9 Tips for a Great Night’s Sleep

Sleep, or the lack of it, can influence so many different aspects of our health and wellbeing. Many of us know the joy that comes from waking up after a wholly uninterrupted and blissfully restorative night, but also how profoundly a bad night can affect the following days.

I admit that I fall in to the latter camp lately, mostly due to the needs of my little one. And that is a key point I really want to make here.  Good quality sleep is not always in our personal control – from frequent trips to the bathroom to caring responsibilities, longstanding health problems or medication side effects – we can’t solve all sleep issues with a more comfortable bed and technological ‘sun-down’.

BUT, I often work with clients who have more general sleep troubles, yet don’t do these basic things consistently. ‘Sleep hygiene’ is a great first step to help improve the amount and quality of sleep you get.

I thought it might therefore be helpful to share my 9 most frequently recommended sleep tips, in case it helps any of you get an extra hour or two of restorative shut-eye. For more significant concerns, or if there are medical issues affecting your sleep, please do speak to your healthcare provider. There is often support available.

3. Include magnesium containing foods in your diet

Magnesium is an essential dietary mineral that is thought to play an important role in sleep regulation. Magnesium-rich foods include green leafy vegetables, legumes and pulses, nuts (especially almonds, cashews, peanuts), seeds, whole grains and yoghurt. Getting magnesium from whole foods is always my initial recommendation. Supplements of any kind should be discussed first with a qualified nutrition or health professional.

4. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule

You’ll probably have read this one many times before, but it is still a good tip. Try (although I know this is impossible if you are working shifts) sticking to a consistent bed time and waking-up time, even at weekends, as it helps our bodies to get into a good rhythm of knowing when to be wakeful, and when to start getting sleepy.

5. Sleep books

The Sleep Book by Dr Guy Meadows is my top self-help recommendation for anyone suffering from chronic sleep troubles. I’ve suggested it to many clients, as I often find that sleep difficulties make new habits (especially dietary ones) much harder to stick to. It suggests a different way of looking at insomnia, using the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which might offer a new approach to those you’ve read of in the past.

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is also an excellent book, although I would suggest being cautious about reading it if you are already struggling with insomnia, as it might potentially increase anxiety around sleep – which is inevitably unhelpful and may exacerbate the problem.

6. Observe a technological sun-down

This tip is most often suggested due to the potentially stimulatory effects of artificial light in the evenings. When technology use is essential in the evenings, the effects may be reduced through warm tint settings or blue-light blocking glasses. If technology use is not essential, however, then switching to other forms of unwinding (such as a creative activity, warm bath, relaxing music, journaling or reading) might be an alternative strategy. I generally recommend doing this for somewhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours before you want to fall asleep. See what works best for you.

I think, however, that there is another aspect to this tip that is not so often discussed. It is recommended that we go to bed when we feel tired, but certainly in my own experience, it can be really hard to recognise this cue if we are engrossed in those magical shiny light boxes we are now so familiar with (phones, TV, computers, tablets etc.).  The automatic play function of online streaming services is, I think, a real culprit for our collective lack of sleep. Pushing through (or not observing) the cues to sleep can sometimes result in a ‘second wind’, where wakefulness returns and the ability to drift off to sleep is harder again. Furthermore, the content of the media we consume before bed can potentially trigger anxiety or wakefulness – I don’t recommend regularly watching late-night news programmes, for example – they are often full of anxiety-provoking stories that we might be better able to process in the morning.

Again though, as always, it is very much down to our individual experience. None of this affects us all in the same way. We need to work out what does matter for us and act accordingly.

9. Leave your phone out of the bedroom

Last, but by no means least, this is my little plea. If you always go to sleep with your phone by your head, please consider either turning it off, or leaving it in another room.

I often wonder if never turning our phones off means that we don’t get a chance to switch off either – there’s always that possibility that it might ring or beep at any moment and demand our attention. Perhaps that keeps us engaged, and on edge, more than we are quite aware of? Or try using the sleep cycle which means you won’t get any distractions between set hours.

NB., If you’re used to using your phone to wake you up, consider buying a standalone alarm. This sunrise alarm clock is what I now have by my bedside and am a big fan.

Wishing you all a very good nights sleep.