6 Tips for Restorative Sleep
Achieving restful sleep is not easy in our modern world. Our human bodies accomplish lots of detoxing, restoration, and regeneration while we are asleep.
The book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker highlights important functions of sleep including:
Healing & restoring the brain
Preventing fatigue and brain fog
Ensuring proper immune function
Processing emotional trauma
Reducing one’s sensitivity to pain
Making an effort to improve your sleep quality can have big payoffs including elevated and balanced mood and sustainable energy and strength throughout the day.
Here are some keys to restful sleep:
Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening
Establish a consistent sleep schedule
Wind down with relaxing activities
Take a break from blue lights
Sleep in a dark, cold, quiet room
Expose your eyes to sunlight when you wake up in the morning
Avoid Caffeine in the Afternoon
Drinking caffeine in the afternoons and evenings can reduce your sleep quality (Clark, 2017).
Consuming caffeine later in the day can delay your bedtime, reduce the overall amount of sleep you get, and make your rest feel less restorative.
Caffeine interferes with the deep, slow-wave sleep that is essential for waking up refreshed. Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is a natural sleep-inducing substance that accumulates throughout the day, making you feel drowsier as it builds up. Caffeine can keep you alert by preventing adenosine from doing its job, but this can lead to sleep disturbances.
Experts suggest you stop drinking caffeine at least 6 (optimally 8) hours before your bedtime.
Instead, opt for a caffeine-free herbal tea such as peppermint, hibiscus, ginger, or rooibos tea, or a sugar-free, caffeine-free electrolyte drink like LMNT.
Consistent Sleep Schedule
Try going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, at least for 2 weeks in a row, even if you have the day off. Sleeping in on the weekend may not be helping you catch up on rest. Instead, consistent sleep patterns, even if you are only sleeping for 5 hours, can help you maintain quality sleep patterns.
A research study of undergraduate students showed an association between irregular bedtime and sleep quality, daytime drowsiness, and fatigue (Kang et al. 2009).
Wind Down from the Day with Relaxing Activities
Mindful Journaling
Journaling can be a powerful tool to help you wind down and prepare for restful sleep. Spend a few moments reflecting on your day and writing down your thoughts. This can be a time for you to “brain dump” any thoughts, worries, or to-do’s. This helps your brain to set these thoughts aside and to transition into a state of rest. Spend a few moments reflecting on the highlights of your day and 3 things you are grateful for. Ending your evening with a moment of gratitude helps your mind acknowledge the positive aspects of your day, creating a sense of calm and contentment. You can read more about mindful journaling here.
iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation
Cyndi has personally benefited from iRest Yoga Nidra. After trying Lisa Feder’s tutorial and class, her insomnia took a back seat and she had restful and restorative sleep (for the first time in years)!
The purpose of iRest Yoga Nidra is to allow your body to follow inner guidance to your heartfelt desires while gently guiding you to a parasympathetic nervous system state of complete relaxation. Cyndi has tried many different types of meditations at bedtime, such as body scans, breathing, and sound, but iRest Yoga Nidra has proven to be the best for her. It helped to improve her heart rate variable (HRV) while she was sleeping which in turn allowed her body to achieve restful and restorative quality sleep. You can find free resources and guided iRest Yoga Nidra meditations on Youtube. Learn more about iRest Yoga Nidra and follow a 15-minute meditation with Lisa Feder here.
Gentle Yoga Stretches
Here is one of our favorite guided bedtime yoga videos by Yoga with Adriene and her adorable dog, Benji.
Take a Break from Blue Light
The most common factor disrupting restful sleep is the blue light emitted from screens (both big and small). The light sends signals to the body that it is daytime and thus does not give the body the appropriate time it needs to wind down its internal systems to prepare for restorative sleep. We recommend you take a break from blue light (phones, computers, tablets, and TV screens) at least 2 hours before bed.
This can be hard to do for many so a compromise is to wear blue light blocking glasses after 8:00 pm. Cyndi uses dark blue light blocking glasses in the evening to help her fall asleep sooner than she would without them.
Here are 2 blue light-blocking glasses brands we recommend. We do not receive compensation for recommending these products:
Create a Quality Sleep Environment - Dark, Quiet, Cool
Our human bodies love sleeping in cool, dark, quiet places. Create an environment in your bedroom that is dark (the easiest way is to buy a comfortable sleep mask), quiet (earplugs and/or a sound machine), and cool (preferably 68 - 70 degrees F). Put your phone on silent or “Do Not Disturb” mode at night, or better yet, leave your phone charging in a different room at night.
We are fans of the Dream Recovery Performance Sleep Mask and the Dohm sound machines
Early Morning Sunlight
Viewing the sun early in the morning, ideally, as soon as you wake up, helps to regulate your body’s internal clock (circadian rhythm). Your body detects daytime and nighttime by being exposed to light and darkness (CDC, 2023). Morning sun exposure has been shown to increase energy, boost mood (Kent et al. 2009), reduce stress, and improve sleep quality. Sunlight also helps with the production of Vitamin D, as well as regulating metabolism and nighttime melatonin production (Ishihara et al. 2023).
Devices to Measure Your Sleep Quality
There are many apps and devices to measure and improve your sleep quality. One of our favorites at Flourish is the Oura Ring. The Oura ring is worn most of the day and measures your heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, physical activity, and sleep stages. This data is uploaded into their app to give you guidance on what you can do to help yourself get optimal and restful sleep.
For more whole-body wellness tips, check out our free eBook here.
References:
Matthew Walker PhD, October 3, 2017, Why We Sleep, Published by Scribner
Clark, I., & Landolt, H. P. (2017). Coffee, caffeine, and sleep: A systematic review of epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26899133/
Kang, Jiunn-Horng, and Shih-Ching Chen. Effects of an Irregular Bedtime Schedule on Sleep Quality, Daytime Sleepiness, and Fatigue Among University Students in Taiwan. BMC Public Health, vol. 9, 19 July 2009, doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-248. PMC, PMCID: PMC2718885, PMID: 19615098. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2718885/.
CDC, Effects of Light on Circadian Rhythms, last reviewed April 2023 https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/niosh/emres/longhourstraining/light.html
Kent ST, McClure LA, Crosson WL, Arnett DK, Wadley VG, Sathiakumar N. Effect of sunlight exposure on cognitive function among depressed and non-depressed participants: a REGARDS cross-sectional study. Environ Health. 2009 Jul 28;8:34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728098/
Ishihara A, Courville AB, Chen KY. The Complex Effects of Light on Metabolism in Humans. Nutrients. 2023 Mar 14;15(6):1391. doi: 10.3390/nu15061391. PMID: 36986120; PMCID: PMC10056135. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10056135/