Do you lie awake at night, tossing and turning and unable to drift off? If so, you are not alone. Many thousands of people every year list ‘inability to sleep’ as one of their biggest health concerns. Not being able to sleep well can affect your wellbeing in every other area of life, and can also start to take its toll on your wellness, as your immune system can start to suffer.
Unfortunately, there is not one clear-cut secret to getting a good night’s sleep. What works for one person may not work for the next. All that we can offer is a selection of the best tips that we have collated from various sleep experts, in the hope that one of these will work for you and have you drifting off tonight.
Firstly, most experts highlight the need to prioritise sleeping the way that you would any other important health-enhancing habit (like eating well or exercising). You must prioritise sleep, build it into your day and schedule it.
You must follow a consistent sleep routine, in order to help your body understand the cues that you are about to go to sleep. Try to go to bed around about the same time every night, following a regular routine of brushing your teeth or any other nighttime rituals.
Contrary to how you may feel if you struggle to sleep at night, most experts recommend that you get up in the morning at a consistent time, and do not lie in. If you ‘catch up on sleep’ in the morning, you are merely creating the same problem over again for yourself the next night. Setting clear boundaries between ‘sleeping time’ and ‘waking time’ is vital, to help your body understand what it is meant to be doing, and when.
