Top 5 Tips to Boost Your Sleep
By: Erica Jade, MightyFIT Nutrition Coach and owner of Erica Jade Health
Getting enough sleep is one of the best ways to improve your nutrition and health. Sleep provides our bodies the time to rest and re-energize so that our bodily systems can work at their very best. This includes every system in our bodies, including our metabolism, heart, hormones, mental health, and even weight loss.
Here are my top 5 tips and advice for preparing for getting the best night’s sleep possible.
1. Comfortable Bedding
Comfort is key to better sleep, so make your bedding choices wisely, making sure they are comfortable for YOU. What may work for someone else may not work for you. Try to select a wood bed frame instead of a metal one. Metal can increase your exposure to electrical pollution or electromagnetic fields (EMF). You may have already heard of this If you practice feng shui.
2. Dark Room
Make sure to darken your room as much as possible. Your eyes can pick up light even when they are closed. Light can come from many different places, your phone, a nightlight that’s too bright, or light coming in from the outdoors. Turn your phone over, add blackout curtains if needed to block out exterior lights, and move your nightlight farther away, or remove it.
3. Keep Your Phone Away from The Bed
Set your phone down somewhere away from your bed and not next to you on a nightstand. Make sure to put it in a mode that will not interfere with your sleep and sleep routine: silent mode, sleep mode, or do not disturb mode, whichever one works best for you.
If you have to use your phone before bed, make sure to put it in night mode 30 minutes before bed. The lower light night mode won’t interfere with your pre-sleep routine as much as regular, daily phone light emissions.
Keep your bedroom a sacred space. Try to avoid allowing any work-related items in the bedroom area. Keep laptops, planners, notepads, and other work items out of the bedroom.
4. Supplement with Magnesium
Magnesium is a common natural supplement that can help you sleep by maintaining healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. I personally prefer magnesium over melatonin because melatonin can cause drowsy effects the next day in some people. There are magnesium-enhanced drinks, like Calm, that you can also try; however, regular supplements should work just as well.
You can also eat more foods that are high in magnesium, such as spinach (½ cup, 78 mg), brown rice (½ cup, 42 mg), or peanuts (¼ cup, 63 mg)1. You can find these magnesium-rich foods in many of our MightyMeals. Just enter the food you’re looking for in our keyword search bar to easily find it.
5. Nightly Bedtime Routine
You should begin a bedtime routine every night. Do this by starting your calming activities approximately 30 minutes before bed. This will prepare your mind and body to wind down and relax before sleeping. These bedtime activities can include meditation, journaling, reading, listening to ambient music, lighting a candle for aromatherapy, pillow spray, and an air diffuser. I love and use all of these!
I hope these tips help improve your sleep as much as they do mine.
If you’re looking for more tips and advice, check out our other sleep blog, Sleep: Are You Getting Enough ZZZ’s?
1. Magnesium Rich Food, Cleveland Clinic