How to Catch More Zzz’s... 7 Tips for Better Sleep

As we posted about last week, mastering your morning is SO important, and helps set you up for success for the rest of your day - which helps you better accomplish all your awesome goals!

Mastering your morning starts the night before, by getting a good night of sleep so you have plenty of energy to make things happen!

We all know how important sleep is.... Lack of sleep for an extended period of time has been linked to some serious health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Getting good sleep also leads to fat loss, and increases your workout gains.

But we also know how hard it is to get enough good quality sleep! Below are some science-backed tips to get more (and better!) sleep.

• Go easy on the booze before bed. While alcohol can make it feel easier to fall asleep, when it wears off, it makes it harder to stay asleep.

• Keep your bedroom cool. The ideal sleeping temperature is somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit, Dr. Christopher Winter says.

• Limit your afternoon caffeine intake. Your afternoon coffee fix stays in your system longer than you might think. Experts say to avoid caffeine for at least 6 hours before your bedtime.

• Avoid heavy meals close to bedtime. Your body isn’t meant to digest food while you sleep, so eating a large meal close to bedtime may keep you awake. Protein in particular is especially hard to digest, so if you must eat late, keep it light.

• Take time to process your day before bedtime. If you find your mind racing while in bed, you may not have taken enough time to process your day first, Dr. Michael Grandner says. He suggests spending some time in the evening thinking about your day and making to-do lists for tomorrow, so you can “clear your mental desktop”.

• Try an all-natural natural sleep aid. We love IDlife’s sleep strips, which contain safe, natural ingredients for a great night of rest, such as melatonin to help you fall asleep and stay asleep - and get restorative sleep with increased REM sleep. It also has 5-HTP which releases critical brain neurotransmitters burned out by modern day stressors, increasing calmness; and L-Theanine helps you to sleep for longer periods by reducing anxiety. Try it in your February clean.fit box!

• Take some deep breaths. Breathing deeply stimulates the body’s naturally-calming parasympathetic system, which will relax you.

If all else fails, get out of bed and do something else relaxing (avoiding screens and bright lights, though!). Then, hop back into bed when you’re really tired.

Sleep on, clean.fit fam!