We’ve all experienced a bad night’s sleep. Tossing, turning, tired but unable to doze off. And the next day is even worse: no focus, even less energy, we struggle to keep our eyes open and turn to binge eating as a final attempt to stay awake. It’s often the case that returning to work after the holidays will make this even worse. The stress of trying to get back into a routine and worrying about your never-completed to-do list or tomorrow’s meeting can result in a bad night’s sleep for many. Although our brain doesn’t have an on/off button, we do have some tips that will help:
First of all, cut out all unhealthy bad habits before bed
Social media surfing, alcohol, watching movies and trying to finish your to-do list right before bed, could all be affecting your quality of sleep. Cut it out.
Leave work at work
It’s common for people who check their Email before bed, to then dream of work. And when we say dream, we really mean nightmare. Unless you want to toss and turn for hours and then wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and stressed about something that happened in your nightmare, leave all work, at work. Chances are that by home time your brain will be so overworked, it won’t have the mental capacity to do anything else productive anyway.
Start every day productive, end every day positive
To-do lists are often impossible to complete. But can still be conquered. The most efficient way to tackle your to-do list is start every day with the most intimidating or time consuming task. Why? For the simple reason that once completed, it will take a huge pressure off your shoulders early on in the day, so you have more time to unwind and relax later on. The less tasks also won’t leave you stressed if you don’t finish them that day. Enter your slumber feeling satisfied and stress-free.
Deal with your worries there and then
It’s often the case that the things which keep us up at night, are thoughts we’ve had during the day. We put them to the back of our mind hoping they will go away, however instead, they come back to haunt us later on. If something’s worrying you or playing on your mind, don’t wait until bed time to think it through. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and tackle it there and then. Write it down and come up with a plan to put it to bed, so later you can too.
Want to know the best stress relief?
It’s the end of the day: you’re stressed, tense, worried about work and already know a sleepless night lies ahead. Do you want to know the one method that is guaranteed to help you de-stress and leave you feeling sleepy and satisfied? A workout. Take your frustration out on the training ground and get rid of any bad energy that’s going to keep you up. Plus, once your Coach is through with you, you’ll be way too tired to give any worries a second thought.
Need more tips on how to get better sleep? Follow our sleeping serial.
