by Nicole Paulie, Psychologist and Co-Founder of MyMoodandMe
Sometimes we may sleep like a baby, but other times we may find bedtime to be one of the most frustrating times of our day. The good news is, there are 7 easy steps you can take to get a good night’s sleep and make bedtime your favourite time of the day again.
Watch your Caffeine Intake
Be careful about having tea and coffee too close to bedtime. For the average person, it takes about 4 hours for the amount caffeine you consume to reduce by half. That means if you have a cup of coffee at noon, by 4 pm about half the amount of caffeine is still in your body. If you’re a woman taking an oral contraceptive, the amount of time jumps up to 8 hours. So be careful about how late you have your last cup.
Watch your Alcohol Intake
It’s not just caffeine you have to be careful about, you have to be careful about alcohol too. Having as few as two drinks before bed can actually rearrange the order of your sleep cycles, making it difficult to sleep throughout the entire evening.
Keep a Regular Sleep Schedule
It’s important to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. When picking your bedtime, try to allow yourself a time frame of 8-9 hours of sleep, even if you’re not able to sleep a full 8 hours just yet. You don’t’ want to go to bed so early that you can’t fall asleep, but you also don’t want to go to bed so late that you can’t wake up the next day. When trying to change your bedtime, do it in 15-minute increments. So if you normally go to bed at midnight, try going to bed at 11:45 pm tonight, then 11:30 the next night, etc.
Mind your Light Exposure
Be sure to dim or turn off your lights about 3o minutes before you go to bed. The change in light is how your body knows when to release “melatonin,” which is the hormone that tells your body it’s time to go to sleep. If the lights are still on, your brain still thinks it’s daytime outside, and that you don’t need to go to bed. This includes electronics. Any device that has a flat screen, like a television, laptop or mobile phone, emits blue wave light. No matter how far you dim the screen, your brain will still interpret the light as mid-day sun. So be sure to also avoid electronics 30 minutes before bed.
Journal Before Bed
If you find you have a hard time going to sleep because of all the thoughts going through your head, journaling before bed can help. For 10 minutes before you go to bed, write down everything that pops into your mind on a piece of paper. Once you’ve hit 10 minutes, stop, then rip up what you’ve written down and throw it away.
Exercise
Another thing that can help is to engage in more physical activity or exercise. As you go throughout your day, if you’re not engaging in much physical activity, your body will hold on to a lot of extra built up energy that it doesn’t use. Try to avoid exercising too close to your bedtime, as it might keep you awake. But, if you really want to do something close to bed time, try to do something gentle on the body, such as yoga or stretching.
Get out of Bed
If about 20 minutes has passed, and you still haven’t fallen asleep, get up out of bed and do something that will make you drowsy. Once you feel tired, try again to go back to bed. If another 20 minutes passes and you’re still awake, repeat this process until you fall asleep. However, be sure not to stare at the clock while you’re laying in bed because then you’re definitely not going to fall asleep.
About the author
Nicole Paulie (Reg. Ps.S.I Psychol.) is a Counselling Psychologist and Co-Founder of MyMoodandMe, an online corporate wellness programme aimed at helping employees to Move, Nourish and Inspire.
