7 Steps to a Better Night's Sleep

A good night’s rest is essential to a healthy existence, protecting you physically and mentally as well as boosting your quality of life. Unfortunately, many of us struggle to fall asleep, have bad dreams, can’t wake up in the morning and then feel constantly tired.

In terms of physical health, sleep plays a significant role in:

repairing your heart and blood vessels
helping you to maintain a healthy weight and a good balance of hormones
controlling sugar levels.

In terms of mental health, sleep plays a significant role in:

helping you to learn, remember, solve problems and make decisions
safeguarding against stress, mood swings and depression.

Whether you’re having trouble with sleep or would simply like an even better night’s sleep, the following 7 steps can help.

1. Your bedroom

One of the first things to consider is your bedroom. To get a restful night’s sleep, you need the right setting, which means a clean, peaceful and welcoming bedroom.

Many of us are unknowingly sleeping in a bedroom that’s simply not fit for purpose, and that environment could be the key cause of a restless night.

Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to transform your bedroom into a space that encourages a peaceful night’s sleep.

Diagram of a simple bedroom with a bed, bedside table and lamp

Achieve this by:

Making your room completely dark. This can be achieved with a blackout blind or curtains, an additional window dressing, or even an eye mask.
Maintaining an ambient temperature. If you’re too hot or too cold, you won’t sleep soundly. We recommend a cool temperature of around 16-18°C (60-65° F).
De-clutter your bedroom and create a space that’s clean, neat and simple. Even just relocating the laundry basket, stacking up some books or blitzing your bedside table can make a real difference.
Say no to technology in the bedroom! That means avoiding televisions and computers. Having access to these will urge you to switch on when you can’t drift off, which in turn can lead to even more disturbed sleep.
Switch off anything with a digital display, including mobile phones, tablets, and any alarm clocks. LED displays can be particularly troublesome when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep.
Avoid treating your bedroom like an extension of the rest of your house. That means you shouldn’t use it for work, watching TV, eating, and even talking on the phone. Save the bedroom for sleep and sex.
Add special touches to the space that will help you feel more connected and peaceful. Family photographs, plants, flowers and ornaments will help to create a room that’s pleasant and relaxing.
Avoid using certain colours when decorating. Remember that bright reds, yellows and oranges are jarring, while browns and whites are boring and drab. Instead, choose soft, muted tones that will make you feel calm.
Use scents. Certain smells can affect your mood, helping you to feel calmer and more relaxed.
Take the time to really consider your bedroom. Realise that you have a duty of care to yourself and should therefore create a sleep area that’s as effective as possible.

2. Your bed

The foundation of a great night’s sleep is a comfortable bed.

The right mattress can make a huge difference between a restful and restless night, saving you from fatigue and irritability for the rest of the day.

On the other hand, an unsupportive mattress will encourage a poor sleeping posture, which prevents you from good sleep. If you regularly wake up with aches and pains, it’s probably time to change your mattress.

There’s a huge amount of choice on the bed market, which can make selecting the right one difficult. It’s always worth doing your research!

Here are some of the factors you should consider when selecting the best bed for you:

Spend as much as you can afford. Of course, there are some perfectly acceptable low-priced mattresses available, but when it comes to your bed, quality is key.
The right support is crucial. If your bed is too hard or soft, it will be uncomfortable and unsupportive. Your mattress should be firm enough to support your spine in the correct alignment while conforming to your body’s contours.
Always try before you buy! Lay down on each bed that you’re seriously considering, spending a good 10-15 minutes investigating its comfort and support levels. Try several different positions (we all move 40-60 times per night) and remember that if two people will be sleeping on this mattress, test it out together.
Avoid waiting until your bed has ‘worn out’ completely. Research shows that sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress can rob you of up to one hour’s sleep per night, which adds up to a full night’s sleep over the course of a week! You should consider changing your bed after seven years.

3. Your lifestyle

The 21st century lifestyle is typically fast paced, chaotic and jam-packed with technology. From the moment we wake up we switch on our brains with smart phones, and as our day progresses, we’re presented with even more triggers. The continuous content that’s fed from TV and radio, real time social feeds and our constant checking of emails all make for a non-stop stimulation, so it’s no wonder that many of us can’t switch off or fall asleep, then struggle to wake up in the morning and spend a lot of time complaining “I can’t sleep!”

