you
5 Hacks for Better Sleep
#1: Spend Less Time in Bed
Spending less time in bed is the most important thing you can do to get a better quality of sleep. You need to stop lying in all morning or thinking you can get to bed earlier so you can catch up on sleep – it doesn’t work!
When you hit the sheets, you should be sleepy. So, do not go to bed until you are tired.
#2: Do NOT Nap
Taking a nap throughout the day will always cost you in terms of getting a decent sleep at night. If naps become the norm for you, they will hamper your chances of sleeping at night. Believe me, it makes a big difference. So, sacrifice the naps, not the nighttime slumber!
#3: When You Can’t Sleep, Get Up
When you can’t sleep, the last thing you should do is to just lie there and stew about it. Get out of bed and do something. Every second you lie in bed unable to sleep, reinforces the connection between bed and anxiety, thus weakening the connection between bed and sleep. Just lying in bed will not help you get to sleep. You need to wait until the sleep feeling comes.
If you cannot get to sleep within 20 minutes, get up and do something. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but it should be pre-planned out before you go to bed. Red, write or do a jigsaw puzzle.
#4: Get Up at the Same Time Every Day
Once you have worked out how many hours of sleep you need to be fully refreshed, you will also know at what time you need to be getting up. Make sure that you do – even on the weekends!
If you want to get a great night’s sleep every night then you need to ditch the idea of sleeping in on the weekends!
Good sleep loves routine.
Be sure to follow one!
#5: Only Use Your Bed for Sleep and Sex
It is critical that there is a strong connection between bed and sleep. That connection will actually trigger the following sleep process.
Sex, fortunately, is a unique activity in that it is relaxing. It is a natural prelude to sleep. Sex also releases endorphins, giving you a happy, warm, and glowing feeling when you lie down to sleep. And unlike, watching TV or reading, sex doesn’t go on forever – it has a finite finish point.
The key here is that the bed is for sleep or sex – nothing else!
Wrap Up
Start putting our five sleep hacks into practice tonight. You will experience immediate benefits in terms of enhanced sleep quality and quantity, allowing you to live a more productive, enjoyable waking life.
