The Holy Grail Of Sleep Tips To Get Better Quality Rest

Whether your goals for 2024 include eating a healthier diet, getting more exercise or dealing better with stress, experts say there’s one thing you can do to boost your chance of success - focus on better quality sleep. For some folks, getting seven to eight hours of mostly uninterrupted snoozing a night may feel impossible, but it doesn’t have to be.

These are five science-backed ways to help train your brain to get the restorative slumber you need in the year ahead.

• Establish a sleep schedule and stick to it - That means going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends, vacations and after a bad night’s sleep. Michael Grandner, director of the sleep and health research program at the University of Arizona, explains that the brain likes regularity and predictability and having a set wake-up time is key.
• Avoiding alcohol and spicy foods - Having a drink may help you fall asleep, but alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep and your body really needs all three stages of sleep - light sleep, REM or dream state and deep sleep - to repair and restore. Steering clear of caffeine after midday and avoiding heavy or spicy foods can also help you sleep better.
• Practicing good sleep hygiene - Good sleep habits that also help train your brain to go to sleep and stay asleep include eliminating blue light and noise, taking warm baths or doing yoga to relax and keeping your bedroom cool.
• Make the bedroom sacred - Don’t work in bed or play with the kids there, instead reserve it for sleep and sex so your brain sees it as a place for snoozing.
• The holy grail of sleep tips - “The best sleep tip you can ever give somebody is to get up - don’t lay in bed awake but not sleeping,” Grandner says. The problem is that just lying there can form an association in your brain that can lead to chronic insomnia, so he recommends not tossing and turning, and getting up and resetting. The sleep expert swears that in his clinic, this advice is as effective as prescription sleep medications.

Source: CNN