10 Tips For A Good Night’s Sleep Without Pills
A few months ago, I had a terrible time sleeping and getting up. After a party one night, I slept late and for the next 20 days, couldn’t get my sleeping pattern back on track. I fell asleep very late every night at around 3 AM and wasn’t able to get up till at least 11 AM each day. For someone like me who usually sleeps by midnight and gets up at 6 AM, I didn’t enjoy this.
I was eventually able to overcome that problem and now have a way to get a good night’s sleep anytime I need to get back in the habit I enjoy. I did all that without taking drugs or sleeping pills. Here are ten ways you can get a good nights sleep naturally. Try to implement one or more together and you’ll get better sleeping patterns, deep sleep and body rest.
- Stick to a schedule. Mum was right when she set a time we always had to go to sleep as kids. Sticking to a schedule allows your body to set its internal rhythm so you can get up at the time you want, consistently, every single day. Also, make sure you try to keep the same schedule on weekends too, otherwise the next morning, you’d wake later and feel overly tired.
- Sleep only at night. Avoid daytime sleep if possible. Daytime naps steal hours from nighttime slumber. Limit daytime sleep to 20-minute, power naps.
- Exercise. It’s actually known to help you sleep better. Your body uses the sleep period to recover its muscles and joints that have been exercised. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise every day can help you sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.
- Taking a hot shower or bath before bed helps bring on sleep because they can relax tense muscles.
- Avoid eating just before bed. Give yourself at least 2 hours from when you eat to when you sleep. This allows for digestion to happen (or at least start) well before you go to sleep so your body can rest well during the night, rather than churning away your food.
- Avoid caffeine. It keeps you awake and that’s now what you want for a good nights sleep. We all know that.
- Read a fiction book. It takes you to a whole new world if you really get into it. And then take some time to ponder over the book as you fall asleep. I find as I read more and more, regardless of the book, I get more tired at night and so find it easier to fall asleep. Different for others?
- Have the room slightly cooler. I prefer this to a hot room. I prefer to turn off the heat and allow the coolness to circulate in and out of the windows. If I get cold, I wear warmer clothes. It also saves on the bills as you’re not going to require the heat all night long.
- Sleep in silence. I find sleeping with no music or TV on more easy and restful. I guess others are different, but sleep with no distractions is best for a clearer mind.
- Avoid alcohol before bedtime. It’s a depressant; although it may make it easier to fall asleep, it causes you to wake up during the night. As alcohol is digested your body goes into withdrawal from the alcohol, causing nighttime awakenings and often nightmares for some people.
What do you do to get better sleep? Please share…
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Kavit Haria
Kavit Haria is the author of a new book, How to Live Healthy in an Unhealthy World which can be downloaded free from his website, Wellness Junction.
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Comments
Anonomya says on January 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Two more: Get a fan or other “white noise” device to drown out sounds. Put a tissue box in front of the clock so you aren’t constantly looking at the time or the eerie glow.
naturegirl says on January 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I don’t agree with some points. For example I get really tired after I had a good dinner, and it’s easier for me to fall sleep then, instead of with an empty stomach.
Furthermore I get a really deep sleep after going out in the evening and drinking something. After that I never wake up during the night nor do I get nightmares.
But altogether many helpful advices!
Hayden Tompkins says on January 30th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
When I was doing a hypnosis experiment, I could never manage to stay awake but I always had the most INCREDIBLE sleep, even if it was only 5 or 6 hours worth.
I don’t know if the hypnosis works for hypnosis’ sake, but it was a slam dunk for waking up completely rested.
Gwen says on January 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
With the exception readying, all of your points are consistent with the recommendations given to me by a “Sleep Center” following my sleep apnea test. There were a couple of others:
One was “darkness.” If there are bright lights outside — get blackout curtains. Put your clock in a drawer or actually cover it up (even the glow may be too much). I did not think that “darkness” was such a big deal, but I found it really did make a difference.
The second point (not on your list and the one which did not follow) was to keep pets off the bed at night. I am sorry, but I have got to have my dogs close. So, if I miss a few minutes sleep because I have to scoot my shelter-mutt away from the back of my knees to turn over, so be it.
Jeff says on January 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Definitely agree with consistency - this one is major for anyone looking to improve on their ability to fall asleep.
Your body can be trained to get tired by continually going to bed at the same time.
Another tip I use is to focus on having a productive, fulfilling day.
