Stop snacking in bed
Noshing in bed is not great for getting for sleeping. “Eating in the bedroom, especially right before bedtime, can be very disruptive to sleep,” says Robert I. Danoff, DO, family physician and program director, Aria Health System. Salt-filled snacks could make you thirsty, drinking too much fluid prior to bedtime may cause extra trips to the bathroom, and any caffeine within four hours of sleep may keep you awake or cause disrupted sleep. Caffeine can also make you feel anxious and jittery. Eating before bed is also one of many nighttime habits that can lead to weight gain.
Listen to these grown-up lullabies
Even if our parents couldn’t carry a tune, a lullaby was a soothing way to get us to sleep. They knew then what Mindlab International recently found out: that certain kinds of music can help you sleep by promoting calm and relaxation. Hong Kong researchers recently found that people who listened to music with a certain tempo (60 to 80 beats per minute) for 30 to 45 minutes before bed every night for three months fell asleep more quickly, slept more deeply, and felt better in the morning. Here’s a list of the best songs to help you sleep, according to science.
Put it in neutral
Ever watch a dog before he lays down to sleep? He circles for a bit, lands, adjusts his position a few times and finally heads to snooze town. He must know what his neutral position is. “Just as important as quantity of sleep is quality of sleep, and a large aspect of this is posture,” says Param Dedhia, MD director of Sleep Medicine at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. “A neutral spine can be on the back and it can be on the side. The positioning with pillows is key. When our body is neutral with an aligned spine, it allows our musculoskeletal and neurological system to be with less twisting, pushing and pulling. Neck, shoulder, low back and hip pain are less aggravated with a neutral spine,” says Dr. Dedhia. Even when you shift positions in the night, you can still maintain a neutral position by using your pillow to readjust and align the spine to be more comfy. Make your bed cozy for a restful night of zzz’s with these tips. Here are 13 secrets for better sleep doctors want you to know.