Restless tossing and turning at night can be frustrating and exhausting, especially as you get older. Sleep can affect many different parts of your life, including energy levels, eating, moods, and maintaining a healthy weight. If you struggle to get to sleep at night, but are resistant to taking prescription sleeping pills, here are some tips to make getting to sleep less of a chore.
1: Regulate your sleeping schedule.
Consistently going to bed and waking up at the same time can help to regulate circadian rhythms, which are the natural cycles your body moves through as it sleeps. Generally, keeping to these schedules within 60 minutes more or less improves the sleep cycles.
2: Fight daytime drowsiness.
While taking naps during the day can be a refreshing way to catch up on lost sleep, lengthy naps during the day or even brief naps in the evening can lead you to count sheep for hours. If you find you get tired at a certain point of the day, rather than resting your eyes, choose to do something different, like taking a walk.
3: Cut your caffeine intake.
Caffeine from coffee, soda, or even certain types of tea can stay in your body for upwards of 8 hours. Excluding caffeinated drinks from your diet in the afternoon and evening can help ease your body into a restful state.
4: Create a sleep routine.
A warm bath can help calm and relax the body, and developing and sticking to a consistent routine in preparing for sleep can help the body and mind transition more easily into sleep even before you lay your head on your pillow.
5: Try aromatherapy.
Essential oils are a recently growing interest, and their benefits can be worth trying. Some swear by the mildly sedative effects of lavender. Reap the benefits of aromatherapy by using a diffuser, lotion, or room spray before sleep.
Of course, a sense of security is vital to easing sleep as well. If you are wrestling with a sense of insecurity that comes with living alone, or struggling to keep up with your home, we may be able to help. At Tealridge, we seek to make you feel comfortable, secure, and at home in our senior living community.
