At The Fitness Store we are about more than just great fitness and exercise, we’re passionate about great health too which is why today I’m blogging about a few of our top tips for getting a good night’s sleep.
Sleep is really important for both physical and mental health. It helps reduce stress and anxiety, and helps your body recover more quickly from strain or injury. If you find it difficult to get to sleep at night, or if you get tired during the day because you have had a disturbed night’s sleep, here are our easy tips for healthy sleep.Pen and paper – If you struggle to get off to sleep in the evenings because you are tense from a day at work, or thinking about everything you have to do tomorrow, keep a pen and paper by the side of your bed. Those nights where you just can’t get your brain to switch off can be solved by simply jotting down a list of things that you are thinking about, and it’s a great way to remove anxiety caused by a fear of forgetting something.
Stay Cool – Lowering the temperature on your thermostat is a quick and easy thing you can do to improve your sleep patterns. Your body temperature lowers as you sleep, and you can encourage this by knocking the ambient temperature in your bedroom down by a couple of degrees. It can be easy to overheat your home, especially at this time of year, but somewhere between 16-20oC is an optimum night-time temperature.
Wear Socks – It might sound mad, especially since I’ve just talked about lowering your temperature, but wearing a pair of thick bed socks is another easy way of lowering your core temperature for sleep. Keeping your extremities warm enlarges the blood vessels, dispersing heat more effectively, and scientific tests have found that those with warm hands and feet fall asleep quicker.
Natural Light – Bright strip lighting in the bathroom can be counter-productive to a good sleep. This is because the brightness will trick your senses into thinking you’re supposed to be up and alert, so dim the lights a little when you’re brushing your teeth. The same effect has been found from watching television right before bed – so switch the TV off, read a book or listen to the radio instead.
Do you have any more top tips for getting a good night’s sleep to share with us? We’d love to hear from you, so get in touch through Facebook or Twitter and we will share our favourite tips with our followers!
