January 8, 2021

How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep

Nick Everything Else health 7 Comments

For many of us (including me) the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic is playing havoc with our sleep patterns. That’s bad news for a variety of reasons.

Scientifically it’s been proven we all need at least 6 to 9 hours sleep a night. The amount required varies between individuals. It also reduces a little as we get older (though not as much as some people would have you believe).

Getting enough good-quality sleep is essential for a number of reasons. For one thing, sleep is when our body repairs itself so it is ready to face another day. In addition, scientists now believe that sleep – REM sleep when we are dreaming especially – plays an important role in consolidating learning and memories from the day before.

Not getting enough sleep leaves us tired and irritable, more prone to anxiety and depression, less able to concentrate and be productive. It may also make us more likely to put on weight, weaken our immune system, and increase our risk of heart disease.

So today I thought I’d share some top tips for sleeping better at this stressful time. Some of these are from my own experience (and research) while others have been contributed by my fellow UK bloggers. I hope you will find some helpful ideas among them…

Top Tips for Sleeping Better

1. Try to Keep to a Regular Routine

Aim to go to sleep at the same time every day and at weekends. This well help set your body clock and ensure you are able to get to sleep quickly and wake up refreshed and ready to start the day.

2. Make Your Bedroom as Dark as Possible

Darkness signals to your body it is time to sleep and stimulates the production of our natural sleep hormone, melatonin. Avoid as much as possible light from electrical devices such as mobile phones and TVs on stand-by. Ideally such devices should be banished from the bedroom completely or at least covered up at night.

I also recommend having blackout curtains or blinds in the bedroom. These can cut out light from outside almost completely. Until I got blackout curtains I got woken up on various occasions by the security lights on the house opposite when (I assume) a fox or something passed by in the early hours.

3. Brighten Your Mornings, Dim Your Evenings

Try to get some natural light (ideally sunlight) as soon as possible after waking up. In the evening, though, dim the lights, especially in the hour or two before bedtime. This all helps strengthen your daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.

4. Exercise Daily, but not in the Evening

Getting enough exercise is crucial to sleeping well. But do it in the morning if possible. Exercising then will energise you for the rest of the day, and later ensure that you are physically tired enough to sleep well. By contrast, if you exercise in the evening, this will speed up your metabolism, raise your body temperature, and stimulate the production of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. This is not a problem if you’re taking exercise in the morning or afternoon, but too close to bed and it can interfere with your sleep.

5. Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol at Night

I guess for many of you this is stating the obvious. Nonetheless, it’s worth pointing out that caffeine is a natural stimulant and can interfere with sleep if taken at night.

Coffee is the best known source of caffeine, but tea contains it as well (even green tea). People vary in their sensitivity to caffeine. Even so, for most folk a milky bedtime drink is likely to be a better choice. Or you could drink decaffeinated coffee. Personally, though, I find this generally tastes like dishwater, and prefer simply to avoid coffee from afternoon onward.

Alcohol, on the other hand, is a nervous system depressant. This means it can help you to sleep, but the quality of your sleep is likely to be impaired. For one thing, it can be dehydrating, meaning you wake up in the middle of the night needing water. You may also have to get up for additional bathroom visits. And drinking alcohol can make you more prone to snoring, which can affect your sleep quality (and that of your partner!).

6. Change Your Mattress

Many of us keep our mattresses for too long before changing them. Ideally you should get a new mattress every eight years or so. Old mattresses tend to lose their spring and become lumpy and uncomfortable. Even worse, detritus can build up in them including dead skin cells and dust mites. This can cause allergic reactions, affecting your sleep quality.

7. Get Comfortable Pillows

Like mattresses, many of us wait too long before changing our pillows, but for similar reasons they need to be changed regularly (as a rule of thumb every one to two years). A pillow of the right size and firmness will hold your head in a comfortable, ‘neutral’ position while you sleep, ensuring you don’t wake up with a stiff, aching neck in the morning.

The type of pillow you get is a matter of individual preference. Personally I like feather and down, but others may prefer memoryfoam or microfibre. In any event, it’s important to choose your pillows carefully, and don’t begrudge paying a bit more for quality – it will be an investment in your health.

