For World Sleep Day on 14 March, we have some tips to try for perfect slumber

>SUBSCRIBE FOR THE BEST THINGS TO DO EVERY WEEKEND<

1 

What’s the key to a good night’s kip?

The benefits of a good night’s sleep are well documented. Sleep improves your attention and concentration, helps you maintain a healthy weight and heart, reduces anxiety and boosts your immunity as well as giving the brain time to rebuild, repair and process memories. But if only getting off to sleep, and achieving 8 hours of uninterrupted slumber was that easy! Many of us know what it’s like waking up at 4am and not being able to get back to sleep, until you finally doze off again, before the alarm goes at 7am!

Here are some variables that can be controlled that give you the best chance of a decent night’s sleep. They may not all work for you, but are worth a try.

2 

Upgrade Your Bedding

If your mattress is as tired as you or your pillow as stiff as a board, don’t underestimate the impact this could be having on your sleep. It maybe time for a refresh and this doesn’t have to mean going to the expense of buying a new mattress. Mattress toppers or pillow protectors are a good way of ensuring your bed is comfortable as possible. Mattress toppers can make a huge difference, offering greater support, and help to regulate your body temperature. Making sure you have the right tog duvet for the season will also help, as will having layers that you can adjust through the night.

3 

Sleep Environment

The quality of your sleep and how quickly you fall asleep can be very influenced by your bedroom environment. Things like lighting, temperature of the room, the layout of the room, the colours you have used, and even how cluttered your room is can impact the quality and length of your sleep. A decluttered room might help you feel more in control of life and reduce your stress. It is also argued that you shouldn’t store clutter under a bed for the same reason.

4 

Essential Sleep Set

Create a sleep set which is easily accessible from your bedside. Whilst sleep sprays have been around for a while, there is now a huge choice and range so there should be a scent for everyone which can have a powerful impact on the nervous system. Scents like lavender, chamomile, sage and jasmine are soporific and beneficial to sleep. If you are a light sleeper and sensitive to light and noise, then it can definitely be worth investing in a decent eye mask (silk ones come highly recommended) which both sooth the skin and make the room pitch black. To block out traffic, overhead planes, early morning bird song, or even snoring, then make sure you have a decent set off earplugs handy.

5 

Keeping Tech Out Of The Bedroom

Exposure to daylight can help keep your circadian rhythm on track and your energy levels up, and in turn this can contribute towards a good night’s sleep. With that in mind, blue light which is emitted from our phones, iPads, laptops and TVs is bad for sleep and so often sleep specialists recommend popular methods such as wearing glasses that block blue light or turning off electronic devices before bed, or leaving them out of the bedroom.

6 

Best Sleep Apps

There is a plethora of sleep apps available from meditation to monitoring the quality of sleep. Sleep Cycle offers sleep coaching programs and tracks sleep patterns: it can even detect when you’re in a light sleep phase and wake you then, so it’s less aggressive so you wake up feeling refreshed.

Another popular app for ‘falling asleep fast’ is Slumber. Slumber offers various options to aid sleep, such as meditation sessions, story reading, white noise or natural noise like the sound of rain or the ocean. Sleep-inducing stories and meditations are added each week.

If meditation is helpful to you when falling asleep, then Core is a great app, which involves you picking up the small hand-held sphere and then the app guides you through a soothing meditation. This helps really anchor and ground you to your meditation and focuses on Core’s vibrations.

Reflectly: Best Sleep App for Journaling

Having a nightly journaling routine is a well-known benefit of getting off to sleep. This app helps you relax and wind down by asking guided questions and giving prompts which encourage you to document your worries, jobs, and thoughts of the day.

7 

Cricketing

A quirky sleep trend which has become popular recently is a movement and technique called ‘cricket feet’ which involves rubbing your feet together which is supposed to soothe the nervous system. This stimulates points, promotes relaxation and whilst there isn’t any evidence to suggest that the quality of sleep is better, it can be a popular way to help people drift off!