Tips for Sleep
Sleep tips
- Start your sleep routine during the morning by getting at least 30 minutes of morning sunshine.
- Avoid caffeine after 10am – ¼ of a dose of caffeine is still alerting our bodies 12 hours later, so having a coffee at 11am is like going to bed at 11pm with a ¼ shot of espresso and hoping to sleep.
- Avoid ‘blue light’ from screens such as tablets and phones for at least 60 minutes before going to bed – this wavelength of light confuses the brain that it is still daytime.
- Try and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day – avoid ‘social jet lag’ caused by sleeping later at the weekends.
- Keep the bedroom cool & dark – about 18 degrees is ideal.
- Avoid sedatives – these include ‘sleeping pills’. These cause sedation and not sleep – plus the brain will quickly get used to needing this signal. Alcohol is also a sedative and fragments sleep – you are actually far more likely to have broken sleep after a ‘nightcap’.
- Have a wind down routine – begin to dim the lights in the house in the evening and get into those PJs an hour before going to bed.
- Go to bed only when you are tired – lying for too long without falling asleep can trick the brain into associating the bedroom with alertness. You wouldn’t wait at the dinner table to feel hungry, would you?
- Waking through the night is normal – so give yourself long enough in bed to accommodate this.
- Different bits of your brain power down in stages during sleep (and some power-up). One of the first to switch off controls your rational thoughts – leaving the emotional feelings to bubble-up unchecked – try not to worry about this worry! – it is normal and hopefully means you will be asleep soon….
- The app Sleepio hs been shown to help with your sleep. It is free to download for people in Scotland and you can find it in your usual app store.