Music and Sports History | Free Audiobooks | Famous Speeches | Podcast by Henry Gindt

In this podcast episode, we'll recap the top 10 benefits of sleep (listen to the earlier episode from GoCheezy) and offer 7 practical ways to get better sleep and improve your sleep hygiene. 

1. Don’t read (or work) from a computer or phone screen late at night to avoid the disruptive blue light emitted. The light emitted from these screens seems to have an effect on our body’s production of melatonin. You might try jotting down a to-do list which can help ease your mind and relax knowing “it will be taken care of tomorrow.”
2. Maintain a fixed time to wake up each day and go to bed at night. This includes trying to wake up and fall asleep at similar hours during the weekend so our body’s circadian rhythm is not disrupted.
3. Try to focus on breathing and mediation rather than “trying to sleep” as the mere effort of trying to fall asleep can be anxiety-inducing. Try staring at the ceiling, counting 50 to 100 long deep breaths, and then rolling over onto your side (or other preferred sleeping position) to now “try to fall asleep.” This life hack can work miracles.
4. Exercise during the day. Healthy habits throughout the day can also improve our sleep quality. Getting adequate exercise during the day will also improve your ability to fall asleep and maintain deep rejuvenating rest. Your body will simply be more “ready” for sleep, not to mention the sustained relaxation during the day following good exercise.
5. Avoid alcohol. Having even a glass or two of alcohol before bedtime may make it easier to fall asleep, but the alcohol disturbs your sleep cycle overall which prevents deep and restful sleep. Maybe that’s why hangovers are so painful? We get both sleep deprivation + brain dehydration at the same time…double whammy!
6. Avoid large meals before bedtime. Some also say that eating a large amount of food just before bed is a definite no-no, though an occasional late-night (healthy) snack may be just what your body needs. Turning your body into a big digestion mode may disrupt sleep by reallocating our body’s resources to digestion rather than repairing and cleaning.
7. Maintain a healthy physical sleeping environment. Maintaining optimal physical surroundings where you sleep is also critical. For instance, many health professionals say that your bedroom should be reserved for either sleep or sex (or reading). It becomes more and more difficult to turn our brains off and fall asleep when we are working from our bed just before turning off the lights or staying glued to episode 124 of Breaking Bad or worse yet, watching 15 more minutes of the adrenaline-inducing political food-fight on Fox and CNN.