What happens when you sleep? 

When you sleep, you start to disengage yourself from the surroundings. Finally, the stress of the day leaves you behind and your cortisol levels begin to drop. Your breathing and heart rates become regular, and your body temperature reduces. 

Slowly, you enter your deepest and most restorative sleep stage and when that happens, your muscles relax, blood pressure drops, and repair begins: Energy is restored, tissues are repaired, and hormones required for growth are secreted. 

You can see why sleep is such an integral part of life. Yet, there’s plenty of misinformation encouraging a culture of burnout and sleep deprivation. Mounting research shows that sleep deprivation increases our risk of a range of health problems from depression, anxiety, dementia, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and more.

Simply, there’s nothing quite like sleep and you should do everything you can to get a good night’s rest. 

But yes, we know. It’s easier said than done. Most of us know that we need to make big changes in life: quit smoking, spending so much time on social media, eating right, exercising every day, but it’s unlikely that we religiously commit to these changes. Smaller, everyday changes, on the other hand, can be within reach.

Clean the Mess 

The best way to invite sleep is to develop a nightly routine: go to bed at the same time every day with your food digested, mind calm, and hands without any gadgets. Many people swear by mind jumbles, sheep counting, or generally playing what happened in their day to induce sleep.

But the physical space matters too. A simple way to disengage yourself from the day’s worries is to do a boring chore. Make your bed right before you sleep. Do it slowly, mindfully and allow your mind to prepare itself for a nightly rest. 

If your bedroom overlooks a source of light, you could invest in dark curtains to create a dark, cool atmosphere. And if you’re in the mood for complete zen—declutter your room and allow it to breathe to help you sleep better.

And Now, Clean the Air

Get some air purifying house plants. The snake plant, aloe vera, areca palm, among others, are known to purify the air. Cleaner, fresher air with more oxygen can not only help you sleep better but also wake you up more energised than otherwise. Plants are our well-being partners and nothing says cozy more than a little bit of nature in your room. 

Get Comfortable, and then tell yourself a story 

It’s easy to log on to an online streaming platform and watch the most compelling stories, but what if you were to switch off external entertainment and switch on what’s inside. We’ve all heard stories when we were little, why not ditch the sheep counting to tell yourself a gripping story full of despicable villains and plot twists. While you may or may not come up with an idea for a best-selling novel, you will definitely fall asleep. Maybe the next day, you could pick up a detective novel for inspiration? 

We support any move that keeps you off technology in those precious minutes before bed.

Author(s)

  • Founded in 2016 by Arianna Huffington, Thrive Global is the world’s largest well-being media platform. Since its launch in October 2018, Thrive Global India has received over 40 million visitors. Our media platform Our focus is on well-being and productivity, emphasising real experiences and unique storytelling. Through articles, videos, and podcasts featuring business leaders, scientists, athletes, entertainers and new role models of success, we add a new dimension to the global conversation of wellness. Our stories discuss daily challenges, people’s personal journeys of how they thrive, and recommend solutions to bring purpose and wonder into our worlds. We realise that the struggles of our everyday life—stress, burnout, exhaustion, apathy, technological addiction—can be intimidatingly broad and numerous. And it’s only through lived and shared experiences of people, combined with expert data and science-based solutions, that we can achieve actual, dramatic results that help us live and work well. Our enterprise solutions There is a pervasive belief that burnout is the price we must pay for success, but research has shown it is a delusion. As a matter of fact, by prioritising our well-being, we pave way for a healthier, productive life with enhanced efficiency, decision making and creativity. Through our assessments, corporate workshops, digital engagement solutions and more, we bring to you science-backed well-being and performance-enhancing strategies, proven to help individuals and teams thrive.