If you are disappointed, frustrated or feel that you haven’t accomplished much during the day, unfortunately that weighs on your mind into the evening and night impacting your sleep.
kell@confessionsofachocolatelife says on January 30th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I wrote a similar article about this only a few days ago. It amazes me how many people that this is an issue for. I would say a key to a good nights sleep is to work at taking control of your minds thoughts. For me, the thing that keeps me awake the most is a highly active brain. My way of controlling this is through meditation, which helps me be more aware of my mind and hence helps me to control it. Combining this with such tips you have given (physical relaxation as apposed to mental) can really make for a good night’s sleep.
mike@studenthacks says on January 30th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Great post. You definitely need to avoid taking any naps throughout the day. That’s key if you want to sleep well at night.
Sam says on January 30th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Awesome post. One thing that helps me is having a clean room and sheets. I find that putting a movie on that I’ve already seen a couple of times and setting my tv’s sleep timer to turn off in an hour or so. It helps keep my mind from racing at a thousand miles an hour.
BadManSports says on January 31st, 2008 at 12:32 am
Here’s a tip for insomnia.
Tell yourself that you ARE NOT supposed to fall asleep. Make up a reason like you’re guarding something and have to stay awake. Focus on having to stay awake.
You’ll be asleep in 3 minutes.
Jeff says on January 31st, 2008 at 12:58 am
“Sleep only at night. Avoid daytime sleep if possible. Daytime naps steal hours from nighttime slumber. Limit daytime sleep to 20-minute, power naps.”
This isn’t true; rather, it’s a common misconception that’s stated often but rarely backed up.
Daytime naps of longer length are perfectly natural and can be used effectively. They can be ineffective if you are too irregular in your napping schedule from day to day.
Sameer Durrani says on January 31st, 2008 at 2:25 am
I agree with Gwen on the point that darkness is also an important factor that effects sleep.
Furthermore, i have read that its better to use the bed for sleeping only and not while watching TV or reading.
tanzilla says on January 31st, 2008 at 2:52 am
great tips. I have a sleeping problem, which gets aggrevated by the noise of traffic on the street (it carries out throughout th night in summers). Can someone suggest something for drowning out these noises, the pressure horns etc? Shifting the house is not an option
seb says on January 31st, 2008 at 3:11 am
if it takes you a long time to fall asleep try pzizz (pzizz.com). it helped me to fall asleep quicker, and to wake up more easily.
tracy ho says on January 31st, 2008 at 4:31 am
Great tips ,
Love it
Tracy Ho
wisdomgettingloaded
Sangesh says on January 31st, 2008 at 7:20 am
Great tips. I hope to follow them as much as I can so that I have a Good Night’s Sleep.
Thanks for this article.
P.S. in the copyright section in the bottom of the page you’ve still mentioning
“Copyright 2005-2007″
shouldn’t it have been?
“Copyright 2005-2008″
mani says on January 31st, 2008 at 10:05 am
Very good post. Also, in “Avoid caffeine” you meant ‘Thats not what you want’.There is a typo there.
aromahand says on January 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
thanks for the great tips, but using an “aromahand” can help tremendously…
Richard says on January 31st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I completely agree with the no naps tip. Taking naps prevents me from falling asleep as easily at night.
I’m a firm believer of only sleeping in bed. Once your body starts associating sleep with the bed I think it’s be easier to fall asleep and remain sleeping. So that means no TV or talking on the phone or reading or … organizing photos or eating on the bed. Just sleep.
Miss Gisele B. says on February 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Kavit,
This is an excellent article. I myself have spent most of January telling my readers how I violated all the rules when it came to proper sleep by cutting back my sleep to about 4 hours in order to cram in more work.
After two weeks of this schedule … I looked terrible and felt even worst.
The only saving grace was truly the fact that I’m a hard core fitness buff and I take my exercise extremely seriously. I think it’s the only thing that kept me from breaking while I was missing our on sleep.
The combination of the proper amount of sleep with exercise is powerful.
I quite enjoyed your article.
Gisele B.
deepbreath says on February 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Jacobson’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation.
Aerobics. No Weights. Walk a lot. Jog a bit. Cycle a lot. Eat lighter, drink lesser, walk more.
Joel says on February 5th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
>because they can relax tense muscles
I had read a different explanation. When your body is kept warm externally, it stops working to keep you warm. Lower body temperature is a part of sleep, so taking the load off your warming system allows it to shift out of gear more easily.
This does have to do with muscle tone, since that’s the way heat is generated, but it isn’t really a relaxation vs. tension issue in the way most people would think.
Marty says on February 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
My wife and I use a whitenoise generator to block out distracting sounds…
… works wonderfully!
Jorge says on April 20th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Great blog posts on health.
Acai Monavie Fruit Berry Juice says on April 20th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Informative stuff on health.