Need some tips and tricks to help you to sleep at night? Well, this post is for you. Here we will share some of our favourite ways to help you sleep. Tuck in!
Poor sleep is detrimental to our mental and physical health in both the short and long term. In the short term, this may simply manifest itself in a lack of energy, reduced cognitive performance and being a bit grumpy (read: not that much fun to be around) thereby making us less productive or effective in our daily tasks. Some of you may even think that reduced sleep has little impact on you at the mo, that you are used to short sleeps, still have loads of energy and are highly effective. And whilst this may feel like the case, the longer term impacts of consistently not getting enough, good quality sleep (less than 7 - 8 hours per night) is a lot scarier. We discuss this in more detail in other posts, but essentially sleep is the foundation upon which we can build a healthy life and reduce our chances of longer-term health issues.
It’s funny, we focus so much of our time figuring out what we can do during the days to give us more energy and improve our immunity - what vitamins we should take, what food we should eat, what new exercise class we sign up to - but, we don’t pay as much (or at least not until recently) attention to what we can do at night, whilst we sleep. This needs to change because the reality is, if we all slept the right amount and improved our quality of sleep, we wouldn’t need to worry about the newest remedies we could put into our bodies during the days, we would feel more energetic, our immunity would be improved plus exercise and eating healthier would be easier and more effective (again, we will explain this more in other posts).
It doesn’t help knowing the important role sleep plays as that often makes me more anxious when I can’t sleep - knowing that this is affecting my health, but, still, I only go into this to encourage you to make this a priority. If you are having sleeping troubles, it should be a priority to figure out ways to help you sleep.
Having said all that, the reason we developed our Sleep Capsules is we wanted to help people sleep. So that we will endeavour to do. However, our Sleep Capsules are not a silver bullet and there are other things you can do. Here are our suggestions as to some ways to help you sleep (we know that this isn’t rocket science, but it’s always good to be reminded of things that could help you to sleep at night):
- Go to the bed at the same time every night - our bodies crave routine with everything we do and this includes bedtime. Try to go to bed (and wake up) at the same time every night. Studies have shown that just by doing this it will significantly improve your sleep (as it gets your body into a schedule) and your mood / energy levels in the morning
- Make yourself a cosy cup of herbal tea such as chamomile, fresh lemon and ginger or even a bedtime blend. Our Sleep Capsules contain both chamomile and lemon balm extract, but a cup of tea is still very soothing before bed BUT don’t drink too much too close to bed as then you will spend the whole night peeing!
- Avoid any “blue light” from a screen an hour before bed (such as phones, laptops or tvs) - light exposure impacts melatonin production which is our natural hormone that indicates to the body that it’s time for bed. Whilst our Sleep Capsules do contain ingredients (such as Griffonia Seed Extract) that help with melatonin production to make up for this, using your phone will also keep your mind activated making it hard to switch off (especially when we see a work email come through or are scrolling through social media and feeling inadequate) - try reading an old school book!
- Take a soothing hot bath with aromatherapy oils - many aromatherapy brands have developed specific blends to help relax you before bed. In much the same way as we have chosen specific ingredients for our capsules, they will have selected specific extracts whose scents and aromas will calm that busy mind and instill some much needed zen. It's always a plus (/fun) when there are lots of bubbles!
- Try using a meditation or sleep app such as Calm or headspace - this is a personal fave and nightly go-to, with Cillian Murphy’s train trip through Ireland and Matthew Mcconaughey’s Wonder sleep story on nightly rotation, followed by a rain on leaves soundscape if I wake up in the night and struggle to go back to sleep. Both apps have some great sleep meditations too. The key is finding a soothing voice you like that can help lull you to sleep at night!
Obviously, on top of this, we’d also suggest our Sleep Capsules as one of the best ways to help you sleep. As said, many of us take daily vitamins or supplements to help us get through the day, perform better, increase energy levels or improve immunity, why wouldn’t we take something to enhance the most important body function there is - our sleep! When we are well rested, everything else falls into place.