By Jennifer McDougall

Have you ever noticed how much better you feel after a good night’s sleep? Imagine having that every night; unfortunately, restest is often overlooked as a priority as we are busy with work and taking care of others. Sometimes it feels as though there is not enough time in our schedules to get a whole night’s sleep, but that has to change. Creating a nighttime routine that will help wind you down after a busy day is crucial in ensuring you get 8-9 hours of proper rest.

Many people may not realize how many benefits there are to a good night sleep. This is when your body and mind need to rest and recharge. When your mind is racing all day long, it gets tired, and the same goes for your body. If you don’t have a regular sleep schedule, you run the risk of having health issues that could be avoided. In addition, sleeping helps balance your hormones; it’s suitable for regulating weight gain and allows you to think more clearly come morning time.

You may be feeling stressed at work or with your home life and feel yourself running on fumes. When you push aside sleep and force yourself to stay awake and keep working or dwelling on an issue you can’t seem to overcome, you are actually making matters worse. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just shut down and allow yourself to drift off to sleep so you can feel healthy and happy again. Try these 4 tips to make it easier to fall asleep at night.

1. Practice winding down and begin your bedtime routine simultaneously every night to get your body into a rhythm night after night. That, at this time, is when we start getting ready for bed. Shoot for 8-9 hours of sleep per night. Everyone is different, so you determine what works best for you and how much sleep your body requires to feel its very best each morning.
2. Don’t look at your phone 1 hour before the time you plan to go to sleep.
3. Take a bath or shower before bed so that you feel clean and refreshed. There’s nothing worse than crawling into bed after a long day and feeling all grungy and dirty.
4. Put on a meditation playlist before laying your head down on the pillow. Spotify has many, and one of our favorites is Binaural Beats: Meditation. There are no words in these songs, and they help ease your mind so you can feel relaxed and quickly fall asleep.