Live Well

It’s no secret that sleep is critical to one’s overall health and well-being. Every day brings new opportunities and challenges, all of which are more easily faced if you’ve had a great night of sleep. We’ve all heard getting six to eight hours of sleep is recommended, but busy work schedules and ongoing personal commitments make it difficult to make sleep a priority.

So how can you ensure you’re getting quality shuteye? The next time you’re ready to crawl into bed, apply these four tips to help get better sleep:

Harness the power of lights 
Light plays a critical role in producing melatonin, the hormone that helps induce sleepiness and regulate your sleep/wake cycle. Setting the right ambiance in your living room or bedroom with warmer, sunset- ike shades of white light when you are ready to unwind can help support melatonin production and promote better sleep.

Keep a consistent sleep schedule
We tend to sleep less during the work week and make up for it over the weekend. In constantly shifting our sleeping patterns, we’re subjecting ourselves to jet lag-like symptoms. We are creatures of habit and establishing a consistent time to go to bed helps your body react in kind.

Pay attention to how you wake up
Exposing yourself to bright daylight is just as critical for regulating your sleep cycle and supporting better sleep quality. Try to make sure you get enough light in the first one or two hours after waking. Light that emits cooler blue tones can help you feel refreshed, be more alert and improve your mood.

Tone down the use of technology before bed.
In order to prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep, try to avoid intense light with cooler blue tones, which suppresses melatonin production. Relax an hour or two before going to bed, tucking away your mobile phone, computer or tablet, which can cause stress or overstimulate you and disrupt your ability to sleep.