Sleeping is an important part of our lives and good habits make it easier to get a good night’s sleep.

Try not to worry about your sleeping habits. Whether you are having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or having any other sleep issues, worrying is not going to help you.

Try and reduce your stress before going to bed.

How to improve your sleep when you are stressed? Why not try some of these tips? Often a combination of these tips rather than just one can make all the difference.

Before Bed

1. Turn off your device an hour before you plan to go to bed. Yes that includes your computer and your phone. Try reading an old fashion paperback book or on a kindle that has a blue light filter
2. Journal – get all those worries out of your head.
3. Get plenty of sleep, go to bed early

In Bed

1. Create a good sleeping environment. Reduce noise and light
2. Make sure your bed, pillows and blankets are comfortable. Remember goldilocks – just right!
3. Do a tomorrow list, so you don’t have to try and remember what you need to remember.

Sleep Time

You have set the scene everything is calm and now it’s time to go to sleep and  . . . .

1. Stop worrying and stressing about things that you can’t control or can’t be fixed until tomorrow.
2. Use a sleeping blend of aromatherapy oils – put in a diffuser with a timer on it or on a tissue near your pillow.
3. Get comfortable and repeat a mantra. A mantra is just a sentence or series of sentences repeated over and over. Google sleep mantras and you will find a huge range. Pick a simple one and try it out.

Or worse still you go to sleep easily and then wake up a few hours later and can’t get back to sleep.

1. Do all the things in the “can’t get to sleep” section of this article.
2. Get up and make a warm glass of milk, try to keep the lights as low as possible. Drink your milk and go back to bed.
3. Close your eyes and listen to a guided meditation.

How To Improve Your Sleep When You are Stressed?

1. Have enough to eat and allow 2 or 3 hours for your food to be digested before you go to bed.
2. Limit the amount of alcohol and caffeine you have before bed
3. Don’t get overstimulated before bed eg stay up late working
4. Turn off your devices and have conversations with loved ones
5. Delegate tasks that you don’t personally need to do and write tomorrow’s to-do list.

Sleep is important because it recharges our bodies so that we can remain healthy and fight off diseases. Not only do you need hours of sleep but the sleep you are getting needs to be quality sleep. Different people need different amounts of sleep, you probably need more than you are getting, especially if you are constantly stressed.

These tips are general in nature and if you are worried about your sleeping habits, please see a health professional.