8. Don’t Eat Late at Night

Eating late will raise your blood sugar level at a time when it should be falling and make it harder to get to sleep. It may also, of course, cause indigestion. If you want a late night snack, something light like cheese and biscuits, a piece of fruit, or a bowl of cereal may fit the bill. In any event, you should try to avoid eating anything from an hour before you go bed.

9. Keep Your Bedroom Cool and Quiet

The optimum temperature for sleeping is between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius. Obviously it can be difficult to ensure that your room stays at this temperature all night, especially in the depths of winter and the heights of summer. Do what you can to stay cool (though not cold) all night, though, and your sleep quality will improve as a result.

Noise can be another obstacle to sleeping. This will obviously depend a lot on where you live, how much traffic there is outside, and how quiet (or otherwise) your neighbours are. Even if noise is a problem, however, there are things you can do to improve matters. Earplugs are one solution, though they don’t suit everyone. And a fan or similar device can help drown out noises from outside (personally I have a dust extractor which whirs away quietly all night and clears the air as well as covering up other noises). Finally, there are lots of free smartphone apps that will generate relaxing background sounds to help you sleep, with rain and sea sounds especially popular.

10. Wind Down at Night

Try to spend the hour before going to bed doing a calming activity such as reading, listening to music or even meditating. Try to avoid touchy discussions, work-related worries and so on. All this will help put your mind and body into sleep mode. If possible avoid using electronic devices such as laptops and mobile phones late at night, as the blue light they emanate can make it harder to fall asleep.

11. Bath Before Bedtime

This is something I swear by myself. A warm bath is a great of way of relaxing your body and easing the tensions of the day in preparation for sleep. Adding a few drops of lavender oil can assist in this. You can also add bath cream or bubble bath if that’s your thing.

12. Ask for Help

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask your GP if your sleep problems continue for more than a few weeks. She will be able to check to see if a health condition — such as acid reflux, arthritis, asthma, or depression — or a medicine you take may be part of the problem. She will also be able to talk you through any lifestyle changes or medications that might be helpful.

I haven’t mentioned sleeping pills until now. Personally I am dubious about taking these if I don’t have to, and concerned that I might become dependent on them. There are, though, various natural/herbal remedies you can try, including chamomile tea and St John’s Wort.

I have also had good results from a health supplement called 5-HTP, which is made from the African plant Griffonia. This boosts the production in the body of serotonin (the so-called happy hormone) and can therefore help with depression. But serotonin is also a precursor to melatonin, our body’s natural sleep hormone. I take one of these at night if I have had a stressful day and do find they seem to improve my quality of sleep. Below is a link to one such supplement on Amazon. Read the description and reviews and see what you think. But if you have any pre-existing medical conditions, I would strongly recommend speaking to your GP before you start supplementing with 5-HTP (or anything else).

Top Tips from UK Bloggers

As mentioned above, I also asked my UK blogging friends to let me know what worked well from them. Here are some of the answers they came up with…

Joanna from My Anxious Life says: ‘I like to play little games or make lists in my head. I often play “I Went To The Shop And I Bought…” or the Alphabet Game, for example listing all the foods beginning with C or all the girls names beginning with S. It helps to give me something simple and repetitive to concentrate on other than my constant stream of thoughts. It’s the adult’s version of counting sheep!’

Kier from Beyond the Blues says, ‘I always open my window about half an hour-ish before I’m going to go to bed so that it’s extra cold in my bedroom, and then I take my hot water bottle to bed when I’m ready to sleep. I don’t know what it is about sleeping in a cold bed with a hot water bottle but it just makes me feel so calm and cosy that I fall asleep pretty quick!’

Nikki from Best Brunch or Breakfast says, ‘When I want to go straight to sleep, I have a really hot bath. Not a relaxing soak – a REALLY hot bath (be sensible and don’t end up in A&E, obviously!). When I get out I get quickly dry and then I am that exhausted I fall straight asleep!’

Claire from Stapo’s Thrifty Life Hacks says, ‘I put my phone on charge away from the bed and get my Soothe Kit out, which has lots of comforting bits in it. Everyone’s Soothe Kit will be different, depending on what works for them, but mine contains herbal tea, a colouring book, some slime, a lavender body lotion and my favourite blanket. The items relax me and take my mind off the day’s worries.’

Emma from Bee Money Savvy says, ‘This may contradict a lot of advice about avoiding electronic devices before bed but right now I’m finding playing Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch really soothing before bed. My advice would be to find something that relaxes you; whether that’s a game, doing yoga, meditating or having a bath in the hours leading up to bedtime.’

