5 Ways To Sleep Better: Sleep Your Way to Better Results

The red headed stepchild of the weight loss industry is sleep. Many will talk about the nutrition and workouts but very few will acknowledge sleep as a factor affecting your weight loss. So how do you sleep better? You probably try your best to get as much sleep as possible but will probably say that you wish you got more of it. However there are only so many hours in the day and you have shit that needs to get done.

What if you could enhance the sleep you are already getting? Enhance it so you feel more rested physically and mentally. Have you ever gotten a full night sleep and felt like you didn’t get any rest? Before I started using these tips that is how my sleep was. I would go to sleep tired and wake up just as tired in the morning. These tips will help bring your sleep to the next level! But before we dive into how to enhance your sleep let talk about…

Why Is Sleep So Important?

Your parents probably told you when you were a child that sleep is very important to get you to go to be but do you know why sleep is so important?

Sleep is a crucial element of recovery. During sleep, your body is repairing itself and sorting through the information that it has inquired that day. Getting the right amount of sleep will help you retain more information, be in a better mood, and recover from your workouts. It will also help you destress, both mentally and physiologically (metabolizing stress hormones).

With sleep having so many great benefits, you can see why everyone is trying to get more of it. The sad fact is however many of these benefits only come when you are in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Over the course of an 8 hour sleep, you will go through 5 cycles of REM sleep. These cycles can be ruined by constant waking and restless sleep. Being woken during REM sleep will make you very groggy (usually happens during a nap.)

This is why it is so important to make sure you are getting a good quality of sleep. You can be getting a consistent 8 hours of sleep a night and still be tired because your sleep quality is very poor. It is time to level up your sleep. Below are the 5 best ways to help you sleep better by improving the quality of your sleep.

Create Your Mole Hole

The best place to start when looking to sleep better is the place that you are sleeping. Your bedroom should be like a mole hole when you are sleeping: dark, cool, and quiet.

Your bedroom needs to be as dark as possible. All lights should be turned off. Lights are going to make your brain think it is time to wake up so you will not get as deep of a sleep. A game changer for most are blackout curtains. They will help block any light from the outside and will help enhance your sleep. Also, blocking out any lights coming from electronics will help make your room a better sleep sanctuary. Cover your alarm clock and flip over your phone, trust me if you have blackout curtain any light looks like a spotlight.

Your room should also be a nice cool temperature. Your body likes to cool down when it is going to sleep. If you are hot, you are going to have a hard time falling and staying asleep. Turning on a fan can be a great way to cool down your room when you are sleeping.

To finish up creating your mole hole, you want to make sure that it is quiet. It does not need to be silent in your room but keep it to a white noise maker, humidifier, or air purifier for some background noise. These light noises can help keep you in a deep sleep longer than just silence.

Action Step: Make your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet.

Skip Alcohol

You might be thinking that having that nightcap helps you fall asleep faster and it might but it will not help you get a more restful sleep. A study looking at alcohol and sleep, saw that though alcohol helps you fall asleep it negatively affects your REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which we talked about earlier is where you get all the benefits of sleep.

Action Step: Skip the nightcap and switch to some tea or water if you need something to drink before bed.

Skip Caffeine

Some days are rough and you might need that afternoon pick me up but could that additional cup of coffee, soda, or tea be affecting your sleep? Caffeine can stay in your body for up to 4 to 6 hours. If you consuming caffeine later in the day around 3-4pm than the caffeine can be in your system till 10pm. 

Limiting your consumption to 1-2 drinks per day before 12-1pm will help you make sure that there is limited amounts of caffeine still in your body. This will allow you to get to sleep more easily and improve sleep quality.

Action Step: Skip the afternoon caffeine pick me up.

Avoid Blue Light

Having all of this technology is great for so many reasons but one harmful aspect of all this additional screen time is that it can negatively affect your sleep. The blue light that is emitted by the screens of your TV, phone, and tablet trick your brain into thinking that it is daylight. This makes it more difficult to get to sleep and harder for your body to become fully rested.

There are a couple of different strategies that you can do to limit your blue light exposure. Many phones and tablets have apps that you can download that place a filter over your screen that blocks out the blue light. You can also buy a pair of blue light blocking glasses. A third option is to stop using these devices for about 1 hour before bed. Instead read or do some other activity so your body can get ready for sleep.

Action Step: Limit screen time 1 hour before bed

Get Sunlight

Many of these strategies take place shortly before you get into bed for the night but this is one you can do every morning after you sleep. One of the best things you can do in the morning is to get some sunlight. Among all of the great benefits of getting sunlight, the one that most affects your sleep is that sunlight helps align your circadian rhythm. By getting sunlight first thing in the morning, you are telling your body when to wake up and it will tell you when to go to sleep.

Action Step: Get some morning sunshine

Time to take action on these tips. Start with the one tip that you believe will have the most benefit and that you can do the easiest. For me it was creating my mole hole but for you it might be limiting your caffeine. Work on improving your sleep overtime and see what works and doesn’t. Now time to rest easy and get better results!

Looking to boost your fat loss results even more?

Check out the Simple Fat Loss Plan and the Fat Loss Hierarchy to upgrade your results to the next level!