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Everyone knows that sleep is incredibly important, and it’s glaringly obvious when we’re not getting enough. Sometimes we’re just limited for time and end up having to drag ourselves out of bed, but sometimes lack of sleep comes down to that aggravating tossing and turning. Here are some tips for better sleep that you might not have tried quite yet.

Keep it Cool

It might be cozy to snuggle up with tons of blankets, but sleeping too warm is actually distracting and can even lead to bad dreams. Sleep experts suggest that the ideal temperature for sleeping is actually between 60 and 70 degrees. That might be cooler than you like your thermostat set during the day, but it sorts of makes sense. If you were wearing blankets during the day you’d probably get warm, so it makes sense that you take things down a notch at night.

Try to Stay Awake

This might not sound like the most tempting solution, but there is a concept called the sleep paradox where you can trick your body into falling asleep by laying there with your eyes open telling yourself that you won’t fall asleep. This is real advice from a psychotherapist named Julie Hirst. She said that “The brain doesn’t process negatives well, so [it] interprets this as an instruction to sleep and eye muscles tire quickly as sleep creeps up.” If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work, but who knows. If you’re a bit of a rebel perhaps it will.

Get Supportive Pillows

Fluffy pillows are comfortable, but without the proper stability you could actually be waking yourself up throughout the night. We need pillows that are supportive to the neck, especially if we end up sleeping on our side which many of us do. You can use the fluffy pillows as decoration during the day when your bed is made.

Workout

People who workout regularly tend to sleep better, simple as that. Some studies suggest that getting up early to workout can set the body on the right track to fall asleep earlier at night, and that late night workouts should absolutely be avoided. Exercise is going to pump you up no matter what time of day you do it, so keep that in mind when you’re scheduling things. Your trouble falling asleep could simply have to do with your exercise plan of hitting the gym at the end of the workday instead of before.

Do Yoga

More exercise! But for good reason. If you do need to workout at the end of the day, doing something like yoga as opposed to high intensity cardio is going to ensure that you remain relaxed after. But whenever you do yoga, know that it’s likely to help you sleep. Around half of people who are new to a yoga practice report better sleep, and that’s because yoga is so effective at reducing stress levels. This is particularly true if there is an element of meditation thrown in.

Tags: sleep, sleep debt, sleep tips