How to get to sleep fast

UncategorisedFebruary 3, 2022April 18, 2023

How to get to sleep fast

Our daily lives move at an ever-increasing pace and for many of us, being able to switch our brains off to sleep is becoming harder and harder. When there is so much sensory information to take in every minute of every day, it’s no wonder getting to sleep can prove illusive at times.

The main function of sleeping is to repair our brains and bodies. When we struggle to fall asleep, or stay asleep, it affects our ability to function in our waking lives.

We live our lives through an embodied experience, dependent primarily on the ‘vessel’ we drive. Our daily experiences will differ depending on our gender, age, size – even the way we motivate ourselves is driven by our physical body.

When we don’t stop to repair ourselves, we begin to struggle doing the most simple of tasks. Just ask any parent of a newborn baby (or puppy)!

Getting an adequate amount of sleep daily can be overlooked but is absolutely essential to having a healthy brain, body and mind. In fact, many health experts agree that the key to being your most successful self is maintaining a healthy lifestyle which not only includes a healthy diet, but also enough sleep to ensure we are functioning the best we can be during our waking hours.

There are many factors which can affect our ability to get to sleep and stay asleep. Being aware of the tweaks we can make to our daily routines can make a real difference to our ability to fall asleep fast. Read on for our top sleeping tips.

Maintain a healthy diet

Certain foods have been proven to interfere with our ability to sleep soundly, while there are other foods that promote feeling sleepy. There are some experts who suggest foods can even influence our dreams.

I know I have had some crazy dreams after a cheeseboard! Many agree that eating a meal at least 3 hours before you go to bed gives your body enough time to digest without affecting your ability to fall asleep.

Similarly, foods that can help you sleep include carb-rich foods that make you feel lethargic and can be sleep inducing whilst sugary snacks often do the opposite.

Exercise regularly

Whilst not essential to be able to fall asleep, staying active during your waking hours and getting enough exercise daily/weekly can help tire out your body so you yearn for rest which consequently can help you fall asleep faster.

Get enough daylight

Spending some time in the sun during the day can help reset your circadian rhythm, this means that it helps your body stay awake during the day & get sleepy at night time.

Our tips for this would be to try and go on a walk every day, even if it’s just for 20-30 minutes to help your body reset its body clock.

Routine, routine, routine

Everyone has their own little daily routines – from the way we make tea to the way we dress. Studies have shown that maintaining a regular routine before you go to bed can help prepare you better for sleep.

Try going to bed at a similar time each night, eating your meals around the same time and getting up at a consistent time to best ensure your body and brain know how and when it is time to go to sleep.

Limiting device use and distraction

Try turning your phone to ‘do not disturb’ mode in advance of going to bed. The ability to switch off from distractions will help your brain to focus on the task at hand – falling asleep.

Paying attention to a screen before bed, whilst tiring for your eyes, can also be stimulating as you’re consuming information rapidly.

“Exposing yourself to blue light at night-time inhibits your bodies natural production of melatonin.”

Looking at artificial screens at night-time is exposing yourself to blue light, this inhibits your body’s natural production of melatonin (the body’s sleep hormone), which in turn will increase the amount of time that it takes you to get to sleep.

Give your brain a rest and switch off earlier. You could pick up a book instead, as many find this a way to relax and slowly decompress after a busy day.

You could also add Blue Light Blocking Glasses to your night-time routine to help limit your blue light exposure, increasing your chances of falling asleep faster.

Best temperature for sleep

It has been suggested that warm showers and a cool bedroom can play an important part in getting to sleep fast so keep your window open and your radiator off – this might save you money on your energy bills too.

The optimal temperature for sleep is said to be around 18.3°C (65°F). This helps your core body temperature drop, which in turn can increase the onset of sleep time & also increase the amount of deep sleep that you can achieve.

For even better results, you might want to keep your socks on! Making sure those little piggies are warm and cosy can be comforting and help aid relaxation before falling asleep.

Luckily one of the perks of being surrounded by so much available information is that there are plenty of techniques for us to try to help us attain the coveted and recommended minimum 7 hours of sleep a night. See our favourite tips to get to sleep fast below.

Breathing techniques for sleep

Perhaps the most obvious technique for getting to sleep fast is to try and slow down your breathing. There are a few different breathing exercises you can try. See which one works best for you.

Box breathing technique

The box breathing technique can be used to clear your mind and relax your body and can be done anywhere. Box breathing can help settle your mind and alleviate stress and is not just used as a sleeping technique, it can be helpful in stressful situations or to relieve anxiety.

To try box breathing, close your eyes and breathe in slowly through your nose whilst counting to four. Hold your breath whilst counting to four again and then exhale slowly through your mouth to a count of four. The simple task of counting helps focus your mind and you’ll find, inevitably, your body will follow suit and start to let go of any tension. This exercise can be repeated as many times as needed to help induce calm.

4 7 8 breathing method

Another common breathing technique is the 4 7 8 breathing method. Similar to box breathing, this exercise has a longer hold and exhale count.
First, close your eyes and inhale slowly through your nose for a count of four.

Hold your breath for a count of seven and slowly exhale whilst counting to eight.

