5 Secrets to Sleeping Like a Baby
Sleeping like a baby is a luxury that not everyone can afford. It means having deep, restorative sleep every night, but the number of people who aren’t getting it is increasing. Insomnia is a modern-day plague.
It’s a real problem, because many of our day-to-day activities depend on being well-rested. When you sleep like a baby, you think more clearly and have energy to face the day. You learn better and it protects long-term memory, too.
Restful sleep also helps “clean out” your body. Your nervous system eliminates toxins better since sleep optimizes your metabolic processes. We need to sleep better! Read on for secrets to sleeping like a baby.
“How sweet it is to sleep peacefully while the poplars sway and the water that falls whisper in the distance!”
-José Zorrilla-
1. Ritualize bedtime
Ritualizing rest means creating bedtime routines. They should focus on releasing the tension you accumulate throughout the day. By the end of the day, you probably still have a lot on your mind. You go through what happened in the day and play out scenarios that could happen in the future.
Your bedtime ritual may include, for example, an easy read, a hot bath or just deep breathing. The important thing is that you internalize these rituals so that they automatically prepare you for sleep.
2. Pay attention to your sleep environment
The environment greatly influences your quality of sleep. There are three aspects that are especially significant: noise, light, and temperature. If any of these are off, you’re unlikely to sleep like a baby.
It is also very important that you use your bed exclusively to disconnect and sleep. It’s not a good idea to read, watch television or browse the internet in bed. While it’s a common habit, it will make it harder for you to sleep. Your mind and body will remember your bed as a place to be active and stimulated, not relaxed and disconnected.
3. Adjusting times and rhythms
To sleep like a baby, you should be less active a couple of hours before you go to bed. Gradually replace energetic activities with passive ones. This is related to the first point; it is a ritual designed to decrease your level of activation.
We’re also talking about your digestion. It is best not to eat anything for two hours before going to sleep. You should also not drink anything, since that also takes work to digest. Definitely don’t consume alcohol. In the short term, it relaxes you, but it affects your nervous system and ends up sabotaging your sleep.
4. Exercise helps you sleep like a baby
If there is any one thing that will help you sleep like a baby, it is doing some light exercise before bed. Since the idea is to lower your pace of activity, keep it moderate. A short walk would be great. Nothing intense. Doing light exercise before sleeping helps your muscles relax and release any remaining traces of tension. About ten minutes of exercise is enough.
5. Relaxation techniques
Using relaxation techniques can help you sleep better. It doesn’t have to be complex, and everyone has different techniques that work best for them. For example, one technique is to increase muscle tension (breathing in), and then relax completely (breathing out). It’s a simple way to positively prepare the mind and body to rest.
Sometimes all you need is five minutes alone to breathe deeply. Take that time to try to clear your mind, be grateful for what you experienced during the day, and let it go.
Now you know the secrets to sleeping like a baby. It takes a little work and consistency, and won’t happen overnight, but if you make it a routine, you’ll soon notice yourself waking up much more rested.
