Maintaining a healthy routine involves small habits that are an integral part of an ideally balanced lifestyle. Everything in our daily lives has an impact on our well-being and health, whether immediately or after several years. This is true of sleep, for example. A short night’s sleep takes its toll the following day, without having a significant impact on health. But if this lack of sleep is a regular occurrence, it can lead to cardiovascular, psychological, and physical risks…The body’s entire functioning is disrupted.
Sleep regulates our circadian rhythm, which corresponds to the human body’s 24-hour biological clock, alternating between wakefulness and sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep means respecting our body’s physiology to ensure that all its functions work properly.
In honor of International Sleep Day, we’re sharing a few tips to help you enjoy restful and restorative nights.
Eating a healthy diet
As we know, eating healthy helps you stay healthy, gives you more energy, and ensures an optimal intake of vitamins and nutrients. But there are also a few rules to follow to help you fall asleep quickly.
Eating three varied meals at set times will synchronize your body clock and thus promote good sleep. Good habits start with sticking to a regular schedule.
In the evening, it’s best to eat 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. This gives your body time to cool down after digestion. Avoid heavy or overly fatty meals before bed (except on special occasions, of course!). That’s because, in this case as well, consuming too many calories will lead to slower and more difficult digestion.
For dinner, you can choose foods that promote a good night’s sleep by stimulating the production of serotonin and melatonin—two hormones that help ensure quality sleep. To that end, foods rich in tryptophan ( an amino acid) are recommended: legumes, dairy products, poultry, chocolate, bananas, oatmeal, and soy.
In addition, complex carbohydrates help you fall asleep because carbohydrates help produce the well-known sleep hormones.
For dinner, you can choose between pasta, rice, potatoes, or legumes served with poultry (without overdoing it on animal proteins, which stimulate the body) or soy protein, possibly accompanied by a little bread. And, of course, any vegetables or fruits (especially bananas and dates).
Finishing your meal with a hot drink can be an added bonus (if you feel like it): it could be sweetened hot milk or a herbal tea made with chamomile, linden, verbena, or valerian. You’re sure to feel relaxed!
A Good Routine
Developing good habits before bedtime—and also treating yourself—will help you get ready for a good night's rest.
After a good meal, the evening begins, and you can take advantage of this special moment to establish a ritual tailored to your needs.
If you tend to dwell on the past day or feel stressed, writing can help you release tension. You can simply keep a journal of your thoughts as they come to you. It’s a very rewarding exercise that leaves you feeling lighter.
Gratitude is a powerful tool that helps you focus on the positive aspects of your life. Writing down the good things that happened during the day helps you downplay the negative aspects, which we tend to overemphasize.
All meditation and yoga exercises —even if it sounds cliché—will help you focus on the present moment and reduce nervous tension.
Generally speaking, it’s not recommended to use screens before bed, since blue light disrupts your sleep cycle. But since the goal is also to treat yourself, curling up under a blanket with a cup of herbal tea and watching a good TV show is one of those simple pleasures that warms the heart. Of course, if you’re more of a reader, a novel before bed is a much better choice.
Finally, planning your day ahead will help you avoid feeling stressed as soon as you wake up. This includes choosing what to wear, planning your breakfast, and even jotting down a few notes about your goals for the day. That way, you’ll go to bed with a clear mind and feeling relaxed—the perfect setup for a restful night’s sleep.
Do a little exercise
So yes, this seems to contradict the previous point, which is all about cozying up at home. But when it comes to exercise, there are obviously differences in intensity, and it depends on the time of day.
Incorporating an exercise routine into your daily life is very beneficial—everyone knows that. Regular physical activity helps increase your basal metabolic rate, promotes weight loss (especially when combined with a healthy diet), and reduces stress, particularly through the release of endorphins. The list of benefits is long, covering both physical and mental health.
When it comes to rest, exercising helps prolong the deep sleep phase. At first, you feel what’s known as “good tiredness”—the kind of tiredness that comes from physical exertion and a busy day.
There’s a lot of advice out there about the best time to exercise, with many people favoring the morning. But since everyone is different—and so are everyone’s schedules— whether you exercise early in the morning or at the end of the day, the important thing is to listen to your body and enjoy it. Ideally, it’s best to exercise several hours before bedtime because exercise is a stimulant that boosts adrenaline, especially when it comes to fairly intense workouts.
If it's yoga or walking, you can definitely do it in the evening.
Regular exercise thus creates a virtuous cycle, bringing about a sense of overall calm, pleasant fatigue, deep, restful sleep, and better physical and mental health.
It is recommended that you exercise for 30 minutes a day, making sure to take adequate rest periods based on the intensity of your workout.
Avoid caffeine or nicotine after 5 p.m.
Drinking caffeinated beverages late in the day can have a negative effect on sleep, especially if you are sensitive to caffeine. This mainly applies to coffee and tea, which are widely consumed around the world and in France.
The culprit is caffeine, which —despite its name—is found not only in coffee and tea, but also in cola-based drinks and other energy drinks. In fact, it is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world.
You should therefore consume it sparingly, and above all, avoid it after 5 p.m. And for good reason: drinking coffee 6 hours before going to sleep is said to cause you to lose an hour of sleep and reduce the quality of your sleep. Coffee is the main culprit, as its caffeine concentration is much higher than that of tea (two to three times higher on average per cup). That said, you should also avoid drinking tea late in the day, especially if you’re already a light sleeper. As mentioned earlier, herbal teas are a much better choice.
The same is true for nicotine, which is a stimulant. In addition to its well-known harmful health effects, nicotine raises blood pressure and heart rate, which negatively affects sleep quality.
It's hard for many people to go without caffeine or nicotine, but at least cutting back on them and avoiding them in the evening gives you the best chance of getting a good night's sleep.
Having a healthy bedroom free of VOCs
Finally, and this is the point people generally think about the least: a healthy bedroom is a strong factor in falling asleep easily.
It is recommended to maintain a temperature of 18 degrees to help you fall asleep. Be sure to air out the room regularly to refresh the air and maintain a comfortable temperature as much as possible.
Avoid prolonged use of scented candles, incense, or other similar products, which tend to increase indoor air pollution.
Creating a cozy space that we love, decorated to our taste, will make us even more eager to head there for our evening routine. A healthy bedroom features high-quality bedding and furniture made from materials that are as natural as possible. For the mattress, for example, natural latex provides unparalleled comfort without releasing any endocrine disruptors. The same goes for sheets, which are available in organic cotton or linen. A beautiful bed with soft, comfortable sheets makes you look forward to going to bed so you can enjoy it to the fullest.
At KIPLI, we understand this, and we’re committed to helping you create a healthy home environment free of volatile organic compounds ( VOCs) that are harmful to your health. Our line of mattresses, beds, and bedding is made from natural, eco-friendly materials and is built to last.
We hope these tips will help you get a better night's sleep.