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Once you have established which is the perfect mattress for you, sleep experts recommend that you also create a personal bedtime routine in order to get a deep and restful night’s sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed and energized.
A bedtime routine helps to create signals in the brain that indicate that it is time to go to sleep. Your rituals may take 30 minutes or so to complete but it is important that your nocturnal preparations are carried out in the same order every night.
A bedtime routine will help you to connect to your circadian rhythm…this is the cycle all our physical, mental and behavioural states go through in a 24 hour period. In turn it reduces stress and the little worries that bounce around your head late at night keeping you awake. In turn it will also help with mental health issues such as depression or anxiety and increase your memory and attention span.
Interested? Well here is what to do….
1.Establish a set bedtime so your brain gets used to when to start winding down.
2. Take a warm bath or shower which will help your body to relax.
3. Now this is a hard one for many of us…turn off your devices!! They emit a powerful ‘blue light’ which will trick your brain into thinking it is still daytime.
4. Have a light snack of either oats, milk, yoghurt, pistachios or rice all which are high in the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin. Drink a non-caffeinated drink such as chamomile or lavender tea to calm the mind.
5. Close your eyes and listen to your favorite music or maybe some tracks of ‘pink noise’…raindrops, forest sounds or waves on a shore. This will improve the quality of your sleep.
6. Use relaxation techniques to reduce physical tension...light yoga, stretches and breathing exercises will help induce deep sleep. Experiment to find out which one works for you. This could include a little mediation to relax your mind too.
7. Take a good book to bed with you, bringing back childhood routines of bedtime stories.
9. Keep a note pad beside your bed to jot down anything that comes into you mind that you need to do the next day, then try to forget about it.
10. Make a sleep sanctuary. Remove clutter, dim the lights and keep the room cool.
Now let your head hit the pillow and enjoy a wonderful deep restorative sleep.
Night, night!
- 15th March 2022