You’ve probably stumbled across our post because it’s between 1 am-5 am and you can’t sleep. This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Try as you might, falling back asleep has proven to be tonight’s ‘mission impossible’. You may find some solace in knowing that everyone has been in the exact same position for one reason or another, whether it is situational or something larger at play. Whilst situational stresses like financial, relationship, or work-life stress seem like they are all-consuming and may never end, research shows that in most cases they do pass. However, the ever-present and longer-term sleep disorders such as Insomnia and Sleep Apnoea can cause a massive shift in our nighttime slumber. To put it simply, Insomnia & Sleep Apnoea are a scourge on society and are leading the charge in our losing battle around healthy sleep in the 21st century. Below we have highlighted a few helpful hints designed to get you back on the right sleep path.
It’s 2am, what can I do right now to sleep?
Experts agree the best thing to do is NOT try and force it. If for whatever reason you aren’t tired, don’t try and ‘make yourself fall asleep. This often ends in frustration and anger, which aren’t healthy emotions to assist with sleep. Anger and frustration can manifest into anxiety around not getting enough sleep, which can then lead to longer-term issues.
What to try:
- A good book is a great idea, however, try to avoid the electronic kinds. (See our earlier post on the perils of blue light).
- Try hoping out of bed and doing some light stretching or some relaxing yoga poses, as these not only relax the body, they can also help to quieten the mind.
- If you have some soothing music you like try listening, whilst obviously avoiding anything too upbeat.
- Meditate or practice some mindfulness. Mindfulness and Meditation can be challenging to new comers, however, they both have a bunch of benefits, including relaxing the body and mind. It can be difficult, but if you’re sitting there in in the dark what have you got to lose from trying?
- Try making sure your room is completely dark, including those pesky ‘standby’ lights that are emitted by so many of our electronics. A cooler room is more supportive to better sleep, so turn off the heater or remove the extra blanket from the bed. Turn on the fan to ensure you have a completely dark cool place, as this is typical environment supportive of great sleep.
- Your mattress plays a huge role in your sleep environment. The Sophie mattress is designed to keep you cool with breathable layers and cool-gel infused memory foam, which are specifically designed to wick away excess body heat. Silver Clear woven into the cover of every Sophie adjustable bed mattress, also posseses thermoregulating properties, a perfect marriage for great sleep.
- Once you feel your eyelids get heavy, then you know its time to try to go back to sleep.
I just woke from another terrible night sleep, what can I do?
You’ve heard it from everyone from your favourite morning show host through to that insta-famous trainer you follow, morning exercise is a great way to start your day. Although you have 101 excuses, mostly centered around time and availability, you need to know it’s also a critical ingredient in breaking your poor nighttime sleep habits. Whilst an improvement in your overall health and wellbeing can’t be dismissed, it’s the advantages to your sleep health that make us recommend starting your day with a little exercise.
Expending energy in the morning helps to ensure you are tired when nighttime falls. It also allows our bodies enough time to slow down from the rigors of exercise. So whilst it may sound foreign, given how tired you are during the day, but wearing yourself out early in the day with exercise may be the best trick of all to falling asleep at night, and more importantly, staying asleep.
Now we almost didn’t put this in here, but the scientific research around it suggests we would be foolish not to. Something as simple as seeing the sunset each afternoon can help to jumpstart your circadian rhythm, ensuring we have enough melatonin (sleep hormone) once nighttime falls. Not only has watching a sunset shown to make people happier, it also comes with a natural dose of Vitamin D. Too many wins not to mention!
Lastly, take a look at your sleep environment. Is it dark, relatively quiet and comfortable? If not, it’s time to invest some time and even some hard-earned money into ensuring your bedroom is a fortress of solitude. Take a hard look at the mattress you sleep on, is it comfortable and supportive? Is it too hot or too hard?
If you were to order today, you could sleep on a supportive cloud in the next 5-10 business days!
Moving forward, what should I try longer term?
If your sleep health has taken a turn for the worse, and you are one of the millions of Australian’s suffering from poor sleep, then you know it’s time to start making some positive changes.
A great way to track your results is with a sleep diary. A simple school exercise book or notepad you have laying around the house will suffice. In it, you want to track how many hours of uninterrupted sleep you are getting each night. How many times do you wake up, and what do you think the cause was, and you want to rate the quality of your sleep from 1-10. You also want to track what remedies you tried from our list above.
Don’t stop with your ‘in the moment’ activities like reading a book or practicing yoga. Continue with your ‘morning after’ actions and note them in your diary also.
The sleep diary is a great way to be able to look back with all the facts to see how you have improved, and which activities work best for you.
If you are still feeling helpless, see a doctor, and remember to take your sleep diary. A doctor will be able to look deeper into the patterns and perhaps see something you didn’t initially.
Lastly, we can’t stress the importance of picking the right mattress enough. The right mattress can make all the difference to making sure you can fall asleep and stay that way. Finding a mattress that is the perfect combination of comfortable (for you) and supportive will assist your whole body to feel relaxed so you don’t continue to wake up in the middle of the night in pain, hot, or with pins and needles. Sophie has pioneered the concept of versatile & interchangeable comfort and support with technology so advanced it’s being used by NASA to assist with the sleep health of astronauts in outer space.
The Sophie mattress combines the pressure relief and comfort of memory foam with the support and breathability of latex and is specially designed to help you stay cool (which we mentioned above can help your sleep).
Finally, did you know that you can own your very own Sophie mattress Interest-Free for as little as $27 a week? With payment terms to suit almost every budget, there is no better time to invest in your sleep health!
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