How to get better sleep at night?

[amitv668]

These are my personal tips:

1. Put Your mobile away before 1 hour going to med.

2. Read any good book.

3. Meditate a little

4. Play a board game and get to bed.

[SebWotan]

I would add:

- go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekend.

- preferably go to bed 1-2 hours before midnight

- do a routine 30 min before going to bed: change in PJ, brush your teeth, etc ...

[cathm]

I would suggest trying these additional items:

Limit blue light exposure in the evening (for example: use blue light blocking glasses; install app to block blue light on phone)

Do not consume caffeine late in the day

Do not workout too close to bedtime

[LiamMac]

Excellent point about caffeine, not consuming it late in the day...

Caffeine has something in common with radioactive substances - it has a 'half life'. Caffeine's half life is 5-6 hours.... so means that half of the amount of caffeine you ingest will still be circulating in your system after around 6 hours - so it can take up to 12 hours to actually leave the body.

I'd say that the latest time that one would be wanting to finish drinking a caffeinated beverage would be around 2pm or so - maybe even as early as midday. And definitely not having a high caffeine pre-workout drink if you hit the gym in the early evening 😄 😄 

[cathm]

That is very interesting and good to know about caffeine. Thank you so much for sharing @LiamMac 

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, I avoid caffeine after noon, (try to) avoid alcohol, and listen to music.

Cheers

[healthy2022]

I would say a combination of things mentioned here works for me:

- a good book

- going to bed/waking up at the same time

- no caffeine in the afternoon 

[Glenda]

Years ago I went to a hypnotist who played a recording of ocean waves and after the huge group of people were hypnotized he said things like, "you don't need cream in your coffee".  I like to go to sleep listening to a cd recording of rain better.  I read it isn't important for you to go to sleep, you just need to be completely relaxed.  If you can accept this as true, out takes off all the pressure.    Relax your face....your jaw.  An expert said it is better to sleep on your side.  If you put a fat pillow beside you, you can put your top leg on it, which is very comfortable.  If you are going to drink alcohol, the earlier the better  because it is a diuretic and you will have to get up in the night to go to the bathroom.  Another weird suggestion I read was that you should use the smallest pillow you can be happy with.  That surprised me even though I made my pillow which is 8 inches long, 5 inches wide and 3 inches thick.  It is like a soft little brick and fits nicely at the back of my neck or just above my ear and it doesn't mess up my hair.  I definetely would hate a pillow I sank into.  You could tear up an old pillow and try a little one?

[cathm]

Great suggestions @Glenda