The benefits of the 4 7 8 breathing method is that a longer exhale takes more effort and concentration, thereby helping really focus on your breathing and aiding faster relaxation.

Meditation

Meditation for sleep is the practice of clearing your mind to achieve a mentally calm state. Research has shown that meditating before you go to sleep can help leave the stresses of your day behind, help you unwind emotionally and physically and prepare your mind for sleep.

Try sitting or lying in a comfortable position. Close your eyes, slow down your breathing and really concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. Empty your mind of thoughts and focus on your breathing only.

You can use soundtracks to help with visualisations which is often used at the end of yoga classes. Remain like this until you feel relaxed enough to fall asleep.

This method might take a lot of time to become competent and experienced with, but once you master the technique you can dramatically improve your sleep.

Sleep Supplements

Certain nutrients have been proven to aid sleep quality. Magnesium is one of the most prevalent minerals in your body and plays a vital role in regulating many of our physiological processes, including energy production and facilitating the restoration of our brain and body.

Studies show that many of us are lacking in magnesium, however this can be remedied by including more of particular types of foods in our diets, such as certain nuts and seeds, spinach, avocado and salmon.

You can also get magnesium supplements which can be beneficial for aiding sleep when taken alongside a healthy diet. How does magnesium help with sleep? You can find out by reading our blog.

Progressive muscle relaxation

PMR, or progressive muscle relaxation, is a recommended method for helping those with insomnia get to sleep.

Similarly to meditation, it requires you to be in a comfortable position and to clear your mind. You then begin at the top of your body and tense certain body parts for 5 seconds at a time before relaxing them and pausing, then moving on to the next part.

You could start with lifting your eyebrows, then scrunching your nose, smiling widely, stretching your next and so on. The progressive tension followed by relaxation can help relieve tension and aid falling asleep.

Sleep Aids

Whilst a maintain a healthy lifestyle is probably the most effective way to make sure you sleep well consistently, there are certain sleep aids you can try.

Weighted blankets, for example, can help with serotonin production by putting gentle pressure on the body which can help calm our nervous system and aid relaxation. Some studies have show that this can benefit those with insomnia, depression and anxiety also.

Pillow sprays that contain calming extracts, such as lavender, can also help soothe us to sleep.

Other techniques such as playing white noise can help block out distractions that disrupt our ability to fall asleep. This is commonly used to help babies get to sleep and can be soothing for some.

Why should I wear blue light blocking glasses?

UncategorisedAugust 25, 2021February 28, 2022

Why should I wear blue light blocking glasses?

Why wear blue light blocking glasses? Do they really work?

There are different types of glasses for different purposes, some are to be used in the daytime to filter out and reduce the artificial blue light that you absorb while working at a computer screen.

The other type of blue light blocking glasses are designed to be worn in the evenings, to block out the majority of blue light to help natural melatonin production in the evenings for improved sleep markers.

The evidence so far is in early stages, but exposure to blue light after sunset has been shown to reduce the natural production of melatonin in comparison to individuals wearing blue light blocking glasses (1.)(2.).

Blue light has been shown to effectively inhibit the human body’s natural production of melatonin, the bodies natural sleep hormone.

The production of this hormone is vital for good quality sleep and duration. Essentially, blue light exposure in the evening tricks your body into thinking it is the daytime, which reduces your overall sleep quality as less melatonin is being produced by the body.

The idea is of these glasses is to protect your eyes from blue light after sunset, to help your body produce more melatonin naturally so that you can improve your sleep markers (3.)(4.).

Should I block blue light in the daytime?

If you’re working at a computer screen for more than 3 or 4 hours, you should consider wearing a pair of glasses that reflect and block around 40% of the blue light. These lenses are slightly tinted yellow, but they look clear.

If you’re walking around outside, it is best to get as much blue light exposure as you can through the daytime to your eyes and skin, as it can help improve mood, performance & sleep.

If you suffer from eye fatigue/ strain when working at a computer in general, you should consider buying some of these clear lens glasses.

How do I know which type of glasses to buy?

As with everything, you always want to purchase high quality products as most of the time they are the most effective.

When it comes to blocking blue light in the evening, you want to purchase glasses that have lenses that block up to 98% of blue & green light, as green light is also sleep disruptive.

Most blue light blocking glasses on the market around the world aren’t created to these specifications, so you need to find a company that has created a lens blocks out most of the blue & green light to help improve sleep (5.).

What percentage of blue light should my glasses block?

Be wary of buying off marketplaces such as ebay & amazon. Many have been tested & have often shown to only block around 50-80% of disruptive blue light.

In conclusion, if you’re using a computer though he day time for more than 3 or 4 hours, you should consider purchasing some glasses that filter out and reflect around 40-60% of blue light to help with eye strain and fatigue.

Everyone should consider looking into wearing red lens up to 98% blue and green light blocking glasses if they’re going to have screens on in the evening, to help stop their natural melatonin production being inhibited.

