6 Rituals to Help You Sleep All Night

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Getting a good night’s sleep has become a newsworthy accomplishment in the West. It seems like everyone is constantly complaining about being tired. The only people who are not exhausted are those who have already chugged three cups of coffee by 10:00 a.m. In this environment, one would think that people would value sleep more than ever. Instead, people view sleep simultaneously as a necessary evil and a difficult task to accomplish. Because so few people truly understand the importance of sleep, however, most people do not bother to work hard at getting a good night’s sleep. They expect it to simply happen on its own. When they toss and turn all night, they claim they never needed sleep in the first place. Sleep, however, is essential for every aspect of your mental, physical, emotional, social and even spiritual health. Without sleep, you fall apart entirely. As such, there is no overestimating the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. Try these six rituals to help you sleep all night and get the rest you so desperately need.

Hot Bath

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When it comes to sleep, temperature is both your best friend and your worst enemy. People sleep best when the room they are sleeping in is cool with the temperature in the mid to low 60’s. As such, keeping your room toasty in the winter time may seem cozy, but it makes it harder for you to sleep. Instead, keep the temperature low and use your favorite blankets to stay warm.

Given that cool temperatures work best for sleep, it may seem odd to think that a hot bath can help you fall asleep faster. This works, however, because your body temperature naturally falls in preparation for sleep. When you get out of a hot shower or bath, your body temperature dips as you cool off. This decrease in body temperature makes you sleepy and, combined with the ability of hot water to soothe and relax your muscles, puts you to sleep faster. Use lavender, vanilla or chamomile scented body wash for an added aromatherapy bonus.

Yoga

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Many people think of yoga only in the context of exercise and going to the gym. A workout, however, is the last thing you want before you try and go to sleep. Thankfully, not all yoga poses will have your muscles working overtime or raise your heartrate. Some yoga poses are very simple and can help to relax you after a long day. Poses such as standing forward fold, cat, cow, cobra and happy baby are easy, calming positions that can stretch out tight muscles. This will help you avoid midnight cramps or restless legs. Many people find such slow stretching to be relaxing and leave them in a more peaceful mindset before they get in bed. As their muscles are not so tense, it is also easier for them to fall asleep since they do not spend as much time struggling to find a comfortable position.

Hair Brushing

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If you have long hair, you have probably heard the old maxim that you need to give your locks at least 100 strokes a day to keep them shiny and healthy. This idea dates back to when people rarely washed their hair because the soaps were harsh and would ruin a person’s hair. So, people instead brushed the dirt and oil from their hair each day. While following the 100 stroke tradition from a hygiene perspective is not a great idea, using it for relaxation before bed is a fabulous plan.

Hair brushing tends to be most soothing on those with long hair, but people with short hair can enjoy it as well. First, detangle your hair using your favorite comb or brush. Then, use a soft brush like a boar bristle brush to make long, slow strokes from the roots of your hair to the ends. You can do this either bent over so your head is upside down or right side up. The repetitive motions are soothing either way and move the natural oils from your scalp down your hair as a form of natural conditioner. This is both good for hair and can help prevent your roots from looking quite so oily after a couple days without a wash.

Soothing Drink

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There is something soothing about sitting somewhere comfortable in a quiet room with a hot cup in your hands. This is especially true if you have had to do a lot of running around like a cat with its tail on fire or been trapped in loud and bustling environments all day. When you have been surrounded by noise and frantic energy for a long period of time, a few minutes of peace and quiet can seem like heaven on earth.

When you have something to drink close to bedtime, pay very close attention to what you are drinking. The drink should be without sugar or any form of artificial sweeteners. Even “healthy” sweeteners such as honey and molasses should be avoided. Chocolate is, obviously, off limits as is anything that contains caffeine. That means you need to be drinking things that are caffeine free, not decaf. Decaf is limited in how much caffeine it contains, but it still has enough to keep you up at night.

Breathing Techniques

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Breathing is one of the absolute basics of survival. If you are not breathing, you are in serious trouble. Despite its importance, most people do not think about their breathing unless they are coached to do so for yoga or weight lifting. People may pay attention to it when exercising, but beyond that, most people never think twice about this all-important biological activity. It is simply something that happens. Deep breathing and breathing techniques, however, can do a great deal to help you relax and get a good night’s sleep. Deep, belly breaths can help limit or calm anxiety and slow racing thoughts. Specific breathing patterns where you inhale for so many seconds, hold your breath for so many seconds and then exhale for so many seconds can also do wonders for helping you fall asleep, stay asleep and get back to sleep in the event you wake up.

Journaling

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One of the most common reasons people find themselves lying in bed unable to sleep is that their thoughts are racing. They replay the cringe-worthy moment they stuck their foot in their mouth in front of their boss or wonder how they should have handled their neighbor who was such a complete jerk. They worry about tomorrow, agonize over today and cannot get yesterday to stop playing on a loop in their brain. Journaling can help all those issues by getting your worries, embarrassing moments, hopes and concerns out of your head and on to paper. This calms your racing thoughts and puts them in some semblance of order. Journaling can also help you find unexpected solutions and patterns that can enable you to form a plan for how to deal with problems in the morning rather than worrying about them all night long. There are a variety of ways to journal. You could use a themed journal, such as gratitude or mood journals or use journaling prompts to get started. There are also bullet and one sentence journals for those short on time. When it comes to journaling, even a little bit goes a long way.

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Sleep is as essential for survival as breathing, but it is the bodily process people tend to be the swiftest to dismiss. The average person would be aghast if someone was so busy that they could not eat for two days, but no one blinks twice at someone who had to function on four hours of sleep for a day or two. Culture, however, cannot change biological reality. Do not let yourself be tricked into believing the opposite. People can claim whatever they want about being able to overcome biology with medication and caffeine. When it really comes down to it, however, sleep is what the body needs the most. So take advantage of the quiet times before sleep and use whatever bedtime ritual you favor to ensure you get a good night’s rest.