5 Simple Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep – Every Night

We all love a bit of shut-eye. Night owl or an early bird, slacker, or workaholic, we need rest in order to function properly. Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to just relax and get decent sleep, so we wake up cranky and unproductive. If we’re not careful, this can lead to further poor habits that can affect everything from how organized we are to how we perform tasks.

Having trouble catching up with your Z’s? To help, we’ve assembled some useful tips to get a good night’s sleep – every night and wake up ready to take on new challenges.

People are creatures of habit. Consciously or not, we brush our teeth or make our bed pretty much the same way every day. This is a good thing – it allows us to go on autopilot and have our brain focus on other things. We depend on our habits, it’s beneficial if they’re useful ones.

Ever noticed how you set your alarm at the same time every day and wake up before it? That’s your body responding to a routine. It can be difficult, but we recommend that you try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Avoid naps during the day. As sweet as they can be, they just confuse your body clock, especially if you don’t take them at the same time every day. If you follow the same schedule daily, even on weekends, you’ll find that you won’t need to rely on that alarm anymore.

You know that feeling when you need to lie down after a big meal? It might seem like a good idea to eat a lot so that we can fall asleep quickly, but we should avoid this. Digesting different foods can lead to increased internal stress for our organs, which affects the way we sleep. The same is true for alcohol. And, as we all know, coffee should be avoided late in the day if we don’t want to spend the night staring at the ceiling.

Remember how our bodies love schedules? Well, it’s the same with eating and drinking routines. Aim to have your last meal at least one hour before bed. We should avoid food rich in sugar and fat and aim for a balanced dinner. This helps to keep our bellies from expanding too much.

It’s difficult to fall asleep when there are distractions. By adjusting your sleeping environment just right, you can doze off in no time! An obvious part of this is noise. Even if you can fall asleep while there’s noise around, the quality of your sleep is still affected because your brain reacts to external stimuli. Try to keep your bedroom quiet, or get some earplugs to block out sounds. A white noise machine could also do the trick to lull you to sleep.

Another factor to keep an eye on is light. Our bodies are attuned to natural light: when it’s there, we know we should be awake, when it’s gone, we get sleepy. Artificial light confuses us, particularly the blue light emitted from our phones and computer screens. That’s why we should aim to increase exposure to natural light during the day and limit our screen time in the evening. And if you can’t control the amount of light while you sleep, then consider a good eye mask. We’re of course in love with our Panda Bamboo Eye Mask, which protects us from all outside light while being soft and gentle to our eyes.

You’re certainly aware of how detrimental inappropriate temperature can be for your sleep. Something around 20ºC is what most people are satisfied with, but personal preference plays a role. There’s a neat trick here – if you take a shower shortly before bed, you can help yourself doze off. This is because your body temperature naturally falls during the night. When you let yourself cool off after a warm shower, you are mimicking this process and helping yourself drift off into dreamland. Try it, it’s a fantastic feeling!

It’s a fact, we sleep best when tired. And we get tired from having a day filled with varied tasks and activities. An important thing to focus on is physical activity. When we exercise, we contribute to the overall health and get it to fall back into its natural rhythm, including healthy sleep patterns.

We shouldn’t exert ourselves too much right before bed, though. This time is best saved for unwinding. Relaxing activities, like listening to music, reading a book, or meditating work wonders to clear our minds. Our bodies interpret this as resting time and lead us spontaneously into sleep.

Do you find it hard to get a good night’s sleep even with a healthy lifestyle? The answer might be in the very base of your sleep, your bed. An unsupportive mattress, a flattened-out pillow, and bedding that makes you feel too hot all of these contribute to you having a restless night and get you waking up aching in the morning.

Our beds should make it easy for us to maintain natural alignment along our backs. Whichever sleeping position one prefers, it’s essential that we don’t exhaust our neck and spine during the night, as this only leads to stiffness and pain during the day. We all strive for a soft bed, but some pushback is necessary. That’s why we should aim for mattresses and pillows that combine comfort and support.

We can quite honestly say that our Memory Foam Panda Pillows and Toppers were carefully developed to provide the healthiest sleeping environment you could wish for, all with the luxurious feel of bamboo fibre. Don’t take our word for it, though, do your research and start your 30-night trial!

We hope these tips have made you realise how much you could improve your sleep with just a few small adjustments. Sleep is often sacrificed and disregarded, even though it plays one of the most important roles in maintaining your overall health.

Sweet Dreams!