Sleeping Better: A Matter of the Right Habits

Everybody would like to sleep better. In fact, it is one of the biggest problems we all have, but what about sleep anxiety, when the symptoms of anxiety can interrupt your ability to fall asleep? This could include gastrointestinal problems, issues with focusing, and feelings of restlessness to name just a few. So what can you do to adapt appropriately? 

Avoid Stressful Activities Before Bedtime

One of the most important things we all need to do is to create a transition from daytime to nighttime. We can’t force ourselves to go to sleep but we need to find ways to reduce the anxious thoughts in our heads so we have a clear and calm mindset. This is where a winding-down routine could benefit you; you could opt for light reading or listening to something relaxing, but you may also want to try practises like meditation or slow and steady deep breathing. There are also herbs like CBD that come in the form of cannabinoid capsules,

which have been shown to have a positive impact on anxiety. 

Practising Good Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene refers to habits that are necessary for good quality of sleep. These include some of the following: 

• Reducing screen time before bed. 
• No heavy meals in the run-up to bedtime. 
• No physical activity so close to bedtime. 
• Keep your bedroom dark and cool. 

Sleep hygiene is something that we could all benefit, from especially those people who are watching bright television screens or are on their phones until they go to sleep. 

Get Your Worries Out

We can have a lot of thoughts swirling around our minds. Instead, write them down so your brain has the opportunity to dump them, and it also gives you a game plan for the next day. Any stressful thoughts can benefit from what they call a brain dump or any stream of consciousness journaling to help anxiety. Journalling can also help you to fall asleep more quickly. All you need to do is just get a pen and paper and just write everything down that comes to mind. 

Meditating

A lot of people don’t like meditating in a traditional sense. What you can do instead is focus on your breathing. While this is, in essence, the same as meditating, when you sit and focus on your breath for a period of 10 to 15 minutes a day, this allows you to get rid of any anxious thoughts and helped centre yourself so your body and your mind can prepare for sleep. 

Don’t Lie in Bed Awake

If you cannot fall asleep, don’t lie there thinking that you’re not able to sleep. As counterintuitive as it may seem, leaving the bedroom to do something that can induce sleep can, over time, reduce how long it takes to fall asleep, also known as “stimulus control.” Removing yourself from the bedroom environment gives you a mental reset when you are trying to fall asleep again. 

When it comes to sleep anxiety and sleep in general, the right habits are going to have a massive impact. Choose what could work for you.