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Three Real World Sleep Rituals for Deeper Sleep

Posted by Aimee Griffiths on

You've heard it all before, "get at least 8 hours", "turn off all electronics", "ditch caffeine"... those things are all important, but let's really talk about some simple and practical "REAL WORLD" sleep habits that will influence the quality of your sleep.
1. Dim at 8pm
Our sleep hormone melatonin is driven by darkness, melatonin helps us fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.  So while turning off electronics IS a great tip, unfortunately most people use their phones right up until they fall asleep. Hands up if this is you! 
Blue light from your phone/TV/computer inhibits your body's ability to produce melatonin. If you can't turn it off, at least turn it down. 
Smartphones are now equipped to help you dim the light and turn on a blue light filter. This is HUGE! I promise if you can do this every night, you will notice a huge difference. Also if you wake up during the night and look at your phone (mums with bugs I'm looking at you!), you won't have a bright light telling your body that it's daytime and time to wake up.
Here's how to set up a scheduled auto night shift so it works automatically. Note: check your instagram photos in the morning as the filter makes everything less blue ha!

Iphone and Ipad 
Using one of our sleep masks is also a great idea and you're less likely to check your phone!

2. Lose the Snooze!

You're angry at your morning alarm for a reason - it's actually bad for you! 

A loud noise that wakes us from beautiful slumber actually puts our bodies into fight or flight which puts pressure on the heart and raises stress hormones. So first, you need to choose a nice tone and make the sound ascending so it slowly brings you out of sleep. 

You can also download an app like Sleep Cycle that will wake you up in the lighter stage of sleep. When most of us wake up feeling rubbish, it could be a bad night's sleep or it could actually be because you've woken up from a deep stage of sleep.

Each sleep cycle is approx 90 mins. If you hit snooze after your alarm, you'll go straight back into deep sleep, so if you wake up any earlier than 90 minutes later, you're likely to wake up feeling groggy and grumpy. 

Get up and get outside! This also sets your circadian rhythm for the day and tells your body in 18 hours it will be time for sleep.

3. Focus on Sleep Cycle

As each sleep cycle is 90 minutes, and ideally you need more than 6 hours sleep, your goal should be 7.5 hours.

Like any goal, you'll need to work toward this slowly. Focus on an extra 15 minutes sleep each week until you reach 7.5 hours. If you set your own sleep routine eg. shower, pjs, magnesium oil, read... it will help trigger your brain and body that it's time to wind down for sleep. 

Even listening to a relaxing song or white noise that is the same every night, it will become your sleep trigger.

Sleep Inspired.

Love,

 

Delta Dreams xx