13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Do you have trouble falling asleep at night?  Do you have difficulty staying asleep?  Do you know that poor sleep can inhibit your ability to lose fat?  Discover 13 tips to sleep better at night! 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Most weight loss programs primarily focus on two areas when helping clients begin a journey to fat loss – food and exercise.   Although this is not incorrect, it is incomplete.  There are so many day to day factors that affect fat loss, and did you know that your sleeping habits are one of them?

It’s FASTer Way Friday here at Hammers N Hugs, and my FASTer Way to Fat Loss clients are learning not only how to use food and exercise to become pro-fat burners, but they are also learning how factors, such as sleep, play a role in their overall health.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

The Importance of Sleep

Why is sleep so important?

Sleep is the body’s holistic reset button.  It allows the brain to form new pathways in preparation  for another day of storing new information.  Emotionally it allows one to “refresh,” and in fact, with children there has been research to suggest  that poor sleep may contribute to emotional and behavioral issues.

Physically sleep allows the body to repair and regenerate, and poor sleep has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  One of the ways this happens is that when the body becomes sleep deprived it will start to enter a “stress mode” which in turn increases the levels of cortisol in your body and decreases your body’s sensitivity to insulin which ultimately results in storing fat.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #1

Invest in a good mattress.

You spend at least 33% of your life laying on that mattress and considering all the health benefits of sound sleep, it is worth the investment.   Personally, I don’t think the $$$ on a Sleep Number mattress is necessary, but consider a brand like Kingsdown (this is what we have) that can still be customized on each side.

For those of you local to Lancaster County, Wolf Furniture does a sleep study and then will customize each side of the mattress. We LOVE ours!

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #2

Go to bed at the SAME time each night and set an alarm for the same time each morning.  This is one of the MOST effective strategies for sounder sleep!

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #3

Avoid significant blue light, movies, or tv at least an hour before bed.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #4

Avoid working out before bed. Exercise releases endorphins and will energize you at the wrong time of the day.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #5

Avoid food high in sugar before bed.  For my FASTer Way clients, you are now routinely practicing intermittent fasting anyway.  NO EATING BEFORE BED!

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #6

Consider a clock where the face can be turned off but the alarm still functions.  You are actually more likely to fall back asleep if you do NOT look at the time when you wake up in the night.  I personally use this sunrise clock (as do our kiddos).

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #7

Avoid sleeping with your phone in the  bedroom.  Due to the nature of job responsibilities requiring phone involvement, the cell phone can act like a stimulant, and subconsciously, a stress trigger.  We survived without cell phones in our bedrooms for hundreds of years (I bet people slept better then too).  I personally leave mine charging in the kitchen overnight.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #8

Use black out curtains and replace your light bulbs with soft white or warm white bulbs.

 

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #9

Stop drinking any caffeine after 3p.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #10

Keep your bedroom on the cool side.

 

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #11

Consider using a weighted blanket.  The research hasn’t demonstrated that people objectively have deeper REM sleep using a weighted blanket, but research participants subjectively report feeling as though they slept better.  As a general rule a weighted blanket should be 5 to 10 percent of your body weight and should also fit snugly to the size of the bed (not appropriate for children under 2 years of age).

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #12

Avoid naps altogether, but if necessary keep them to 20 mins and before 3p.

 

13 Tips to Sleep Better at Night

Tip #13

Do NOT keep a TV in your bedroom.  Let me repeat. NO TV IN YOUR BEDROOM.

You need to retrain your mind to see your bedroom as a place of rest and relaxation.  No technology.  No work.  No emails.  No tv.  No bright lights.

There is only one type of recreational behavior routinely recommended in a bedroom, and I’m pretty confident it does not need further elaboration.

To learn more about the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, and how this program can help you burn fat and live well click HERE!

What tips do you have for a better night’s sleep?

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency/

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