When you’ve spent a long day working your brain off, it seems that all you need in life is to get back home and get a good night’s sleep. But when you fail to get this much-needed sleep, your whole life is turned upside down. The good thing is that you can take simple measures to ensure your sleeping experience remains optimum and unscathed.
To do that, there are 4 things you need to do before bed:
Prepare the bed
Your bed is about to become your safe haven once you go to sleep, so you need to make sure it’s well-prepared for this sacred task. The bed won’t make itself, so it’s up to you to adequately prepare it to welcome you after a long day of challenges. To make sure it’s well prepared, you need to do the following steps:
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Choose a comfy mattress – Mattresses come in all shapes, softness, and features. You’ll get lost in the world of mattresses trying to choose the perfect one, which is exactly why mattress experts at Sleepopolis.com compiled a reviewed list of the top mattress brands in 2019. Going through their list, you’ll find different options of durability, comfort, material, and balance. Make sure to choose one that gives you an unparalleled sleeping experience.
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Regularly change the sheets and pillowcases – There’s nothing like sheets and pillowcases to accumulate dust and microbes. Over time, you’ll find yourself suffering low sleep quality without knowing the culprit, but you should know the reason by now. You’ll be able to get your beauty sleep once again by changing them at least weekly.
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Make the bed every day – To avoid the accumulation of this dust and those harmful microbes, make sure to make your bed daily. Brush the dust off, organize the sheets, pillows, and covers. The mere sight of an organized bed is enough to invite you to a night of deep sleep.
Prepare your environment
The environment around your sleep is just as important as setting up your bed. If you’re too cold or too hot, your sleep will suffer. If the air is too dry, then set up a humidifier to ease your sleep. Make sure that the lightning is suitable; either turn it off or dim it down. If you’re a light sleeper, then any noise will wake you up and ruin your sleep. To solve that, you can either use wax earbuds or play light white noise in the background to help you fall asleep faster and smoother.
Develop a bedtime routine
Preparing for bed is the next big step you need to take, and it all starts with getting into the right mindset. Once you develop a bedtime ritual, your body will automatically associate it with sleeping, making the process much easier and faster. Your bedtime routine can compose of the following.
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Brush and floss your teeth – Not only is this good for your personal hygiene and dental health, but brushing and flossing your teeth before bed takes away the comfort of having food remains stuck in your mouth.
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Read – Reading for a short while before bed can ease your mind after a long day of work. It’s also an amazing trick for falling asleep; haven’t you noticed how sleepy you get as soon as you open a book to study?
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Write in a journal -To empty your mind from all the scattered thoughts, you can place all of these thoughts in a journal.
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Plan for tomorrow – Get ready for your next day by planning for it and go to bed feeling excited for the next day to come.
Relieve the stress
Sometimes, you’ll feel too stressed that you can’t fall asleep from exhaustion. This is when you need to destress your mind and body. There are many ways you can do that, and here are some helpful methods:
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Take a hot shower
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Do some meditation, while focusing on your breathing
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Stretch your body or do some light yoga
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Soak your feet in hot water, maybe even add some Epsom salt or aromatic oils.
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Listen to relaxing music.
There are many things that can affect the quality of sleep you get, depriving you of your much-needed recharging session. In order to avoid that, take active measures in ensuring the quality of your sleep. To make sure your bed is all ready for you, choose your mattress carefully, regularly change your sheets, make your bed daily, and set up your sleeping environment. Developing a healthy bedtime routine will get you in the right mindset before bed, but sometimes you’ll need to destress your body and mind as well.