Getting a better night’s sleep isn’t just about alleviating those heavy eyelids in the morning. A good night’s sleep on a daily basis can be the cornerstone of health in all aspects. Your mental health depends on plenty of energy and motivation, and your physical health depends on that downtime to rest and recover. In fact, the body does a lot of healing and maintenance work while you’re asleep.
Sleeping better should be more of a priority for us, but in our fast-paced world, we often find we lack the time for the things that matter most-or, we think we do. The fact is that we all have enough time for better sleep, we’re just not making it enough of a priority. Let’s take a look at these five steps to a better night’s sleep.
1. Make Sleep A Priority
Sleep shouldn’t be something you put off until you’re so exhausted you can barely stay awake. That’s simply not healthy, and doesn’t exactly make for a productive day the next morning. Sleep should be a priority, which means moving some other things down the priority list. Let’s start by taking a look at your typical evening.
What do you do when you come home from work? Do you eat immediately? Veg out on the couch for a bit? Go to the gym? If you’re like a lot of people, you probably do the first two more often than you hit the gym. Often, TV and other electronics can actually be the cause of poor sleep quality, because blue light signals the brain it’s time to be awake.
So, if you’re up until 2am binging Netflix, you’re not only signaling your brain to stay awake, but you’re also causing your mind and body to fall into a bad habit. The solution? Create a bedtime. Yes, just like when you were a kid!
Aside from saving the sanity of parents, the bedtime ritual was adopted for children because they function better when they’re used to a routine. Guess what? So do adults! If you prioritize your sleep, focus on creating a bedtime for yourself and removing distractions, you’ll fall into a rhythm. That rhythm will help you sleep much better and feel more rested the next day. To help yourself even more, you might want to look into getting a CBD cream to deepen your sleep. CBD is actually believed to help people fall asleep and relax, so it might be a good idea to do some research into that. It might help you to make sleep a priority.
2. Include Spirituality
Mental and physical health are essential components of a full and healthy life, but they’re not the only ones. Many individuals find that incorporating spirituality into their lives adds depth, meaning, and a sense of purpose. However, the benefits of spirituality extend beyond the emotional and existential realms; they can also positively impact your physical well-being, including sleep quality.
Research suggests that spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and mindfulness can have a calming effect on the mind and body, reducing stress and promoting relaxation. By quieting the mind and fostering a sense of inner peace, these practices may help alleviate insomnia and improve your overall sleep quality. Moreover, embracing spiritual beliefs and practices, such as reading the Bible, attending church services, or exploring online resources for devotional studies, can offer you profound comfort and reassurance. The Word of Jesus Christ is comprehensive and by immersing yourself in these platforms, you can find solace, security, and a sense of hope, drawing you closer to God in the process. All of these elements can contribute to your improved mental health and resilience, equipping you to deal with life’s challenges with greater strength and peace.
Thus, embracing spirituality can be a holistic approach to health and well-being, addressing not only the physical and mental aspects but also nurturing the soul and fostering a deeper connection to oneself, others, and the divine. By recognizing the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit, you can cultivate a more balanced and fulfilling life; one that encompasses all dimensions of human experience.
For instance, using prayer or even Bible meditations for sleep can ease your mind, help you connect with a higher power, and make bedtime more conducive to a great night’s rest. Meditation is also a great way to calm your mind, ground yourself to the present, and engage in thoughtless relaxation. Bible meditations simply build on this and involve meditating on one or more passages from the Bible.
Engaging in spiritual practices before bed serves to reconnect you with what holds the most significance in your life and anchor you in humility. These practices also aid in reducing stress, something we could all benefit from less of. If you’re interested in knowing more about spiritual practices and religious teachings, consider attending a traditional catholic mass at a nearby church on weekends. There, priests can offer guidance on how to integrate spirituality more effectively into your daily life.
3. Repetition
Creating a bedtime ritual means nothing if you’re not repeating the same routine on a daily basis. Yes, that means going to bed at 10, 11, or whatever time you picked every night. No excuses! Ok, so you can give yourself some wiggle room for special occasions and such, but don’t make it a habit to spurn your ritual. Doing so will throw off your entire sleep schedule, and you’ll be back to square one.
Set a bedtime and move your schedule around so that it fits your needs. If you have to go to the gym earlier, eat dinner earlier, or remove some activities (like binging Netflix) altogether to get to bed on time, it’s worth it.
4. Put The Coffee Down!
It’s something of a habit for many people to have coffee both in the morning and after work for that second wave of energy. However, drinking caffeinated beverages late in the day does not help with sleep. The caffeine can run through your body for several hours, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. It’s still doing its job, and as your mind fights for rest, the body is awake and alert. So instead of caffeine, think of using something like CBD capsules that can put your body and mind at ease, and actually act as an aid for better, more restful sleep.
And the next time you want an after-work coffee or energy drink, think twice. It won’t help you sleep better, and the energy you’ll get from a good night’s sleep will far outweigh the artificial kind of energy that you get from caffeine.
5. Read Before Bed
Reading before bed is far better for the mind than staring at a screen. For one thing, it can help calm anxiety and signal the brain that it’s time to wind down for sleep. Secondly, it can help improve your overall focus. Reading has been shown to improve creativity, increase empathy, and so much more. Frequent readers tend to have a more broad view of the world and the people in it, and anything that helps with stress is welcome!
You don’t have to read anything special for it to work, either. Reading the Bible, a novel, a non-fiction story or reference piece, or even a short story will have the same effect. Put the phone down and reach for that library book instead!