How to sleep better?

If you sometimes wake up at night, and worry about work, responsibilities, fears, whatever…, then this is your article.
“Sleep is the best meditation.” (Dalai Lama)

After trying many things, here are my top recommendations for a healthy and profound rest:

• Create a healthy bedtime routine (at least 30-45 minutes before sleeping): Try to stay away from your mobile, especially social media. Do something that calms you down and prepares your body and mind for a profound rest (eg. reading, candles, relaxing music, a bath…)

• Journaling: Write down your thoughts of the day, your emotions, feelings, what worries you the most. The idea is to get them out of your system. Daily journaling would be amazing but at least write on days where something impacted you (professionally or privately).

• Connect with your body: (Self) massages activate our parasympathetic nervous system which transports us into a state of relaxation. Pain and contractions can be relieved as our blood circulation is stimulated. You can use oil/lotion or massage your skin in the shower/bath but a dry massage is also amazing: Give yourself a little neck massage. Let one hand massage the other. Massage your feet. Whatever feels good.

• 4-7-8 breathing technique: Practice it before you go to sleep or when you wake up at night and have a hard time falling asleep again:
  • Inhale while counting until 4.
  • Hold your breath while counting until 7.
  • Exhale while counting until 8.
  • Repeat the exercise 5-10 times.

If your breaths are short, then just count quicker until 4, 7, 8. It’s not about the time but about keeping up the counting (4-7-8) and repeating the exercise several times. If you can: Close your mouth; inhale and exhale only through your nose. You can put your hands on your abdomen to feel the movement of the breath in your body.

PD: Of course there are also other things to take in mind:
Your nutrition, daily routine, stress level, bedroom setting etc… there are many things that have an effect on your sleep.
As mentioned above – I am just sharing my top tips that help me to calm down, even on the busy days 🙂

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What is your personal advice to sleep better?