How to get better sleep, better health and be your best self
We all know by now that I’m a massive fan of sleep and making it a priority. In fact, it is one of the first things that I will talk about when I’m coaching (let’s be honest, it’s one of the first things I’ll talk about to anyone that is listening!). It is outrageously important and something that you need to be proactive about.
I have also mentioned that I’ve prided myself on being a night owl, which I think that is very much inline with so many others out there because when we are young, sleep isn’t a priority. I know that I could cope much better without a full night’s sleep than what I can now (ah, the effects of getting older!). When I was in my 20’s and even early 30’s, there were many things that were way more important than sleep, perhaps not the best thing but for me, I don’t hold any regrets.
The older that I get though, the more that my days fill up quicker than my evenings, things have shifted. I have needed to shift too. I can’t burn the candle like I previously used to. I have needed to really look at creating effective rituals when it comes to sleep. It’s been one of two big areas that I had to shake up and prioritise (I’ll talk about my second in a couple of weeks). I had to experiment, shift and learn what I needed at this point in my life. I’d say that this has taking a couple of years of tweaking too. One of the biggest things that I did was to acknowledge and become aware my reality. What did I need during the day? How was my productivity levels? I’ll be honest, there was a lot that was falling through the cracks. I’d get times and days wrong for things. Forget to do things. I’d always find that I ran out of time to do things - not that I didn’t have enough time, but because I couldn’t focus and I’d end up spending my time in the wrong spaces. One of the other really interesting things I noticed is that I felt really distant from people that I’d never felt distant from in my life. All because I couldn’t really focus.
Sleep is one of the KEYSTONES of health and wellness. If your sleep is out of whack, you’ll find that other things are too. Our emotions, physical and mental health RELIES on sleep
I’m going to share with you the different things that I have found have really made a huge impact on my quality of sleep. Keep in mind, these are things that I have done over a couple of years, not all at once. Try picking the things that you can do with little to no effort and then perhaps one or two additional changes at a time. This is a marathon and not a sprint. Make sure you make experimentation your best friend. There are no failures, just things you now know don’t work.
The Changes I’ve Made
The biggest bed we could fit in the room - space truly is king. This has been especially important with kids and when there is often one of us getting up through the night.
The bedroom is for sleeping only. The only time that this was made an exception was during COVID but that was an extreme extension.
No clutter. I make sure that the room is clear, without clutter and tidy. A messy bedroom stresses me out in ways I cannot communicate.
A night-time routine well before we go to sleep. This means no food, limiting water intake, screens … I’ll go into details of this in my next story.
Always making the bed. I’m obsessive about this. It’s always made before I leave the house, even if the house is in a state!
Limit alcohol. I actually rarely drink - this is for another story though. There is a lot of science on how alcohol affects the body and impacts sleep. Beware of the night time tipple!
Limit screen time before bed - I love a podcast or reading before sleep.
Surprise, surprise! Scent is a big thing for me and I have particular scents that I’ll use for evening wind down.
Watching what I eat. This means when I eat and what. Hello cheese dreams! Or have you ever had crazy dreams after deep fried take-outs? That was absolutely me.
Sleepwear that I love. Yep, my comfortable pj’s are up there on my list. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely bougie, I just know I need them to be comfy too.
Get the right temperature. If you’re too hot or cold, it will impact on your quality of sleep.
Pets. Now, I’ll be honest. This is an ongoing little drama in our house. The pug sleeps in the bed. We get pugged (sat on, kicked and licked awake amongst others) throughout the night. So, I’ll see where you stand on this one!
If you’ve got any sleep hacks that you use, share them! I'm always on the lookout! x