ZLEEPY® have created a Blue Light Blocking Glasses Duo 2 pack, which contain 2 pairs of high-quality acetate framed daytime & evening pair of glasses. The daytime pair have clear lenses that block out and reflect around 40% of blue light, the evening pair block out up to 98% of blue light, and 99% green light, to help with sleep & eye fatigue. You can see these glasses here.

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How does blue light affect sleep?

UncategorisedJuly 6, 2021October 8, 2022

How does blue light affect sleep?

There are different forms of blue light and green light that we are exposed to on a daily basis. These different types of blue light have positive and negative effect on our health and well-being.

This is because blue light can affect our sleep in positive and negative ways, depending on which type of blue light you are exposed to and when.

We know that getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night is optimal for a healthy lifestyle. We also know that, getting under 7 hours sleep over long periods of time can dramatically have negative mental and physical health implications.

This is why it is important to understand how and when we should expose ourselves to blue light, to refine our sleep quality and quantity.

What are the different types of blue light?

The different types of blue light are natural sunlight, LED Lights, LED television lights, fluorescent light bulbs and computer and smart phone screens.

We as humans are exposed to all of these types of blue light on a daily basis, but most of us don’t really understand how they can positively or negatively affect our health.

Why is daylight exposure good for sleep?

It is understood that daylight exposure has been found over recent years to positively affect our sleep duration. Several studies have also shown that it can improve sleep quality, decrease sleep-onset latency and increase evening fatigue so that you’re ready to sleep at night-time.

Scientists believe that the reasons it can affect our sleep positively is because our bodies have a natural “body clock” called the circadian rhythm. This tells us when we should be awake and when we should be asleep, this is affected and influenced by our exposure to blue light.

So basically, daylight exposure to natural forms of blue light from the sun can influence our body’s natural “body clock” to prepare to sleep once it becomes night-time.

Our top tip would be to go on a daily walk outside for an hour or so, to receive your daily amounts of natural blue light.

You can read more about this in the following study by clicking here!

Which type of blue light can negatively affect my health?

Humans, like many other animals were designed to be awake through the daytime and sleep after sunset until dawn.

After sunset, there was never any blue light occurring in the natural habitat of any human. Fast-forward to 2021, most humans are exposed to some sort of blue light after sunset whether it be from their computer screen, smartphone or television.

Because technology has moved on so quickly within the last 100 years, humans have not been able to naturally adapt to these habit changes with evening blue light exposure.

Why does blue light negatively affect sleep?

As we know, humans were not designed to be exposed to any form of blue light after sunset as there hasn’t been enough time for evolution to run its course and get humans to adapt to blue light exposure.

Being exposed to blue light and green light after sunset can delay the production and secretion of our body’s natural sleep hormone melatonin.

What happens is blue light and green light can push back the production timing of melatonin, meaning that it takes longer to get into a deeper sleep and complete all of our sleep cycles before it’s time to wake back up again.

Doing this for long periods of time is actually meaning that we are losing sleep quality and duration, and it will add up over time. This in turn may have a negative effect on your health.

Sustained long periods of sleeping under 7 hours has been linked to cancer, heart disease and obesity.

How can I reduce my night-time blue light exposure?

We have a few tips and tricks to reduce your blue light exposure, to help optimise your sleep hygiene. The first one would be the obvious, just turn all of your devices and lights off in the house and light a few candles around the house. But for obvious reasons this is unrealistic for some people, as some people have to work in the evening on their computers for example.

Using blue & green light blocking glasses can help reduce exposure to blue light, which in turn can help improve sleep quality. What you need is a pair of blue and green light blocking glasses that block out nearly 100% of blue and green light.

These will have a deep red lens, but be warned, there are glasses of a cheap quality on marketplaces that have orange lenses. These glasses can sometimes only block between 50-80% of blue and green light. These lenses defeat the purpose of what the glasses are supposed to do. You can find high quality blue light blocking glasses that block out 100% of blue and green light here.

Once you have some high-quality blue light blocking glasses, wear them after sunset to help your body start producing melatonin more efficiently and effectively before bedtime.

If it is the summertime, start wearing the glasses at least two hours before you plan to go to bed to help induce the natural production of melatonin.

You can purchase red bulbs, or bulbs that you can change from normal warm light to red light. These are good to use for evenings as they don’t produce blue or green light, but you will be able to see when walking around your house.

What should I do when I need to go to the toilet in the night?

If you can navigate to the toilet without turning a light on, this is the perfect scenario as it lowers your chance of disrupting you, meaning you can get back to sleep easily.

If you can buy a lamp that has a dimmed red glow, this will help you to see without triggering any energising effects that blue light does.

Sunlight wakes me up in the morning, how can I combat this?

So, as you now have learned, blue light can have energising affects on the human body because we have receptors in our eyes and our skin.

Our top tip to help combat being woken up by morning sunlight, would be to use a fully blackout sleep mask. You can also invest in blackout blinds, but these obviously come at a much higher cost in comparison to a high-quality sleep mask.

Our conclusion, be mindful about how much blue light you take in after sunset as it can potentially be damaging your health. Make sure you try and get between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Get into a good sleep hygiene habit, so that your body get used to going to bed and waking at consistent times.

You can find a high quality full blackout 3D Sleep Mask here.

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