18 Free and Inexpensive Ways to Fix Your Sleep
More and more research points to the benefits of sleep. Good sleep boosts your immune system, reduces your risk of dementia and other diseases, helps prevent weight gain, and makes you more productive and creative on the job. (Also safer. Sleep deprived people are more likely to have accidents, either at home, on the road, or at work.) Unfortunately, many of us aren’t getting anywhere near enough zzz’s. Even if we’re spending the requisite hours in bed, those hours aren’t likely quality time. As a result, we’re chronically sleep-deprived.
Fortunately, most of us can fix our sleep patterns with a few minor adjustments. We don’t necessarily need to splash out big money for a new bed, a room renovation, a new house, or new linens, PJ’s, prescriptions, or other items. It may come to that in some cases, but there are lots of free and inexpensive things to try, first.
Here are some ideas:
Darken your room
When it comes to good sleep, the darker the better. If you can’t spring for fancy window shades, you can always tack an old blanket over the windows, or buy a sleep mask to block out light. Remove anything that emits light like digital alarm clocks or TV’s or other electronics with standby lights. (If you can’t remove it, try putting a piece of duct tape over the offending light.) If you need a light for safety reasons, get a motion sensitive nightlight that only comes on when you move. That way it’s not messing with your sleep all night, only when you need it.
Cool the room
Research shows that most people sleep better in a cool (not cold) room. This is easy to achieve in the winter, but it can get expensive in the summer if you resort to cranking down the AC. Try sleeping with an ice pack, taking a cool shower just before bed, or use a fan to help circulate air. Make sure your sheets and PJ’s are breathable, and don’t pile a big comforter on the bed If you’re trying to keep cool.
Replace old bedding
You may not have to buy a whole new mattress in order to achieve comfort. If your bed is the problem, try new pillows, or try a mattress topper to extend the life of your mattress. A mattress topper costs a lot less than a whole new mattress, and may solve the problem for a couple of years. If it comes down to it, a new mattress, while expensive, is a worthwhile investment if you’re waking up sore and stiff and nothing else is improving your sleep.
Keep things quiet. Or at least calming.
Silence is best when it comes to sleep for most people, but there are some people for whom silence isn’t an option. Either they live in a noisy neighborhood, they sleep with a snoring partner, or silence isn’t helpful. (Some people prefer a little noise when they’re sleeping.) Options include earplugs to block out sound, or white noise apps or a fan to create some light background noise. There are plenty of free white noise apps and videos online. A cheap-o box fan from Walmart serves the white noise purpose, as well.
Sleep stories or meditation
If you need a little more than white noise, you can try sleep stories or meditation. Sleep stories are simply a grown up version of the stories your parents read to you as a kid. A narrator with a soothing voice reads and lulls you to sleep. There are also meditations available designed to relax your body and slip you into sleep. There are many apps, videos, and playlists available online. Many are free or have free trials, and some are ad-supported.
Reset your body clock
Most of us spend so much time indoors that our bodies struggle to know when it’s time to wind down for sleep. Get outside in natural daylight for at least a little while each day. Also, don’t use a lot of bright light at night. This helps condition your sleep hormones to respond appropriately to the day/night cycle, making it easier to get to sleep at night.
Keep the phone quiet
The best advice is to keep your phone out of the bedroom, but that’s not realistically possible for many people. In that case, turn off all notifications and only allow calls or texts from important people during your sleeping hours. You don’t need your phone dinging all night with social media alerts; only emergencies should get through.
Don’t scroll before bed
Scrolling before bed is bad for two reasons. First, the blue light from your device messes up your body clock, blocking the release of sleep hormones. Second, social media, the news, or games jack up our nervous system which prevents us from relaxing into sleep. All the bad news, social media outrage, endless unhelpful comparisons to others, and blinking, dinging games leave us alert and stressed instead of relaxed and calm.
Get up and go to bed at same time every day
It’s tempting to stay up late or sleep in on the weekends, but your body does better on a consistent routine. If you mess with the routine, it just makes the coming week that much harder. Unless it’s impossible, keep to the same schedule each night.
Exercise
In addition to all of its other benefits, exercise helps to tire you out so you sleep better. It also relaxes your muscles and releases hormones that help regulate your sleep cycle. It also helps combat stress (see below) which can be a sleep killer. Just don’t exercise too close to bedtime. Your body needs time to wind down after a workout.
Deal with worry, stress, and anxiety
Stress and worry are sleep killers. Ruminating over problems keeps you awake, and stress hormones interfere with sleep. Try to deal with your problems before bedtime. Try journaling or setting aside “worry time.” Do all of your ruminating, fuming, raging, and worrying during those times and then put it away for the night. Make lists of things to tackle tomorrow so you don’t stay up all night thinking about all you have to do. You can also try things like meditation, yoga, stretching, or spiritual practices. If you can’t control stress/anxiety any other way, you might need to consult a medical professional.
Reduce/eliminate caffeine and alcohol
Caffeine and alcohol are known sleep disruptors. Elimination is ideal, but if you just need your soda or beer fix, try to drink up well before bedtime. (And not just an hour or two before bed. Think no caffeine or booze after lunch.)
Change how you eat
Eating a big meal late in the day will disrupt your sleep. The digestion process will keep you awake, not to mention the discomfort and possible heartburn. Eat big meals earlier in the day and eat lightly at night. Also eat healthy food, as junk food is often full of sugar, salt, caffeine, and other chemicals that can disrupt sleep.
Nap sparingly
A nap may be necessary at times, but don’t sleep too much during the day. If you must nap, keep it short (under 30 minutes) and don’t nap close to bedtime. Falling asleep in your chair at night will interfere with your sleep when you actually do go to bed. If you’re that tired, just go ahead and go to bed.
Move the clock
Watching the clock just makes sleep problems worse. If you can’t sleep, lying there watching the hours tick by makes you anxious about sleeping which becomes a vicious circle. Move the clock out of view, and resist checking the time on your phone. If you can’t sleep, get up and go read for a while or just sit in a dim room until you get sleepy and then try again. Don’t just toss and turn watching the clock.
Rearrange your room
Sometimes rearranging the furniture can help. Is your bed in a draft, or catching light/noise from another room? Are you too close to the window and hearing every cricket and passing car outside? Moving your bed, or placing other furniture strategically to block light or noise might help solve some sleep problems.
Change your sleep mindset
Many of us think of sleep as an inconvenience or interruption to our lives. Either that or we wear our lack of sleep as a badge of honor. “See how hard I work? I never sleep!” This is the wrong mindset. We all need sleep and sleep is good for us. Learn to view sleep as necessary and healthy and protect your sleep time. Look forward to going to bed instead of resenting it or feeling guilty.
Beware the magic pill
There are always miracle pills, supplements, and sleep aids circulating on social media and in the news. Not all of these are helpful or good for you. Some are addictive, and some carry bad side effects. Supplements that seem healthy can be anything but if you’re not actually deficient in a vitamin or mineral. (Or if you’re taking other medications that can interact with the sleep aid or supplement.) Talk to a doctor before resorting to pills or supplements to make sure they’re safe and helpful for you.
Finally, if nothing else is helping, schedule a trip to the doctor. You may have an undiagnosed condition like sleep apnea, depression, nutritional deficiency, or something else that is interfering with your sleep. Getting a diagnosis can get you to the proper fix faster.
Read More:
- Lack of Sleep Can Cost You Money
- Sleep Vital To Cognitive Benefits Of Physical Activity
- Sleep Loss Robs Your Health And Wealth
- Junk Food = Junk Sleep = Health Problems
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