Diagram depicting a person with their arms spread, standing for 'lifestyle'

There are simple ways to adjust your lifestyle to promote a better night’s sleep. These minor changes will help you to wind down and relax, removing you from the hectic, technology-crammed world that we live in.

You might want to consider:

Reducing the intensity of artificial light in your home by using dimmer switches or low wattage bulbs.
Maintaining a regular bedtime routine and sleep pattern.
Using a hot water bottle if you get cold.
Avoiding drinking alcohol or caffeine before bed.
Switching off your tech a couple of hours before bedtime, including your phone!
Emptying your bladder before bed and trying not to consume too many liquids before you sleep.
Avoiding napping during the day.

4. Stress and worries

Scientists have found a direct correlation between anxiety and rhythm of sleep. When a person is anxious, their heart rate increases, which causes the brain to ‘race’, too. An alert mind produces beta waves, making you far too stimulated to sleep. To make matters worse, an active brain triggers other worries, so it’s even harder to achieve sleep.

Once this pattern sets in, bedtime can also prompt anxiety. So how can you combat the stress of sleeping?

Diagram depicting a person with squiggly lines leaving their head, hands lifted, depicting 'stress'

There are several techniques to banish anxiety and calm your heart rate. Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of them, helping people to ‘unlearn’ thought processes through psychological treatment.

You can also manage your heart rate by placing your hand on your heart and listen for the beating. Breathe in deeply for four seconds, and then breathe out slowly. Repeat this until you can feel your heart rate slowing, which in turn slows down your busy brain activity.

Eliminate your anxious thoughts by practising the speaking technique. This means voicing the thoughts that would otherwise live in your head. Speaking aloud overrides thinking, which stops your negative thoughts in their tracks. Practise by thinking the alphabet in your head, and when you reach ‘J’, start speaking out loud. What happened to the alphabet? Well, you stopped thinking it in your head, because speaking overrode those thoughts.

Use this technique when you start worrying in bed: instead of thinking ‘the mortgage is due and I don’t have the money to pay it’, say aloud ‘we will find a way to pay the mortgage this month.’

Silhouette of a head with a dial in the brain, red on one side and green on the other, the arrow pointing towards the green section

5. Diet

They say you are what you eat, and when it comes to getting a restful night’s sleep, the food and drink you consume has a drastic effect.

The best foods for sleep include:

milk
cherries
chicken
rice.

Diagram depicting a fork stuck into a carrot

Some of the worst include:

fatty meat
curry
alcohol.

Some people choose not to eat after 6pm, as late meals can make it difficult to sleep.

However, if you are eating before bed, remember that there three main chemicals that promote good sleep: tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin.

Click into the tabs below to find out how you can include them in your diet.

All proteins involve amino acids, and tryptophan is one of them. It can be found in:

turkey and chicken
pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
peanuts
beans.

Milk also involves a small amount of tryptophan.

When this chemical reaches the brain, it converts into serotonin.

You may be most familiar with this sleep-promoting chemical, which is connected to drugs like Prozac. Serotonin carries messages between neurones and other cells, and when levels are decreased, individuals can feel anxious, depressed and crave carbohydrates.

At night-time, serotonin undergoes metabolic changes to become melatonin, the chemical that induces sleep.

Melatonin is a hormone that helps to regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, promoting a restful sleep. The best way to ensure optimal melatonin production is to sleep in a dark environment.

Even low amounts of light can suppress the production of melatonin, which not only affects sleep, but has other health consequences too.

Things to consider:

Always combine a protein food with a low to medium glycaemic index carbohydrate, which optimises tryptophan levels.
Don’t buy melatonin supplements online. They are only available on prescription in the UK. Taking prescribed melatonin will disrupt your own natural melatonin production, potentially suppressing your ability to generate this important hormone.
Don’t stop taking sleep medication suddenly. The best course of action is to speak to a doctor and develop a strategy to slowly wean yourself off in a healthy manner.
Avoid stimulants like caffeine and cigarettes.
Avoid sedatives, such as sleeping pills and alcohol, to help you sleep. They have short term benefits and long-term counter effects, such as dependency.
Changing your diet can help you sleep, but it takes time. Start a sleep diary to keep track of your progress, and don’t give up if you see no sudden improvement – sleeping soundly takes practice!