Rebecca from Views From My Garden Bench says, ‘I was an insomniac for years until I worked out what helped me – calm spoken words or classical music. At the moment, I’m listening to Patrick Stewart reading a Shakespeare sonnet a day – his voice is so restful, and because it’s poetry there is a cadence to his words. Also I listen to modern classical music from Ludovico Einaudi [Italian pianist and composer].’

Chloe from Nyxie’s Nook recommends making your bedroom a ‘sleep-friendly haven’ and more in her blog post titled How to Get to Sleep for Night Owls.

Anna from Goodness Me Nutrition says, ‘I’m a nutritional therapist and write about gut health and sleep. Allowing three hours between your last meal of the day and sleep makes a big dfference. Eating in time with your circadian rhythms is a big factor.’

Joanna who blogs at Joanna Journals says, ‘For me, I find that the best way to sleep soundly is simply to have a routine. When I was at uni, I slept so badly because I just had no sleeping pattern, but in my final year, and now I’m working, I have a set bedtime and wake-up time, and I fall asleep so quickly and soundly. It really is amazing how our bodies work; once we’ve got used to our body clock, it works wonders!’

Victoria from Semi Charmed Life says, ‘White noise really helps me. I usually have a fan on when I sleep which does the trick (and keeps the air circulating, making me feel better).’

Georgia of Big Fashion Talk says, ‘I add on my pillow some drops of lavender essential oil and it has helped me tremendously!‘

Anne from The Platinum Line says, ‘I find I need to keep to a routine. I still get up and dressed at about 8 o’clock and try to stick to regular meal times. I find I am sleeping better as there is less traffic noise and our student neighbours are at home.’

Ren from Queer Little Family says, ‘I’m an insomniac and my general advice is if you can’t get to sleep don’t force it. Get up and start again. Go have a cup of tea, spend twenty minutes, half an hour away from your bed and from trying to sleep. Then go back to bed and try again. It doesn’t always work but it breaks it up.’

Marina from Marina Writes Life says, ‘Back in the day, I used to search up techniques on how to sleep better and ways to make you fall asleep as, quite frankly, I was really struggling due to the stresses of college, etc. I found a list of foods based on old wives’ tales that supposedly make you sleepy, two of which were chocolate and banana (there were others like turkey and sunflower seeds, but as a midnight snack – ew). Five years later, still to this day, I eat a chocolate and banana toastie at night when I can’t sleep and, honestly, it works a treat!’

Rob from The Sober Odyssey says, ‘I’ve taken CBD oil for the more than six months and found that has helped with much better sleep. Then giving up alcohol in January improved my sleep even more. I track my sleep with my Fitbit.’

Finally, Marie from Broke Girl in the City says, ‘Write a list of the important things you need to do in the evening to prevent yourself from worrying. Also, nice clean sheets work a treat!’ Marie also has a great blog post with tips for sleeping better from UK money bloggers. It was published specially for Mental Health Awareness Week, 18-24 May 2020. Here’s a link to her post.

• Persistent ear infections such as Otitis Externa (Swimmer’s Ear) can also disrupt sleep as well as reducing quality of life generally. The specialist ear doctors at Auris Ear Care can diagnose and treat your condition in the comfort and safety of your own home using their fully mobile and CQC-regulated service.

Many thanks again to my UK blogging friends for their tips and ideas. Please do take a moment to check out their blogs!

Final Thoughts

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and it has given you some ideas to try if sleeping is a problem for you. I am definitely going to try out chocolate and banana toasties 😀

This is undoubtedly a difficult and stressful time, but hopefully there are at least a few signs of light at the end of the tunnel now. If you need advice and support, however, don’t be afraid to reach out to others, be they friends and family, counsellors and chaplains, financial advisers, healthcare professionals, and so on. And make time to contact people whom you know may be struggling right now or you simply haven’t heard from for a while. We really are all in this together, and by supporting one another we will make it through together to better times ahead.

Good luck, and sleep well!

• As always, if you have any comments or questions about anything in this post, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: This post includes Amazon affiliate links. That means if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small fee from Amazon as a reward for introducing you. This will not affect the price you pay or the product or service you receive.

Note: This is an update of a post first published last year.