Holistic approaches to better sleep

Can you remember the last time you woke up feeling truly rested and energised? If you are unable to recall a recent morning when you felt rejuvenated, perhaps you need to spend more time sleeping, or, maybe you need to work on sleeping more peacefully and deeply. You can sleep for 10 hours and still wake up feeling tired – the amount of time you spend sleeping is less important than the quality of your sleep (although both are important). 

Sleeping well is a skill – one that requires experimentation, practice, and dedication. You can get good at sleeping, but you must be open-minded and willing to let go of any self-limiting beliefs. You might envy your friends who are ‘good sleepers,’ regularly complaining about being a ‘bad sleeper,’ and whilst this is probably true at the moment (you are reading an article on how to sleep better), it does not have to remain true forever. You are not doomed to sleep poorly for the rest of your life. 

You can treat sleep like exercise – getting good at it simply requires maintaining consistent effort and doing what feels right for you and your body. Working out your ideal routine and rhythm may require a bit of experimentation, so, below I have listed a range of sleep quality-enhancing practices. See what works for you and remember to be open to trying different methods. You should not disregard a practice until you have tried it for yourself.

Natural ways to improve sleep:

Mindful moments

If you fail to set aside moments to rest in your day, to find stillness and mental peace, you are likely to experience restless and fragmented sleep. What we do, and how we feel, during the day impacts how we rest overnight. So, we can set ourselves up for a restful slumber by implementing mindful moments throughout our waking hours. 

When we practice mindfulness we purposefully tune in to the present moment – we become aware of the physical sensations happening in our bodies and perceptive of the environment we are in. Whilst this may sound easy on paper, in practice, remaining focused on present truths can be difficult. It is tempting to spend a lot of time 'forward thinking' – or rather, worrying about hypothetical situations and future projects. 'I need to do this tomorrow,' 'What if this goes wrong?’ ‘What am I going to say in next week’s meeting?’ 

We can spend a lot of time living out situations in our heads rather than embracing the present moment. All this overthinking makes us anxious, stressed, and panicked in our bodies, and we all know it is hard to shake these feelings when it comes to bedtime. So, practising mindfulness will not only allow you to sleep better but also to experience more joy and tranquillity in your day.

10 natural drinks

Whilst we cannot rely solely on consuming remedies to get a good night’s sleep, they are worth trying along with other practices. Certain drinks can help calm our nervous systems, relax our muscles, and aid digestion and the calming of our stomachs. On top of this, routinely drinking a bedtime beverage can work as a great signifier to the body that it is time to rest. Our bodies love routine – if you get used to drinking tea before bed, the smell, taste, and feeling of the hot mug will gently prompt you to unwind and feel sleepy. 

Light exposure

Many of us spend the majority of our weeks indoors, working in dark environments, not exposed to natural light and in the evenings we experience too much light (blue light). The link between light consumption and sleep quality is clear – too much exposure in the evenings and not enough in the day leads to poor sleep. Ideally speaking, we should prioritise exposure to daylight as soon as we wake up and a dark sleeping environment.

Our bodies use light to figure out what time of day it is and this influences our sleeping patterns. This process is known as the circadian rhythm (our body’s internal clock). We can maintain a healthy circadian rhythm by introducing simple activities and practices in our mornings and evenings. 

Expose yourself to daylight as soon as you wake up. Even if it means sticking your head out of the window for a minute and admiring the clouds, trees, and birds. This will help your internal clock reset and give your body the information it needs – sleeping at a reasonable hour and more deeply will occur more easily if you expose yourself to light early in the day.

Limit light exposure in the evenings, particularly blue light. Consider only having warm lights on in the lead-up to bed (light that has a yellow or orange tone). It is also wise to use lighting at eye level or lower (bedside table laps are great) and avoid using ceiling lights.

Make sure your sleeping environment is dark. You can enhance darkness with blackout curtains, a sleeping mask, and by removing all electronics from your bedroom. A dark environment increases melatonin production, the chemical that helps us fall asleep.

Go for sunset walks! Witnessing the gradual decrease in natural light on a walk is a wonderful way to gently signal to your body that it is time to settle down. Not to mention, nature outings do wonders for our mental health (and a calmer mind allows for deeper sleep).

Bedtime routine

Bedtime can be an anxiety-inducing part of our day. We may dread being alone with our thoughts and no longer distracted by screens. Getting into bed feeling nervous, on edge, and overwhelmed by the pressure to ‘get a really good night’s sleep’, can keep us awake for hours. So, introducing an enjoyable bedtime routine is a great way to lessen nighttime anxiety. Bedtime can be a lovely experience if we romanticise it. Instead of pilling on the pressure, we can use the time to treat ourselves to the things that make us happy. We can look forward to bedtime if we change how we think about it. 

Reduce work pressure

You deserve to feel safe in your body, to take regular pauses when life feels overwhelming, and to experience mental clarity. You deserve rest.

You are not here on planet Earth today to constantly ‘do.’ Hustle culture has many of us obsessing over working well, in replacement of resting well. But rest is essential, the longer we put it off, the more pronounced our suffering will be in the future. Whilst performing well at work is a positive goal to aspire towards, it should not lead to your dismissal of taking care of yourself. 

Fixating on being productive and staying busy will lead to your total exhaustion and eventually working well will not be an option. You are not a working robot; you are a friend, a family member, an individual who has lived through hardship, and a human who experiences a fluctuation of emotions each day. Your existence is complicated, full of twists and turns, so I employ you to factor in time to catch up with it all – to rest unapologetically.