We know how hard getting eight hours of sleep can be, especially when you’re busy with work or you’ve got a little one! However, sleep is SO important for not only our physical health, but our mental health too. Not enough sleep can affect your immune system, and those who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times more likely to catch a cold than those who sleep eight or more hours. Sleep routine and hygiene are essential in ensuring a good night’s rest, so here are our five best tips!
- One of the easiest tricks is to minimise light and brightness when sleeping. Bright light can make it harder for our brains to realise its night-time, and generally makes for an uncomfortable sleep. As well as investing in some great block out blinds, try our Chloe Sleep Mask (we love our new Petite Afrique print!), to help you sleep. The luxurious 33 momme silk cotton blend is super soft on the eyes and skin, and the adjustable elastic ensures a perfect fit so that no ambient light disturbs your slumber.
- For a lot of us, silence can be the loudest. For some the hum of a fan or heater can be just the trick to help with sleep, but something like a sound machine or an essential oil diffuser can do wonders. If its sound that is most important to you, there are many machines on the market that produce rain sounds or white noise, such as this one. If you’re looking for a multi-faceted product, there are essential oil diffusers like this one that provide light noise while diffusing great smelling essential oils with ingredients targeting certain goals (check this one out for sleep). They can help with air circulation and can be the perfect sleeping aid!
- With technology being part of our everyday lives at every stage of the day, the blue light from your devices tricks your brain into thinking it’s still the daytime. Refraining from using your electronic devices one hour before bedtime can help significantly. As well as this, utilise the night shift mode found on most phones, laptops and tablets. If you work on your laptop for most of the day like a lot of us do, you may want to invest in a pair of blue light glasses or add the blue light filter if you have an existing prescription (we think these from Oscar Wylee are super cute!).
- A hot bath or shower can do wonders for many things, one of those being sleep! Research has found that a hot bath or shower one to two hours before bed has many benefits for sleep, helping people to sleep 36% faster. Check out our past blog post for some of the detoxifying benefits a hot bath can have, especially when magnesium salts are added like our Grace soak.
- Coffee is an essential for most of us to make it through a busy day, and a wine or beer is the drink of choice to winddown after a long day. However, ensuring you don’t consume coffee or caffeinated drinks six hours before bedtime can help immensely when it’s time to sleep. As well as this, although alcohol can make you drowsy, it can lead to more wakeups in the night and snoring. However, if you do love a glass of wine with dinner, try cut down the amount you consume to ensure you are able to sleep through the night.
Sleep is a tricky thing, and there is no one-size-fits-all cure. Try out different things to see which works for you and let us know on our social accounts any other tips you have!