4 Tiny Habits to Improve Your Sleep Effortlessly



Sleep is the literal recharging of our batteries, but it's often overlooked. We're all guilty of neglecting sleep from time to time, whether that's staying up until 3 a.m. sauntering through the latest video game release or talking about everything and anything with a new partner – we all know how important sleep is, yet we often choose to deal with the consequences of its absence.



Matt Walker, a psychologist who has dedicated his career to learning more about sleep, put it this way: "Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason."



It's time we changed that. Getting a good night's sleep is about getting the little things right – from the activities you do before sleeping to the time you wake up every day. It may sound simple, but as with a lot of things in life, the simple things are often the most challenging to get consistently right. Here are some small tips to help change that.



1. Consistent Wake-Up Times



The human body craves routine. Regulating something as biologically pivotal as sleep makes it easier to achieve – your body and mind will find it difficult to calm down if they have no idea when that might happen. So, if you have no consistent wake-up time, it will be difficult to expect an easy start to the day.



To put it into context, say you have a daily team meeting every morning at 10:00 a.m. You know it's at 10 every day – your brain and body brace for it. Now, let's say the same meeting is moved – 9 a.m. one day. 2:47 pm the next. It's skipped for three days, and then all of a sudden you've missed the next scheduled one. The constant change would throw away any sense of togetherness and cohesion. You'd start missing things, not just in the confines of the daily meeting, but otherwise too. It's difficult to split your attention if there isn't any regularity.



In conclusion, you will get better sleep if you have consistent wake-up times. Even if you go to sleep late, try and wake up at the regular time. Although the temptation is to get as much as possible in one go, sometimes a similar wake-up time followed by a nap later in the day is the best way to get your hours in and stay regulated.



2. Daily Wind-Down Ritual



Blue light. You may have heard of it – the dreaded glare that is harmful to your eyes from excessive screen use. It's damaging to your ability to sleep yet, according to the Sleep Foundation – 90% of Americans use a blue-light emitting device during the hour before bed. So, a good place to start when implementing a daily wind-down ritual is to avoid screentime in the hour before bed. Here are some tips to get you started:



Listen to some calm, slower music before bed. Much has been made of music's ability to influence our mental and physical state, so experiment with whatever music makes you feel calm.



Have a skin-care routine. To induce a relaxed state of being, your body needs to feel at ease. Taking care of your face before you sleep is a powerful, physical way of going through the motions – as if rubbing in some cream or ointment signals, it's time to shut off.



Read before sleeping. Reading a book is a tried and tested way to unwind before a night's rest. While you may feel the highs and lows of emotion, the act of reading a non-blue-light emitting text will eventually tire you out. Plus, it's excellent material for your dreams.



3. Optimal Sleep Environment



It's all well and good getting your mind and body to relax, but if your sleeping environment isn't geared toward the main goal of a bedroom, then you might have a difficult time getting the rest you need.



You may experience difficulty sleeping in extreme conditions. In the height of summer, for example, it can prove challenging to relax when you're sweating in bed. Research into sleep found that 18 degrees Celsius is the optimal temperature for falling asleep.



Here are three useful, practical tips for creating the optimal sleeping environment:：



One, take a hot shower before bed. The heat from the water creates a 'warm-up effect', whereby your core temperature is forced to drop to cope with the heat on the skin.



Two, discard any and all clock faces from the bedside area. Still, if you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, a continued reminder of how much sleep you're losing will push unwanted anxiety and frustration onto you.



Three, designate a purpose to your bedroom. When it becomes the place where you do everything, your brain may find it challenging to relax as it hasn't purely associated the room with the main activity it's for – sleeping. So, if you're struggling, spend less time in your bedroom until it's time to sleep.



💡 字数限制，完整文本、词汇表、翻译、以及视频和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】