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Tips to improve sleep

by | Oct 5, 2022 | Health & Wellness

An illustration of a woman lying in bed with tangled thoughts in her head
You might be getting enough hours, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the most restful type of sleep!When it comes to sleep, quantity is important—but so is quality. Most adults need somewhere between seven and nine hours a night to wake up feeling well-rested, but a lot depends on exactly what happens during those hours. The quality of your sleep ensures that you get the essential physical, mental, and emotional benefits you need from your slumber.

How Do You Measure Good Sleep Quality?

Sleep quality is the measurement of how well you’re sleeping—in other words, whether your sleep is restful and restorative. It differs from sleep satisfaction, which refers to a more subjective judgment of how you feel about the sleep you are getting.

Four items are generally assessed to measure sleep quality:

Sleep latency: This is a measurement of how long it takes you to fall asleep. Drifting off within 30 minutes or less after the time you go to bed suggests that the quality of your sleep is good.

Sleep waking: This measures how often you wake up during the night. Frequent wakefulness at night can disrupt your sleep cycle and reduce your sleep quality. Waking up once or not at all suggests that sleep quality is good.

Wakefulness: This measurement refers to how many minutes you spend awake during the night after you first go to sleep. People with good sleep quality have 20 minutes or less of wakefulness during the night.

Sleep efficiency: The amount of time you spend actually sleeping while in bed is known as sleep efficiency. This measurement should ideally be 85 percent or more for optimal health benefits.

Together, these elements can help you assess the quality of your sleep. They contribute to an overall sense you have of your sleep being “satisfying” or not. Improving sleep quality can help ensure that sleep cycles won’t be interrupted, which in turn helps assure that you will wake up feeling more energised.

How to improve sleep quality 

Research shows that poor sleep has immediate negative effects on your hormones, exercise performance, brain function, it can also cause weight gain and increase disease risk in both adults and children. In contrast, good sleep can help you eat less, exercise better, and be healthier!
If you’re concerned that your sleep quality is subpar, here are some simple strategies that may help.
1. Increase bright light exposure during the day
Natural sunlight or bright light during the day helps keep your circadian rhythm healthy. This improves daytime energy, as well as nighttime sleep quality and duration.

Try getting daily sunlight exposure or, if this isn’t practical invest in an artificial bright light device or bulbs.

2. Reduce blue light exposure in the evening
Blue light in the evening tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. This reduces hormones like melatonin, which help you relax and get deep sleep.

There are several methods you can use to reduce nighttime blue light exposure.

  • Wear glasses that block blue light
  • Download an app on your computer and smartphone to block blue light
  • Use your phones settings to use a blue light filter past a certain time
  • Stop watching TV and turn off any bright lights 2 hours before heading to bed.
3. Don’t consume caffeine late in the day
Caffeine has numerous benefits, however, when consumed late in the day, caffeine stimulates your nervous system and may stop your body from naturally relaxing at night.

Caffeine can stay elevated in your blood for 6–8 hours. Therefore, drinking large amounts of coffee after 3–4 p.m. is not recommended.

4. Reduce naps
While short power naps are beneficial, long or irregular napping during the day can negatively affect your sleep as they can confuse your internal clock, meaning that you may struggle to sleep at night.

If you take regular daytime naps and sleep well, you shouldn’t worry. The effects of napping depend on the individual but if you have trouble sleeping at night, stop napping or shorten your naps.

5. Try to sleep and wake at consistent times
Your body’s circadian rhythm functions on a set loop, aligning itself with sunrise and sunset.

Being consistent with your sleep and waking times can aid long-term sleep quality, so try to get into a regular sleep/wake cycle — especially on the weekends. If possible, try to wake up naturally at a similar time every day.

6. Natural or herbal supplements
Several supplements can induce relaxation and help you sleep, including:

  • Ginkgo biloba: A natural herb with many benefits, it may aid sleep, relaxation, and stress reduction.
  • Valerian root: Several studies suggest that valerian can help you fall asleep and improve sleep quality.
  • Magnesium: can improve relaxation and enhance sleep quality.
  • L-theanine: An amino acid, L-theanine can improve relaxation and sleep.
  • Lavender: A powerful herb with many health benefits, lavender can induce a calming and sedentary effect to improve sleep.

