Rest Easy with These 6 Tips on Getting a Better Night’s Sleep

By Haley Shaw, 2023

Published 10/18/19

Let’s set the scene: You’re in school, fighting a losing battle to keep your eyes open during class, wishing you were back in bed. As a giant yawn escapes, the teacher ́s voice fades into a droning lullaby in the background. You finally close your eyes, giving in to the pull of sleep. If you have ever experienced this, you‘re not alone. About 87% of American students are regularly sleep-deprived. While you may not want to shut off your phone before bed or shell out 50 dollars for a white noise machine, there are still some small things you can do in order to get a better night’s rest.

Tip One: Create a Bedtime Schedule

Creating a bedtime schedule helps to regulate your circadian rhythms, natural sleep-wake cycles that your body follows over a 24-hour period. Creating a schedule can also help to separate bedtime from other excitement, stress, or anxiety-causing activities. Include relaxing activities in your routine, such as reading a book or playing with your pet.

Tip Two: Listen to Relaxing Music

Have you ever listened to a certain song and physically felt yourself relax? Music has the ability to lower heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure, and can also cause muscles to relax. These changes are similar to ones that your body experiences when falling asleep, which makes listening to music a perfect activity to prepare yourself for bedtime. Need help finding the perfect song? According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Choosing a type of music is a personal preference, and you're most likely to relax while listening to familiar music that you enjoy. But keep this tip in mind: Slow tunes are ideal. Look for a rhythm of about 60 to 80 beats per minute (BPM), which you're likely to find among classical, jazz, or folk songs.”

Tip Three: Exercise During the Day

Studies conducted by the John Hopkins Center for Sleep show that medium intensity aerobic (cardio) exercise boosts the amount of slow-wave sleep you get that night. However, avoid exercising right before bedtime. Exercising releases endorphins, chemicals that can keep you awake around 1 to 2 hours before bedtime. Exercising also raises body temperature, which tells the body to stay awake. Ideally, you should do 30 minutes of cardio 2-3+ hours before bedtime for optimal sleep.

Tip Four: Write in a Journal

Journaling is a great way to get thoughts, concerns, and worries in order before bed. Journaling is simply writing down your thoughts, feelings, and stressors in order to understand them better. Writing doesn't have to be complicated; typing your thoughts can be just as effective as writing them down by hand. For journaling to be more beneficial, try creating a comforting environment to write in.

Tip Five: Take a Warm Bath or Shower

Among other cues, your body relies on body temperature to help determine sleep cycles. When you take a warm bath or shower, your body temperature rises. When you exit the tub, water evaporates from your skin, taking heat with it and dropping internal temperatures. This signals to your body that it is time for sleep. Warm showers also help you relax. They loosen muscles, and can relax you mentally.

Tip Six: Follow 90-minute sleep cycles

If all else fails, aim for an amount of sleep that is a 90-minute increment. Sleep cycles include 5 phases that total an average of 90 minutes in duration. Based on this, a person who has slept for 6 hours, an increment of 90 minutes, will feel more well-rested than someone who has slept for 8 hours, which is not an increment of 90. However, you may not be able to exactly pinpoint when you will fall asleep, which makes sleeping in increments of 90 minutes difficult. But, if you are truly desperate, it is worth a shot.