6 Steps to Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

Do you suffer from occasional sleeplessness or restlessness? Yeah, me too *yawn*.

Unfortunately, many Canadians are not getting the sleep they need. According to the Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™ Poll, more than a third of Canadians (35%), on average, get less than the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep adults need. What’s more, 59% have trouble sleeping at least once a week – that’s a lot of lost sleep!

For many and all reasons, every one of us needs a good nights sleep! So to help you improve your sleep quality, I do have some tips to set the stage for success.

6 Steps to Getting a Good Nights Sleep

Get Some Exercise – As parents we know that kids sleep best after an active day. This applies to us as well! Just 30min a day will help relieve stress, and help improve sleep patterns.

Limit Caffeine – We all know caffeine has a direct effect on alertness, so taking in caffeine too late in the day very well could be a big disruptor of sleep for you. Yet, there is an association between the daily intake of caffeine, and both sleep problems and daytime sleepiness. So, even though you might not drink caffeine in the evenings, having too much throughout the entire day could still have a negative effect on sleep. Take a look at your daily consumption and decide if this might need some change for the good.

No Eating Past 7 p.m – I know, this one is a fun-suck and I’m totally guilty of raiding the pantry after the kids go to bed, searching for that perfect snack. Yet doing this really does make digestion keep you up at night. Plus, we rarely reach for the healthy stuff this late at night, so that junk food will only make you feel sluggish and bloated – possibly through the night and into the next day. If you simply cannot do without a snack before bed, you might want to have dinner earlier so that your snack isn’t too late and too close to bedtime.

Get Comfortable – Is your mattress comfortable? What about those blankets? Is your pillow just right? Is your room dark enough? You will indeed sleep better if your body is literally at optimum comfort.

Develop a Sleep Routine – Shut down the electronics and television before bedtime, as these items make your brain active enough to keep going even after you don’t want it to. Instead develop a sleep routine that suits you, to prepare yourself mentally and physically for sleep. Think about what soothes you like reading or a warm bath. Sound familiar? We set the bedtime stage for our kids, for good reason!

Developing a beneficial sleep routine and following these steps will also help push aside that chaos that keeps us up at night {like thinking constantly about that to-do list}. In fact, I used to believe {and anticipate} that when my kids were older and I was interrupted less by them in the night, I’d have a better nights sleep. Yet I was surprised to learn that it was my thoughts that started keeping me up and not them.

I’m not alone in my late night thoughts either – for many Canadians, racing thoughts about the stressors of the day are a major barrier to getting a good night’s rest. The majority of Canadians (85%) say racing thoughts keep them from getting a good night’s sleep. A further 69% find it hard to turn off their mind at bedtime – this is particularly difficult for women (~76%) over men (62%).

Common causes for sleep troubles include stress from work or school (46%), worrying about finances (45%) and worrying about the next day’s to-do list (45%). For 51 per cent of those with a child in the household, worrying about their kids can impact sleep. I’ve even stayed up late googling reasons why I can’t fall asleep {ironic huh?} – and if that’s you right now, I hope reading this helps you from this point on!

Experts say that while mentally keeping track of our to-do lists helps us feel in control of our day, excessive thinking speeds up our brain waves, making it difficult to turn off the flow of ideas when we go to bed. If wakened in the night, it’s the start of other random thoughts that also prevent us from falling back asleep. Recently I was listening to the wind outside after I went to bed, which led me to thinking about the yard work which needed to be done, and then I remembered that I needed to find a receipt for an exchange on lawn seed, which led to a two-hour clean of drawers searching for said receipt.

So really the most important tip I have for you, is to limit excessive thinking and worrying when it’s bedtime.

Yet the truth is, it’s not that easy, or we wouldn’t lay awake worrying about the fact that we’re worrying about everything at bedtime.

A man and a woman on a bed

For that, there’s Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™, a new natural health sleep aid designed to help calm racing thoughts and improve quality of sleep in those with mild mental stress. It’s been clinically shown to help improve quality of sleep in those with mild mental stress so that you can keep your day out of your night.

Made with Silexan™, a patented essential lavender oil, Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™ is a traditional herbal medicine that aids in relieving mild symptoms of exhaustion and symptoms of mild stress such as racing thoughts. One capsule of Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™ can be taken daily to help improve sleep quality in those with mild mental stress and help you feel refreshed in the morning, without grogginess.

Since excessive thinking at bedtime is an issue with me, and my before mentioned tips and steps to sleep success weren’t quite doing the trick – I gave Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™ a try. It’s true, I had less issues falling asleep and didn’t feel at all groggy the next day. I was more alert and simply felt better overall.

Design

Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™ is available in the sleep aid section of your local pharmacy and comes in two sizes: a 14-count 2-week supply for approximately $13.50, and a 28-count, 4-week supply for approximately $19.95.

To learn more about good sleep habits, the impact of racing thoughts on sleep, and about new Pharmaton® Sleep Harmony™, visit SleepHarmony.ca. As always read and follow the label.

 

 

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

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One Comment

  1. Great post. I have sleep problems and always have; waking up in the night and not getting to sleep mainly. It’s funny how a simple thing like sleep can be so hard to achieve. I agree that exercise and a sleep routine are best though!

    Have a great day,
    Liam 🙂
    liamjhavard.com

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