By Jamal Ayton-Brown

How to Get a Better Night's Sleep

By Lola Sherwin

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential if you want to maintain your energy levels throughout the day. However, it’s not always easy, especially if you’ve always struggled with getting to sleep and staying asleep during the night. I’m sure we’ve all had nights where we’ve tossed and turned in the hope that eventually we’ll fall asleep, so we all know how frustrating it can be. Next time you’re having trouble getting to sleep, try out some of these tips, and wait and see what wonders a good night’s sleep will do to improve low energy levels in females and keep you in top condition the next day.

 

Establish a Good Daily Routine

Establishing a good, consistent daily routine is incredibly important to getting a good night’s sleep. Try and wake up and go to bed around the same time every day if you can, as this will help your body to know when to wind down, therefore meaning you’ll fall asleep faster. It’s also helpful to avoid napping during the day, if possible, as this can seriously disrupt your sleep routine.


Before going to bed each day, try and stay away from screens and opt for an activity like reading, yoga or meditation instead. This will help you to relax before bed, ensuring that you’re in the right mindset by the time it comes to going to bed.

 

Make Sure You Have a Nutritious Breakfast

Starting your day with a nutritious breakfast can do wonders for your energy levels, and can help to release energy at the right times throughout the day, meaning that by the time you go to bed, your body will be ready to wind down so that you can sleep. Make yourself something that will boost your energy levels throughout the day, such as porridge, which is a slow release food. Pair your breakfast with your jrny shake to make sure that you’re getting all of your nutrients, and remember not to have anything with too much sugar or caffeine in it in the lead-up to bedtime. The perfect reason to explore alternatives to coffee or more natural energy boosters.

 

Learn How to Manage Your Stress

Stress and anxiety can hugely affect your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Therefore, managing your stress is essential if you want to get a better night’s sleep. Try talking through your worries with someone you trust, whether that’s a therapist or a close friend or relative. If you often find yourself worrying about what you’ve got to do the next day, it can also be helpful to write a to-do list before you go to bed to put your mind at ease.

 

Create a Relaxing Sleep Environment


It may seem obvious, but creating a relaxing sleep environment is one of the most important things we can do to help ourselves sleep better. Try and make sure that your room is at a comfortable temperature for you, and that it is sufficiently dark so that there isn’t any light to disrupt you. It can also be helpful to wear earplugs or an eye mask to remove any distractions, as well as to put your phone on silent. Some people also find that playing white noise or the sounds of nature can help them to drift off more easily too.

 

Stay in Tune with Your Circadian Rhythm


Your circadian rhythm is essentially the body’s natural clock, which tells you when to wake up and when to go to sleep. One way to ensure that it is working for you and helping you to sleep better is to make sure you are exposing yourself to bright light during the day, preferably natural light. When you wake up, open your curtains to let in the daylight - you’ll be surprised at what a difference it makes.

 

Try to Avoid Eating Late at Night


Eating late at night can affect your sleep quality, as it affects the natural release of HGH and melatonin, hormones which help you fall asleep at night. Therefore, it is best to avoid eating too late at night, as it can disrupt your sleep and will make it harder to establish a good sleep routine moving forward.

Try and Exercise Regularly

We all know that exercise helps to boost our general health, but it also helps to improve our sleep quality. Exercise increases alertness as it boosts the body’s hormones, including adrenaline, which helps to keep your energy levels up throughout the day, and in turn will help you to fall asleep as the stimulatory effects begin to wear off later in the day. It’s important not to exercise too late, though, as the boost in energy will mean you’re too awake and alert to fall asleep.

Conclusion

There are plenty of things that you can do to make sure you get a better night’s sleep, and by doing so, you’ll be doing wonders for your overall health and energy levels. Start the day with a healthy breakfast and a jrny shake, then get out and do some exercise, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. Combine this with exposure to natural bright light and a good sleep routine, and you’ll be well on your way to having a fantastic night’s sleep.

At jrny, we are made up of a team of Sports Scientists & Chartered Nutritionists. We want to make sure that we’re not just putting up the pseudo-science you’d see on other sites. If any of our staff put anything on our blog that relates to your health, you can bet that it is backed by evidence-based science! It always will be. That’s our commitment to you.

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