Disclosure: I have partnered with Church and Dwight to bring you these 10 Natural Ways to Get a Better Night’s Sleep. I have been compensated for providing this content, but I am a huge fan of Church and Dwight products and will only promote products on Creative Cynchronicity that I truly believe in and use myself. All opinions are my own.
I have a confession to make. I have not had a really good night full night’s sleep in years. First came the pain from the permanent injuries I suffered from our car accident, then the job that I do (it’s not easy to walk away from work when you work from home), my own natural tendencies towards insomnia, and now, the addition of baby Walter to the household. While I live in the apartment downstairs from my daughter and her family, I have still made myself available should they need me to take over rocking chair duty with the baby while they get some sleep. All in all, it has meant a disruption to good sleep hygiene and a need for me to get back on track with getting enough rest each night.
These 10 Natural Ways to Get a Better Night’s Sleep have been so helpful to me and I hope that you can find some tips here that are beneficial to you too:
1. Curb the caffeine.
Skip the afternoon coffee and replace it with a peppermint tea which is caffeine-free but gives you energy until your night’s sleep
2. Get up and get moving.
This is a tough one for me. On the days when my pain is much worse, it’s hard to even think about moving around but it’s oh so important. Being active during the day makes your body more inclined to seek rest at night. Even if I can’t be as active as I’d like, simply walking away from my computer for a little while can help get my muscles warmed up and feeling a little looser and more limber. I set a timer on my phone that goes off at regular intervals to remind me to stand up and move around. Sometimes, I just putter around and get some housework done. Other times I walk laps through the house.
3. Stay hydrated.
When that alarm rings on my phone to remind me to take a computer break and get in a little activity, I also use it as my cue to drink some water too. There are several studies that show a connection between dehydration and a poor night’s sleep. I didn’t need a study to know it affects me! If having to get up to go to the bathroom during the night is a concern, focus on drinking more water earlier in the day and stop a few hours before bedtime.
4. Prep in advance for the day ahead.
By getting everything ready for the next day the night before, I feel more relaxed and better able to get to sleep. When my daughter was younger, that meant making sure our lunches were ready, that her school bag and my briefcase were packed, and that our outfits were laid out. I also wrote out a To Do list before bed so I felt like the day to come was under control. Waking up with all of this in place helped me start my day on a good note and that meant I could sleep in peace instead of tossing and turning worrying. These days getting the basket in my daughter’s room and the one they keep in the living room restocked with baby supplies is one of my ways of prepping ahead. That way I know that my daughter has everything she needs during the night so that hopefully she can have a better night with the baby. And if I’m needed for a middle of the night shift with Walter, I know that I will have everything on hand too.
5. Have a routine for winding down.
I had one of these for my daughter when she was little. It included things like story-time, singing her songs (like my dad used to do for me when at bedtime), having a warm bath, a gentle back rub with lotion, saying our prayers, and so on. It was a really good way to transition from the higher energy activities we often did right after school to the quiet time needed to get a good night’s sleep. It took me a long time to realize that I needed a bedtime routine for myself. For me, this includes some time to myself. I retreat from everyone else, shut down technology at least an hour before bedtime, and do something just for me. I might turn on some soothing music, do some gentle stretches, give myself a facial, or lose myself in prayer and meditation. I often light some candles (or turn on some LED ones) and turn down the lights to set the mood.
6. Take Vitafusion™ SleepWell.
Vitafusion SleepWell is a gummy supplement made with Melatonin and is designed to help increase the total sleep time in people suffering from sleep restrictions or altered sleep schedules due to shift work or jet lag. Each SleepWell gummy contains 2.5 mg of Melatonin, a hormone that is released by your body when the sun goes down or it gets dark, which then tells your body it’s time to sleep and helps to regulate your sleep pattern. With hectic schedules and busy lives, sometimes our bodies need help getting a quality night’s sleep so that you can be ready to tackle the next day. SleepWell helps you get the sleep you need so that you can start your day feeling energized and refreshed.
Vitafusion SleepWell:
• Helps increase total sleep time and reduce the time it takes to fall asleep
• Reduces the side effects of jet lag, daytime fatigue or sleep disturbance
• Helps to reset the body’s sleep-wake cycle
• Adults take two gummies once per day, at or before bedtime – for use beyond four weeks, consult a health care practitioner
To ensure this product is right for you, always read the label before use and consult a health care practitioner. (Disclaimer: If you are pregnant or breastfeeding do not use this product.) Visit: http://www.gummyvites.ca/ for more information.
7. Make sure your room is as dark and as quiet as possible.
Okay, this is a tough one for me. Ever since the car accident, I like to sleep with the TV on. Something about the darkness and the silence just makes me focus on the pain more and that makes it harder to sleep. I’m working on that though. I’m trying progressive muscle relaxation to help combat the pain so I can turn the TV off and let my body’s natural cycles work properly.
8. Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique.
I know people who swear by this 4-7-8 breathing technique. It definitely helps me relax and concentrate on my breathing instead of my racing thoughts or muscle and joint pain. I also light to diffuse some lavender oil near bedtime. The scent is soothing and puts me into a relaxed state of being. I even carry some with me when I travel to spray in my hotel room so I can sleep better in a strange environment.
9. Release the stresses of the day.
Sometimes, I just have to work my way through the stressful things that happened during my workday. For me, that might mean writing it down on paper as a means of letting it go. Just acknowledging what happened and that it was frustrating is often enough. Other times, if it’s more of a problem hanging over my head, I brainstorm a list of possible solutions. Once I can show myself that there are possible ways to deal with the issue, I’m able to put it aside and confidently go to bed knowing that I have a potential strategy in place to implement the next day.
10. Keep your room on the cooler side.
As lovely as it can be to feel all warm and cozy tucked down in under the covers, breathing in warm air actually keeps me awake. And apparently there’s a good reason for that. Just as light and darkness signal your body’s awake and sleep patterns, so does temperature. Your body’s temperature naturally dips during the night as you sleep and if your room is too warm, it may just cue your body to be more awake and restless.
Sleep is just as important as eating well and exercising in our overall health but it’s often the most neglected. I hope you found some helpful information in this post to help you rest easy tonight. Share your best tips for natural ways to get a better night’s sleep in the comments below.
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