7 Ways to Greatly Improve Your Sleep

When I was young, I never experienced any problem having a good night sleep. I was one of those kids that the second their head hits the cushion, they fall asleep.

I found as I got older, my brain got more and more active, especially with business related stuff. Often times, I would be to excited to sleep, just going things over and over in my head.

Everyone knows that life is more stressful and harder than it ever was, and in industrialized societies, we’re working more and sleeping less.

Nothing is worse for the human mind than to have to endure a tough day at work, not have enough sleep, and then have to go back into the office. It can rack up a sleep debt.

That sleep debt can create tiredness, anxiety, depression, and lethargy. That said, let’s look at some ways to greatly improve your sleep.

Some of these are stronger than others, but everyone’s different. Have you ever wondered why warm milk puts you to bed at night? It’s because of the Tryptophan, an amino acid in milk.

Have you ever wondered why Thanksgiving dinner, with all the turkey, puts you to bed in the middle of the day? It’s because of the Tryptophan in turkey.

Here Are My Top Tips For Improving Sleep

1. Sleep In Complete Darkness

This is probably for me the most important point. When I switched to completely blacked out windows, I fell asleep faster, much faster.

What I did to black out the window was I got some Velcro and stuck to frame of the window, I then got a window black out fabric that I found on Amazon and attached the Velcro to it and stuck it up.

2. Reduce Lighting & Electronics Before Bed

Before doing this, I would regularly go to sleep wide awake. By reducing the lights several hours before bed, it helped me to fall asleep.

Our body’s know when its day time, because it can feel the sun on it’s skin. By reducing the light, I told my body with my eyes that it’s time to sleep because it is dark.

I often turn of the lights completely and burn Beeswax candles. I also use a computer program call f.lux  which:

Adjusts the computer display’s color temperature according to the location and time of day, based on a user specified set of longitude and latitude geographical coordinates.

The program was designed to reduce eye strain during night time and allow a user to sleep better after computer usage.

3. Have a Set Time to Go to Sleep & Wake Up

Another great step. For the first couple years I was making good money on the internet I would just wake up at 11am or whenever I woke up. Then I’d go to bed when ever I felt like.

By getting into a sleep routine, I found that it was easier to get out of bed in the morning and had increased energy during the day.

4. Wake Up to Sunlight

Jeez, it feels like so far, every point I have wrote has been my favourite. This is another great one. I sleep in complete darkness and wake up to light.

I do this with a special alarm clock which has lamp, that will start to get brighter and brighter for 30 minutes before your alarm clock is set to go off.

Usually I’ll wake up just a few minutes before the alarm, which is nice. Having the room already bright has made an improvement to my energy levels during the day.

5. Get a Massage

Aside from the relaxation most of us get from a massage, they really work wonders for making you go to sleep at night because they can help with so many different issues that may be preventing you from optimal sleep. 

6. Meditation

If you’re a little hesitant about meditation, and you think it’s just for the odd folks in that one class at the gym, please realize there’s a difference between that practice and yoga.

Try listening to ambient noise while you’re meditating and chill out. If I don’t play some of my favorite meditation music on my iPod, I’ll usually jump on youtube, type relaxation music or calming meditation music and plenty of great choices turn up. 

7. Keep a Cooler Room

Even though most people associated a warm room with sleep, it’s actually better to have crisp, clean air and then cover up with a lot of warm covers. It’s just easier to breathe and relax, and you feel a lot warmer once you’re snug as a bug in a rug.

Health by choice, not by chance.

-David Aston