7 Steps To A Better Recovery Sleep
A good night’s sleep is a key factor in a successful recovery. Here are seven steps to improve your sleep quality.
Set your bedroom temperature
Your sleep quality can profoundly be impacted by body and room temperature. Try to keep your room cold, around 18°C or 64ºF, to decrease wakefulness. Being both too cold or too warm will interrupt your deep sleep and circadian rhythm.
Switch off
For many of us, it’s routine to use the phone right before bedtime. Ideally, we should put the phone aside 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime to avoid a negative effect on sleep. If you can’t go without, reduce the blue light exposure by using the filter on your phone or tablet. There are multiple studies showing that the skin reacts to light causing changes in your body to wake you up or keep you aware. So a blue light filter can help reduce these natural reactions your body has to our devices.
Essential oils
There are a few different essential oils that have been known to aid in sleep.
Lavender, a heady, purple flower with a long history in healing arts is known to relax the human mind and therefore increases sleep quality. You can use the actual plant, night-time beauty products, pillow mists or home fragrances.
Cedarwood Oil has been known to heal skin and hair. This essential oil contains cedrol which has natural sedative effects so possible helping in aiding in sleep as well. This is very strong and is found in sprays and vials of oil.
Valerian Oil is commonly to be found in teas and in vials by itself. This oil is known for being a sedative. This may not entirely help you fall asleep but may help overall sleep quality.
Caffeine curfew
Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that activates your nervous system. It can be found in teas, coffee, and occasionally supplements. Your body needs time to work the caffeine out of your system. Try to set an unbreakable curfew with caffeine for most people 4 pm is a good time. If you find you respond to caffeine more than the average person this time should be moved to an earlier part of the day.
Black it out
I have mentioned before the human body, particularly your skin is sensitive to artificial light same goes for natural light. Since your skin has autoreceptors for reacting to light an eye mask will most likely not be enough.
If you are looking to get a solid night’s sleep getting your room as dark as possible is key. The darker the better.
Bedroom sanctuary
Try to make your bedroom a room for just sleep or ya know ?. Keeping the bedroom a sacred place for finding your way into the dream world will over time train your mind and body to be at peace as you get into bed. If you can keep work and other activities (besides the obvious) out of the room then you can create an automatic response in hopes of getting to bed sooner.
High-quality magnesium
Magnesium is the #1 mineral deficiency in our world today. Magnesium helps with blood circulation, calms the nervous system, relaxes tense muscles, and reduces pain. Since it has so many qualities that help the body it can get used up quite quickly.
The best way to absorb magnesium is through your skin or a method that slowly absorbs the mineral. For example, through a lotion, body wash, patch or even a spray. This brings me to that last point. Make sure the magnesium is high quality… the one that I like is recommended by the Model Health Show by Shawn Stevenson. It is a spray you take via the mouth called Ease.
Wrap it up
Just to add a little footnote to end the article most of these findings and sleep advice tips derive from Shawn Stevenson. His website link can be found below this article. He is a leader in sleep science and has constantly pushed to learn more and pushes his listeners to do so. So that is the thought I leave you with. If you feel what is written above doesn’t suit you, then I challenge you to find and do your own research. This is an article to aid in changing just a few habits to reap better sleep quality. At the end of the day, these models may not completely suit your lifestyle so finding your sweet spot may take some time. Thank you for reading and happy sleep adventures.
