It’s Time to Get Some Real Sleep
Table of Contents
It's another restless night and you're stuck, staring at your ceiling trying to figure out how you're going to survive tomorrow. You know the questions you'll get. Did you not get enough sleep? Did you go to bed too late? Did you stay up partying all night? And worst of all, have you tried going to bed earlier? These questions don't help anybody. They're well-meaning, but all they do is leave you more frustrated. We're hoping to help you turn your entire home towards the goal of helping you get a better night's sleep.
So the first thing to understand is what are the different things that affect sleep.
Temperature- For your best night's sleep your room should be somewhere between 60 and 68° F. Scientists have found that this is the ideal temperature to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Being too hot or too cold can either keep you awake or send you into nightmares.
Blue screens - Wherever you are right now look around and count the number of screens that you see. Phones, they count. Computers, they count. TVs, they count. All of these emit blue light. Our brains have a certain rhythm that they follow every day. It's called the circadian rhythm. For some people, they wake up early with the sun and go to sleep with the sun. Some of us stay up till 2:00 a.m. and sleep till 10:00 a.m. each person has their own rhythm. While you can change your rhythm intentionally, exposing yourself to blue light at the wrong time of day can drag you off course without you realizing it.
Stress - Think about the last time you had a major project due. The night before were you stuck staring at the ceiling unable to stop thinking?
Light - Aside from blue light, having light from digital displays, power cords with lights on them, or that cute baby Yoda your niece got you. All of these things can admit light, and keep your brain running.
Alarms at the wrong time - Just like your brain has a circadian rhythm, it also has a certain rhythm when you're asleep. You have times of light sleep, REM sleep, and deep sleep. And you'll vary between these as the night goes on. However, if your alarm wakes you up in the middle of REM or deep sleep, you'll be groggy and harder to wake up.
Mattress and pillow comfort - Do we need to explain this one? If your mattress or your pillows aren't comfortable, if you're tossing and turning all night, you're not sleeping.
Sound - Your neighbor's baby crying, the car down the street going off, your spouse in the living room with the TV on. When you're going to sleep your brain kicks into a heightened state of awareness for these sounds. Any and all of them can keep you awake or wake you from sleep.
Not having a wind-down ritual - Our brains like rituals. They like having touchstones throughout the day moments to connect to and say "ah I know what we're doing right now and next". Not having a wind-down ritual can leave your brain confused. It needs time to transition from being awake being aware into the calm patterns of sleep.
Caffeine -We drink caffeine to keep awake. Most of us don't realize how long that caffeine stays in our systems though. If you're drinking caffeine too close to bed, whether it's a soda or coffee or tea even, most people are going to have trouble falling asleep.
Let's Start In The Kitchen.
Ideally, you should eat dinner 3 to 4 hours before you go to bed. Foods high in fats and complicated carbs sit more heavily in your stomach and need more energy to process. This means that your body will keep you awake even if you don't know why. To avoid that, make sure to eat 3 to 4 hours beforehand. If possible try to make it a lighter meal, although we understand that's not always an option. After all, a heavy meal would make many of us fall asleep at work. If you absolutely need a snack closer to bed, try something with simple carbs and proteins. Something like toast and scrambled eggs is a good go-to. It's fast to whip up and easy to break down, but it will leave you feeling full.
Before we leave the kitchen, put down the coffee and leave the soda in the fridge. Caffeine should be avoided for most people, after 2:00 p.m. . Instead try stocking your cabinet with cocoa, or herbal teas like chamomile or passion fruit. These warm drinks will soothe and relax away the day, and help you fall asleep when the time comes.
The Living Room
Moving on we go to where many of us wind down at the end of the day. Start by looking at your curtains. Are they sheer? Do you have street lights right outside your house? As you mentioned up top lights set our circadian rhythm. By exposing yourself to more light as you're trying to wind down, your brain becomes confused. We suggest having two sets of curtains on your windows. An interior sheer curtain that you use for privacy, and a blackout curtain. The blackout curtain not only helps to block out light at the end of the day, but it also will help to keep out heat in the summer, and cold winds in winter. Multiple benefits for you and your pocketbook.
Moving on let's take a look at your lamps. Smart bulbs such as the Philips Hue bulb, can be set to different colors. You can also set them for either bright white light or a warmer light. We suggest having your lights set to a timer on your home central hub, or via the app. When it becomes say 9:00pm, an hour before you would usually go to bed, the program runs, and all of the lights switch to a warmer tone. This removes the blue light that would otherwise keep you awake.
