Calling All Insomniacs: How To Get a Better Night’s Sleep (Part Two)

If you suffer from sleep issues, you’re not alone! Learn how to improve your sleep tonight!

In part one, we explored how getting good sleep improves just about every facet of our lives, from improving your immunity and exercise performance to emotional wellness. 

Getting better sleep is where it’s at, and at Major Chiropractic in Wheaton we can help! Join us in today’s post as we explore more tips and tricks to get better, more restful, and restorative sleep. 

Additional Ways To Get a Better Night’s Sleep

Remember the good ol’ days when we were young and careless and we could sleep just about anywhere and feel rested after a couple of hours? And nowadays, falling and staying asleep requires a planned and implemented routine! It’s tough on the sleep front, but when you tweak a couple of behaviors, it results in life-changing sleep..and we all can get behind that!

Set a consistent sleep schedule.

We get that life is hectic and that you’re not only managing the schedule of yourself but other family members, and other people dictate your schedule, too! If sleep is becoming an issue and you’re having troubles falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, setting a consistent sleep schedule may be beneficial. 

This means going to sleep and waking up at roughly the same time every single day, seven days a week. So, if you’re lighting the candle at both ends during the week and trying to recoup your sleep over the weekend, this can actually disrupt your sleep and continue the cycle. 

Avoid alcohol.

Many people use alcohol to wind down and as a nightcap, but it’s one of the most disruptive things you can consume before bed. Alcohol not only alters your melatonin levels which helps balance your body’s natural sleep/wake cycle, but it also causes a spike in your blood sugar levels which will wake you up in the middle of the night. 

So, if you do decide to drink alcohol, do it well before bedtime, don’t over imbibe, and drink a lot of water with it!

Destress!

What oftentimes happens to a lot of us is we go through our days — one thing after another — and go and go until it’s time for bed, and this is stressful. To be moving all day, putting out fires, and then just expect to hit the pillow and go off into dreamland is something few of us can accomplish. Our emotional wellness and our physical bodies need us to slow down and process our days, to destress. The best way to go about this is to allow yourself some time before bed to meditate, do some deep breathing, journal, or read to decompress. 

Improve your sleep environment.

It’s important that you have a sleep environment that fosters sleep. Create a sleep space that includes the following:

  • Clean and clutter-free
  • An ambient temperature (not too hot and not too cold)
  • Try to eliminate unnecessary noise and sound
  • Diffuse sleep-inducing essential oils (lavender, frankincense, etc)

Good sleep is possible, it just takes a little more work as we age! Move towards good sleep by setting a sleep schedule, avoiding alcohol, destress, and creating an ideal sleep space. 

For more information on the sleep support we offer at our Wheaton office, reach out today!