4 Tips on how to sleep like a feather
1. Create your own night routine.
Lastly, a night routine will help you fall asleep easily, since you do the same every evening and you prepare your body for sleeping. It takes some time to get used to your every-day routine. However, once you are used to the routine, it will help produce melatonin, which will make you tired and you will sleep easily. Your routine will calm you and put your mind at body at ease. A routine is the perfect solution for a problem like this. A routine requires a bit more time and patience, but promises optimal results.
Your night routine can include:
Time at which you should start your routine and at which time you should go to bed (and sleep, not do other activities in bed)
Your night routine can include a food (read further and discover what melatonin is and which foods contain melatonin) or a drink (no coffee, but for example tea) that you eat or drink every evening.
Your night routine also should not involve very active and energetic activities, nor should it involve a lot of light (as explained in further this post).
Lastly, choose a relaxing activity you will do every evening, like reading or taking a shower. Avoid homework, since it heightens your brain and makes it restless.
For more tips on how to form the ideal night routine for you, just simply look on YouTube for inspiration.
2. Melatonin
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland, a small part in your brain. Melatonin helps control your sleep and wake cycles. Some foods contain small amounts of melatonin. Therefore, if you eat those foods in the evening it might help you fall asleep easily. If you are not sleeping at all, you could also take melatonin-pills, but CONTACT A DOCTOR before using pills. The amounts in foods are harmless and can be eaten without risk.
Foods:
Bananas
Barley
Cherries
Oats
Oranges
Pineapples
Rice
Sweet corn
Tomatoes
3. Light
Melatonin helps control your sleep and wake cycles. Light can trick your brain into thinking that it is a different time. Even though, you may not notice, but the natural light throughout the day changes color. In the morning, the light is blue, in the afternoon the light is white and in the evening the light is orange. Your electronic devices have blue light, so if you watch a movie at night, your pineal gland is tricked into thinking that it is morning, which delays the process of melatonin. However, don’t worry, there are several apps for (laptop and phones) that block the so-called ‘blue light’. One of those apps (for laptop) is f.lux. It blocks the blue light and your screen will turn an orange color in the evening. Also, avoid bright light.
4. Relaxing music
Lastly, a tip, which always helps me sleep, is music. Type ‘relaxing sleep music’ into YouTube and pick a song two to three hours long. Put your earplugs into your ears and you will sleep like a feather.
Sources:
"Melatonin and Sleep." National Sleep Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.
"8 Foods to Naturally Increase Melatonin for Better Sleep." Natural Society. N.p., 07 May 2014. Web. 11 May 2017.