From that central hub you could also connect to your thermostat to turn the temperatures down. While you don't have to make your living room as cold as your bedroom is, if you're winding down in your living room, it can help to start the process. So if your bedroom is comfortable for you at 65°, you might set your thermostat in the living room to 68 or 70.
You can also try adding a blue screen protector to your TV. Although most companies make them for computers, there are some that are made for TVs. Or if that's not to your taste you can always keep a set of blue screen glasses in your living room and just wear those while watching your TV.
One last tip for your living room, is to make a cell phone charging station. This can be as simple as a dedicated spot with a charger. Or you can make it as complicated as a wireless charger, with an air diffuser and inspiring words to start your day. The point is that when you're getting ready for bed, your phone goes here to its bed. This way you aren't tempted to stay up all night scrolling and wandering on the internet.
Next Up Is Your Bathroom
Now you're starting your get-ready for bed routine. Brush your teeth, wash your face, maybe take a relaxing bath. So your bathroom is just as important as any other room in your home. Just like in the living room we advise including blackout curtains and programmable lights.
However, we also suggest including a diffuser or a lotion set. Scents like lavender and chamomile have been shown to reduce stress, calm the mind and relax the body.
You might also consider a small night light or a strip of dim LED lights that you can hide under cabinets or baseboards. This way if you do wake up in the middle of the night, there aren't jarring bright lights to wake you up.
And last but not least we suggest including some sort of noise-producing unit. We have seen people that use fans, or HVAC units. There are also speakers designed specifically to play noise within the white, pink, or brown ranges. These units are meant to block out other sounds so that you don't get woken up suddenly by them. All of this so that when you're winding down for the night or wake up suddenly to go to the bathroom, you aren't forced to wake and have to start the process over. You can stay in that lovely in-between stage and drift easily back to sleep once you're back in bed.
On To Your Wardrobe
We have one last stop before we head into the bedroom. Fortunately, it's a quick one, your wardrobe. Take a look at the clothes that you're wearing to bed, are they light, are they comfortable, are they restrictive, are they hot? You want something that is comfortable to wear and will wick moisture away if you end up getting too warm.
Finally, The Bedroom
Last but not least, let's take a look at your bedroom. Again we're going to say curtains, lights, and temperature. All of those things that were important outside the bedroom are even more important now. If possible, you want to block out all sources of light. Even those on your alarm clock can be dimmed by throwing a piece of painter's tape over top if necessary. You can sleep with a mask, but we find that they make some of our suggestions for later more difficult.
Now let's take a look at your mattress. The important thing here is that it supports your spine in whichever way you want to sleep. So if you sleep on your back, it needs to keep your spine relatively neutral. If you sleep on your side it needs to give in more at the hip and shoulder in order to do the same thing. When your spine is out of alignment not only do you not sleep well, but you wake up miserable. Your mattress is something that you should replace every 10 years to protect spinal integrity. We advise starting to put money away as soon as you purchase a new one, but that's for a post on finances.
Again we suggest having some sort of noise machine. You want something soothing and quiet that's going to block out other noises and keep you relaxed. For some people that might be the sound of the ocean or woods. And there are systems that can recreate or play those sounds. For others, you might consider a fan as a source of airflow and a dull noise. What's important is that you aren't going to be jarred awake suddenly.
This brings us to our next point, your alarm clock. As we mentioned up above most of us use the alarms that our phone offers, which isn't a bad thing. If your phone offers a functionality it makes sense to use it. Unfortunately, the one offered by your phone isn't the greatest at waking you up slowly or picking when to wake you up. It goes off when the alarm says to go off, no sooner no later. We prefer something like the alarms offered on smartwatches. Many of these will analyze your sleep and choose a point when you are closest to waking already. Another option is a sunlight alarm. This will slowly begin brightening your room so that when the alarm does go off you're already close to being awake. This is why we said wearing a sleep mask is not always the best idea.
Now we aren't saying that your home's only purpose should be to ensure a good night's sleep. However given the advancements of technology, if you have the means, why not? Many of the different technologies that we pointed out in today's post have multiple different settings and routines that can be programmed to them. So that if you can make them a part of your home setting up the routine to increase your sleep and your comfort seems only natural. But we want to hear from you! What have you tried and found success with? Let us know over on our Facebook page or in the comments down below.
Now if your creaky old dryer rattling and clanking away is what's waking you up early or keeping you up late, that's a different matter. We can help with that and any of your other larger appliances so long as you live in the McKinney area. You can give us a call ((214) 599-0055 ) or reach out to us on our contact page. We at Appliance Rescue Service want to keep your home running smoothly from dawn till dusk.