A good sleep routine can help you get the most out of your workouts, increase productivity & concentration and make sure your mental / emotional well-being is on point. On the flip side, long term sleep deprivation has been closely associated to weight gain, risk of heart disease and a lower libido. All that being said, your goal should be for 7+ hours of sleep per night.
Try these 3 tips to improve your sleep this week:
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Pay attention to what you eat & drink and when (heavy meals, caffeine, alcohol).
Avoid drinking coffee or alcohol, as coffee is a stimulant and will prevent you from being able to fully relax, and alcohol is a depressant, potentially making you feel sluggish and lethargic, but unable to relax or sleep.
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Come up with your very own relaxing evening routine to get the best sleep possible.
Many people have a pre-sleep routine to help them relax and unwind. Just like you warm-up and cool-down for a workout, an evening routine “sets the mood” for you to relax and improved sleep quality. We recommend you wind down for at least 30 minutes. Try things like taking a hot shower / bath, some light stretching, reading a book or some deep breathing (see point #3 on body sensing).
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Practice Body Sensing.
Regardless of whether you want to fall asleep or not, the practice of Body Sensing is an incredibly helpful tool to alleviate tension and calm the nervous system. Used in many wellness practices such as Yoga and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Body Sensing involves rotating attention throughout the body in a specific way that essentially sweeps the body’s tension away, leaving calm and relaxation it its wake. Please refer to the Body Sensing Exercise audio file below for a 12-minute guided body sensing session (or Click here).
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Give these a try and test to see what works best for you!
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