How Do You Sleep Well? 6 Effective Ways & General Habits For Better Sleep Hygiene
Having a peaceful sleep is a treasure in this workaholic lifestyle, isn’t it? How do you sleep significantly influences the quality of sleep, as during sleep your body undergoes some major changes that are extremely important for overall well-being.
When you sleep, your body allows the major organs to rest, like your brain slows down your muscles get temporarily paralyzed relaxing your body and going through phases of recovery, which allows you to perform more energetically while awake.
In contrast, when you don’t sleep, it negatively impacts your body like your mind gets short-circuited, you can’t think and concentrate properly, your mood worsens and your energy levels get drastically reduced.
Adults need to have 7-8 hours of sleep while for children and teens, the requirement is higher.
In this guide, we will uncover how do you sleep well by 6 tested methods that are easy to follow and some general tips for inducing better sleep.
Table of Contents
How Do You Sleep Well By 6 Basic Ways?
Improve Your Dietary Habits
How do you sleep is significantly influenced by your dietary habits. If you have consumed a meal just before sleeping won’t let you sleep at all. There are scientific claims that consuming refined carbs late at night before hitting bed triggers insomnia and hinders a person’s natural ability to sleep peacefully.
In contrast, eating unprocessed food which doesn’t raise blood sugar levels induces healthy sleep schedules and makes a person asleep on time.
The food regulating circadian rhythm is whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nonfat or low-fat dairy products, and nuts.
But again, any meal normally takes two to three hours for appropriate digestion, if you sleep or simply lie down during it you will feel indigestion, nausea, and discomfort, and ultimately your sleep gets disrupted.
The Military Method For Better Sleep
No surprise, people associated with the military have compromised sleeping conditions, they don’t have liberties of sleeping on warm and fluffy blankets with next to no blocker, so how do they sleep?
There’s a technique developed by soldiers that makes them asleep within 2 minutes.
So how do you sleep by following this military method? Just follow the instructions carefully right after me.
Just suppose you are in a comfortable position and sag all your muscles. Let your arms rest on both sides casually by first dropping your shoulders loosely.
Now take deep breaths to relax your chest and your torso, then gradually relax your lower body starting from your hips to the rest of your legs till you reach your feet.
Now imagine a beautiful scenery that calms you or intrusive thoughts that bother you. Try to move on from their distraction and just put your mind at ease.
Regulate Your Room Temperature & Practice Aromatherapy
Do you sleep peacefully when it’s too hot in the room ie when you are just frozen? The temperature has a great influence on our sleeping ability regardless of the situation. There is no temperature consistent worldwide which ensures maximum drowsiness in people.
The National Sleep Foundation has a recommended temperature that induces better sleep which is approx. 16-19⁰C.
Besides temperature, another thing inducing sleep is relaxing fragrances.
Aromatherapy has been in use for decades and is still widely practiced. Lavender oil has maximum benefits but it’s entirely dependent upon your use whether you do it as an inhalant or topically.
Practice Meditation
How do you sleep and what facilitates you to doze off within minutes? Won’t you feel at peace when your worries get washed away? Practicing meditation before bedtime helps you to drift off faster and show worthwhile outcomes.
The main purpose of mindfulness is to relax your muscles and concentrate on your present by letting go of all the negative emotions and incessant anxiety eating you away.
If you are a beginner at meditation, you might find it extremely tough to relax yourself. But once you get a knack for it you will relax quickly and easily doze off. Consult with your healthcare professional before starting meditation if you have gone through a traumatic experience as meditation might resurface those painful memories.
Listen To Calming Music
How do you sleep when there’s disturbing noise everywhere? Although you can have noise-cancellation headphones sleeping with them is inconvenient. So to get rid of such frustrating music sounds, there’s soothing music you can listen to relax and unwind yourself by blocking external noises.
The strategy to induce sleep via music is to create a playlist that aligns best with your 15-20-minute sleep latency window and when you listen to it every day it becomes a routine, your body adapts to it and ultimately you sleep well.
Music therapy isn’t preferred for everyone, some people find it distracting and anxious so they listen to white noise for sleep.
Avoid E-books Close To Bedtime
Although reading paperback books helps a person sleep better, does this theory apply to eBooks? Unfortunately no, although the trend has become immensely popular in the last few years but is something worse you can do to yourself.
The devices have back-lit screens which make it convenient to read in a dark room when you are about to sleep but it completely alters your sleeping pattern.
A study was conducted where 12 adults participated, half were given physical books while the other half were asked to read ebooks and it was concluded the ones who read physical intended to sleep quicker than the others.
Participants reading eBooks were observed to be more alert during the evenings but less alert during mornings which suggested printed books are comparatively better options to induce sleep.
However another study was co where participants read both printed books and ebooks before bed, but still no valid conclusion has come out of this study.
There’s still research required to understand fully how to sleep well with these combined reading methods.
Tips For Better Sleep Hygiene
One thing that insomniacs always complain about is not being fully relaxed as they find it hard to shut off worries. People with worst sleeping schedules often have tensed muscles, stress, elevated body temperature, and tachycardia (i.e., quick heartbeat)
How do you sleep better? By practicing relaxing exercises, meditation, and improving sleep hygiene. There are certain suggestions including:
- Reduce your caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol intake, like take just one cup of coffee, 1-2 cigarettes, and just 1 Glass of alcoholic beverage for females and 2 for males.
- Make your sleep-wake cycle consistent, as inconsistency causes insomnia.
- Avoid using electronic devices before going to bed, if you like reading then read from a physical book instead of an ebook.
- Make your sleeping environment free of distractions and blockades by making it dark, quiet, and comfortable.
- Hit your bedroom only when you are ready to sleep and to get cozy with your partner.
- Take healthy bedtime snacks that aren’t processed and unhealthy.
- Go out of your bedroom when you can’t sleep within 20 minutes, and return later on when you are ready to drift off.
- Avoid napping at least 30 minutes before your bedtime.
But if you still can’t sleep incorporating these sleep hygiene tips? Then there might be some underlying cause, consult with your doctor and he will identify the root cause and give you a treatment plan.
Bottom-line
In conclusion, how do you sleep affects your overall health as it lets you repair your organs and rejuvenate them eventually.
You can sleep peacefully by getting into a comfortable position and relaxing your muscles either military style or through meditation. You must block out external noises by either playing your calming playlist or via white noise for sleep. Not sleeping well causes poor memory, hinders your focus, and weakens your immune system. If you read ebooks instead of printed books before sleeping, avoid them altogether.
Cognitive functioning is greatly impaired and your mood gets sour without any cause.
You must take appropriate hours of sleep and if you still feel trouble while sleeping, consult with a healthcare professional who will identify the root cause and suggest ways to improve your sleep pattern.
Give it a thorough read to understand these ways and shareware you ever feel insomnia, what do you do then?
FAQs on How Do You Sleep
What is the 10 3 2 1 0 sleeping rule?
The rule for better sleep is to stop consuming caffeine 10 hours before bed, stop eating and drinking alcohol 3 hours before bedtime, cut short on work 2 hours before bed, and stop screen time 2 hours before bed.
What is the fastest way to sleep?
The quickest way is to relax your muscles via meditation and military methods as it calms your body and you drift off easily. Various activities like meditation, imagery, and breathing exercises help a person sleep better.
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For more information, visit Whatsmind.com