Creating your own serene sanctuary for sleep - and sex!
Make sure that your bedroom is cool, dark and quiet throughout the night. You might want to invest in decent curtains or blackout blinds, particularly if you are a shift worker, though a sleep mask will be cheaper. If you are a sensitive sleeper (or your partner snores), earplugs are worth a try.
If you want to improve your sleep, I’d recommend removing the TV from your room. But if that is not practical or you don’t want to, be sure to turn it off before bed and instead listen to slow classical, jazz or calm folk music before turning in.
Studies have shown that older adults who listen to relaxing music before bed fall asleep faster, sleep longer, wake up less during the night and rate their nights as more restful.
The ideal sleep-inducing range is slow tunes with a rhythm of 60 to 80 beats per minute.
DIARY DATE TO DE-STRESS
keep a notebook by your bed, and before switching off the lights jot down a list of everything you need to do the next day. Studies show that you will spend less time agonising about your to-do list in the middle of the night. One U.S. study found spending five minutes writing about
the day ahead gets you to sleep nine minutes quicker. That might not sound like much, but it is similar to the effect of taking a sleeping pill.
keeping a journal also appears to reduce the tendency to wake up in the
night. While you’ve got your journal out, you might also want to write in it three good things that happened to you that day.
It can be anything, from a friend admiring your clothes to watching a great sunset. Expressing gratitude (or counting your blessings) is a proven way to reduce stress, which is one of the main causes of insomnia.
Thinking of — and then, importantly, writing down — three good things will shift your thoughts towards the pleasant things that happened during the day.
This will help to counter the natural tendency at night to ruminate and worry. It is these ruminations that frequently keep us awake.
TIP TOP MATTRESS
You might have read that you should replace a mattress every seven to ten years, but the life expectancy of a mattress varies considerably, depending on how good it was in the first place and how much of a pounding it may have had.
The main thing to watch out for is sagging, as this can throw your spine out of alignment and affect the quality of your sleep.
Take the sheets off and have a good look to see if there is an obvious dip. A mattress topper might provide sufficient cushioning and support and will be much cheaper than buying a new mattress.
Take your time when buying a new pillow. Someone who sleeps on their back may benefit from a thinner pillow that doesn’t prop the head too high, putting stress on the neck.
Stomach sleepers need a really thin pillow, or no pillow at all, to ensure the spine stays straight and minimises stress on the lower back.
For those who sleep on their side (the most popular position), a standard pillow will do.