Make sure to only try these supplements one at a time. While they’re not a magic bullet for sleep issues, they can be useful when combined with other natural sleeping strategies.

7. Limit alcohol
Having a couple of drinks at night can negatively affect your sleep and hormones.

Alcohol alters nighttime melatonin production, which plays a key role in your body’s circadian rhythm and increase the symptoms of sleep apnea, snoring, and disrupted sleep patterns.

8. Optimise your bedroom environment
Many people believe that the bedroom environment and its setup are key factors in getting a good night’s sleep. These factors include temperature, noise, external lights, and furniture arrangement.

To optimise your bedroom environment, try to minimise external noise, light, and artificial lights from devices like alarm clocks. Make sure your bedroom is a quiet, relaxing, clean, and enjoyable place.

9. Temperature
Body and bedroom temperature can also profoundly affect sleep quality – increased body and bedroom temperature can decrease sleep quality and increase wakefulness.

Around 20°C seems to be a comfortable temperature for most people, although it depends on your preferences and habits.

10. Don’t eat late
Consuming a large meal before bed can lead to poor sleep and hormone disruption. However, certain meals and snacks a few hours before bed may help.

11. Relax and clear your mind in the evening
Many people have a pre-sleep routine that helps them relax.

Relaxation techniques before bed have been shown to improve sleep quality and are another common technique used to treat insomnia.

Strategies include listening to relaxing music, reading a book, taking a hot bath, meditating, deep breathing, and visualization.

Try out different methods and find what works best for you.

12. Take a relaxing bath or show
A warm bath, shower, or foot bath before bed can help you relax and improve your sleep quality.

13. Check your bed, mattress & pillow
Your bed, mattress, and pillow can greatly affect sleep quality and joint or back pain. Try to buy a high quality mattress with appropriate support for your sleeping style (The best mattress and bedding are extremely subjective).
If you haven’t replaced your mattress or bedding for several years, this can be a very quick, although possibly expensive fix.

14. Exercise regularly (but not before bed)
Exercise is one of the best science-backed ways to improve your sleep and health. It can enhance all aspects of sleep and has been used to reduce symptoms of insomnia.

Although daily exercise is key for a good night’s sleep, performing it too late in the day may cause sleep problems, this is due to the stimulatory effect of exercise so be sure to exercise in daylight hours.

15. Don’t drink liquids to close to bedtime 
Nocturia is the medical term for excessive urination during the night. Drinking large amounts of liquids before bed can lead to similar symptoms, though some people are more sensitive than others.

Although hydration is vital for your health, it’s wise to reduce your fluid intake in the late evening. If peeing in the night is an issue for you, try to not drink any fluids 1–2 hours before going to bed.

Bedtime Meditations

1: Mindful breathing

This technique is very simple and you will probably notice your mind wandering quite a bit. That’s okay! Gently re-focus your attention on your breath whenever you notice your mind has been distracted.This is a great meditation to help you fall asleep when you’ve woken up during the night – it’s easy to remember and it doesn’t involve thinking much.

How to practice: Invite your attention to your breath. Notice how each breath moves in and out of your body quite effortlessly. You don’t need to change your natural breathing rhythm – just notice it.Observe the pause at the end of each exhale.Feel your chest and stomach gently rising and falling.Notice the journey of each breath, moving through your nose, throat and lungs (and back out again).Simply pay attention to each breath and bring your mind back to this practice whenever it wanders.

2: Relaxing body scan
If you feel particularly tense in your body when you go to bed, this can be a great meditation technique to help you physically relax.

How to practise: A body scan involves paying non-judgmental attention to all the different parts of your body, from your toes up to the top of your head. For example, you might notice your toes, then the arches of your feet, your heels, the tops of your feet, your ankles, and so on. Basically, you just want to observe each part of your body for a few moments.

To add the element of relaxation, as you complete the body scan consciously relax each part of your body. For example, as you pay attention to your toes, arches of your feet and heels, gently relax and release tension from those areas. Continue all the way up your body, focusing on areas where you tend to hold tension (such as your stomach, chest, shoulders, neck and face).