6. Exercise

Working out effectively can tire your body out gently, promoting a better night’s sleep.

Releasing pent up tension through exercise is also highly beneficial, helping to banish stress before bedtime.

Exercising also lowers your body’s temperature, which induces better sleep. However, there are several things to keep in mind when exercising to improve your sleeping habits.

Key points:

Don’t overdo it. Contrary to popular belief, wearing yourself out physically is not likely to induce sleepiness. In fact, it can often be counter-productive, leading to additional alertness when trying to sleep.
It’s believed that exercising close to bedtime can disturb sleep, however there is no evidence to back this argument. As such, exercising in the evening is much better than not exercising at all!

When it comes to exercise, the most important thing is to feel fitter and healthier.

If you are experiencing sleeping problems, try to exercise a little more or change the type of activities you do.

Yoga is renowned for its relaxation and sleep benefits, while moderate-aerobic exercise like walking has been found to help people fall asleep more quickly.

Young person smiling on a walk in a park, wearing headphones and making thumbs-up at a phone

7. Relaxation and other therapies

Many of us lead stressful lives. Demanding jobs, long hours and active families all contribute to a hectic lifestyle, and that’s not helped by the intense media that surrounds us. These elements make it very difficult to wind down, but fortunately there are a few relaxation techniques that can help promote a deep, restful sleep.

Click into the tabs below to explore each technique.

This method is best done in bed, though it can also be practised throughout the day if you’re in the right environment. By relaxing separate groups of muscles, you become more aware of your body and able to wind down mindfully.

The process is as follows:

Tense a muscle, for example your bicep, by contracting for 7-10 seconds. Flex it gently: do not strain.
At the same time, visualise the muscle being tensed, consciously feeling the build-up of tension.
Release the muscle abruptly and then relax, allowing the body to go limp. Take a few moments before moving on to the next muscle.

Remember to keep the rest of your body relaxed whilst working on a particular muscle.

CBT is commonly prescribed for depression, but clinical trials have shown it is the most effective long-term solution for insomniacs. CBT helps you identify the negative attitudes and beliefs that hinder your sleep, then replaces them with positive thoughts, effectively ‘unlearning’ the negative beliefs.

A typical exercise is to set aside 30 minutes per day, in which you do your days’ worth of worrying. During this ‘worry period’ you keep a diary of your worries and anxious thoughts, writing them down to reduce the weight in your mind. Once this task is complete, you are banned from worrying at any other point in the day.

Before you go to sleep, you can also write down the worries that you think may keep you awake. Once you are in bed with your eyes closed, you should imagine those thoughts floating away, leaving your mind free, peaceful, and ready to sleep.

We should all go to bed when we’re tired, but if you’re not asleep after twenty minutes, it’s recommended that you get up and find another activity to do. This should be quiet and peaceful, and not involve your phone or other digital displays. Listening to music, reading or doing yoga are all recommended as great 20 Minute Rule activities.

When you feel sleepy again, you should return to bed. The idea of this is method is to build a strong association between bed and sleeping, and eventually you’ll be able to fall asleep quickly.

This technique involves only spending the amount of time in bed that equates to the average number of hours that you sleep. For example, you might only get five hours of sleep per night, even though you spend seven hours in bed. By using the sleep restriction method, you limit yourself to only five hours in bed per night.

This technique might make you more tired at first, but it can help you fall asleep faster and wake up fewer times. However, it’s not suitable if you’re only getting a couple of hours sleep per night and should be supervised by a qualified CBT Sleep Practitioner.

Consider

There are lots of ideas in these steps. Have a go at one or two first before trying to do all seven at once!

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7 Steps to a Better Night’s Sleep

Advice developed with The Sleep Charity to help you improve your sleeping habits and tackle cycles of bad sleep