From repairing your heart and blood vessels to protecting and strengthening your memory, sleep plays a pivotal role in helping your body perform at its best. So, it makes sense that you should give yourself the best possible chance of an astronomical slumber.
Read on for our 7 top tips on building good shuteye habits and enjoying a deeper, more restful sleep.
1 – Stick to a sleep schedule
When it comes to the science of sleep nothing hinders quality more than an erratic schedule. Sure, there’s room for leeway when it comes to hitting the sack and setting your alarm in the morning. But overall, you should establish a regular sleep-wake cycle to get your circadian rhythm in sync and maximise your sleep quality. Cement your schedule by adopting pre and post sleep habits, like reading a book for 15 minutes before turning off your bedside lamp and starting every morning with a stretch session.
2 – Avoid stimulants
Stimulants like caffeine, chocolate, nicotine and alcohol can all keep you up past your bedtime and even worse, hinder REM sleep and prevent your brain from slipping into the restorative part of the sleep cycle. The blue light emitted from screens can also affect melatonin production and trick your body into thinking it should be awake, so stay away from those smart phones, tablets and TVs.
3 – Stay active
Exerting yourself with physical activity during the day will help you hit the sack with a newfound sense of fatigue. While afternoons and evenings are OK, try not to sweat it out too close to bedtime as this can get the endorphins flowing and leave you too energised to sleep.
4 – Breathe deep
As you send yourself to sleep try practicing deep breathing, which actively triggers the body’s relaxation response. Deep inhales and exhales also drive cerebrospinal fluid flow which helps to oxygenate the brain and clear away metabolic waste products.
5 – Stay cool
While there’s not much you can do about stifling hot summer evenings, it is important to regulate your body temperature while you sleep. A cool environment is best, with research from the University of South Australia suggesting that sleeping in a cool room increases sleep quality and helps cure insomnia. So throw open those windows, flick on the fan and invest in quality bed linen made from breathable textiles like bamboo and organic cotton.
A revved-up heart rate, increased cortisol levels, physical tension and cognitive arousal are all tell-tale stress symptoms. And unsurprisingly, all four can seriously mess with the quality of your sleep. If you’re feeling anxious be sure to embrace the art of self-care, which could mean anything from daily yoga and meditation to weekly massages, long walks or a cup of chamomile tea before bed.
7 – Invest in a comfortable bed
Ultimately, your bed plays a key role in determining your quality of sleep. You wouldn’t enjoy a quality snooze on a saggy sofa bed or rock-hard futon, so why settle for anything less than exceptional when it comes to your personal mattress? Cue the Bambillo Adjustable Massage Bed, an innovative solution designed to revolutionise your sleep experience. A multilayer comfort system coupled with vibrational massage therapy has been engineered to regulate temperature, support your circulation and leave you feeling well-rested from head to toe.
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