World Sleep Day – 14 Ideas To Help Aid A Better Night’s Sleep

Good morning and happy Friday everyone! Today is World Sleep Day and so I thought the perfect day to share this post with you all. I have included some of my top tips, as well as some others from a few different bloggers which may be helpful as well.

World Sleep Day

World Sleep Day is an annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving. It is organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of World Sleep Society (founded by WASM and WSF) and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders.

worldsleepday.org

Many people struggle to sleep, but chronic illnesses can make this much harder. Medications that are taken can cause insomniac like side effects and if you are pain, it can be difficult to get comfortable enoughto drop off. If you are struggling with bedtime and sleep routines, hopefully this post will have something you could try for a good night’s rest!

14 Ideas To Help Aid A Good Night’s Sleep

1 – Lush Sleepy Lotion

I went into Lush and one of the incredibly friendly staff in there came over to ask if I needed help looking for something. My reply was the magic sleepy lotion everyone was talking about. She helpfully showed me where to find said body lotion but was asking me not to blame her if, in fact, it wasn’t magical, even though she knew many people were saying it was fantastic.

Since that day I think me and Ste have gotten through four pots and are almost through the fifth. Even Ste gave it a try and will now use it most nights. We rub it on the pulse points on our neck and the insides of our wrists as this is supposed to help the smell linger all night. The smell is lovely and the body lotion as good as other Lush ones I have tried, so it is not at all unpleasant to use either.

2 – Candles

I am a big fan of candles anyway and often light them around the house. In the bedroom I tend to use a lot of lavender type ones to promote a sleepy, relaxed environment.

3 – Weighted Blankets

I was bought a weighted blanket at Christmas – makes a huge difference!

Claire from painpalsblog.com

Weighted blankets have been seen to help aid people sleep who suffer from anxiety, restless leg syndrome, insomnia and many more conditions which affect a good night’s rest.

4 – Eye Pillow From That’s Sew Fetch by Katy

AD | Received this product at a discounted price

I have known Katy since the age of 4, when we both attended the same infant school way back when! Upon leaving school we didn’t keep in touch but have recently reconnected via Facebook. I saw a status update about some eye mask pillows she had made for family and friends at Christmas being really popular gifts and she was looking at offering them for sale. I got in touch as though it would be a perfect way of relaxing and getting a good night’s sleep.

Katy will ask what type of effect you are looking for (I wanted somehting calmin and relaxing) and then makes up a personal blend of oils to scent your pillow with. She has taken the time to research and acquire quality oils for this and also uses small businesses for her fabric purchases which is great. She is also happy to let you have the ‘recipe’ for your personal blend so you can purchase the same oils to ‘top up’ the scent on your pillow when it starts to fade. I love the weight of the pillow on my face in bed, and also like to slightly warm it (which can be done in the microwave) as it feels more comforting and also makes the smell a little more potent.

Check out That’s Sew Fetch by Katy on Etsy

5 – Space Masks

I also wanted to mention the Space Masks from spacemasks.com

I received a couple of these in a subscription box I ordered and was intrigued to see what they did. The mask is self heating and starts to work when you take it out the packet. It suggests leaving it on for fifteen minutes but it was so incredibly relaxing that Ste cam in from his shower and had to take it off me as I had fallen asleep! I have another one left and am saving it for a day I really need relaxing from!

6 – Bathtime

I always think a nice, relaxing bath and getting into fresh clean bed sheets has got to be one of the most comforting things. To make it extra relaxing you could use a bath bomb or bubble bath, or even do a face mask.

7 – Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Hygiene is so important

Jo from jboccupationaltherapy.co.uk

Check out Jo’s post about Sleep Hygiene with some more great tips for getting a good night’s sleep included.

8 – Banning Screen Time

This is one of the things I struggle most with. Screen time before bed definitely affects my sleep, meaning I take longer to ‘turn off’ every night.

To help combat this I have started reading my paperbacks instead of a Kindle at night time, and my Kindle screen is also set to black with white writing, so if I am reading a book on there it is not so bright. I have also been giving myself a social media deadline and try not to go online after this time. Switching my phone to a Do Not Disturb mode has also helped with this as it turns off the internet connection. I know some people leave their phone over the other side of the room to resist temptation – this also helps you get out of bed in a more timely manner in the morning as you have to actually get up to turn off your alarm.

9 – V Shaped Pillows

A V shaped pillow helps me. I have 2 from Ikea. I use them to alleviate pressure on my hips or prop myself comfortably in bed during a bad flare.I wouldn’t be without them!

Rachel from whatapain.co.uk

We have lots of pillows in bed for a similar reason. I can use them under my head, neck, knees, feet, in between my legs and in all manner of ways to get some comfort in my joints.

10 – Routine

Routine has definitely meant that I can get a better night’s sleep. My body starts to expect bedtime when I try and keep it at the same time and similar to waking up in the morning. Almost every day now I set my alarm so that I don’t lay in bed for hours. I will always factor in to have a nap if I have a bad night and this helps recharge the batteries. I will also try and set my alarm and not nap for too long or too late, so it does not affect my night time routine.

I read somewhere that the optimum nap time to fit in with the cycle of sleep is to have either half an hour, 1.5, 2.5 hours etc so always try and stick to that, depending on what time of the day it is and what I have planned.

11 – Shhleepies Feet Foot Oil

I have seen a lot of my mummy blogger friends talking about how this has really helped improve their children’s sleep – which in turn makes their’s better too! I have actually purchased a bottle and… misplaced it, so haven’t had chance to try it yet. I thought it was still worth a mention though as there have been some brilliant reviews on it and you might want to give it a go. The owner is absolutely lovely as well. I pointed a friend in her direction but her daughter has an allergy to orange. They were able to still create a special blend for her without the orange oil which was so lovely!

Check out Shhleepies Feet Foot Oil from Mummy Loves Organic

12 – A Reset

Here’s my post about the method I use to get over sleep inversion and insomnia, resetting the body clock

Char at chronicallyhopeful.com

I loved this post from chronicallyhopeful.com – How I Overcame Insomnia

Once you end up in a vicious cycle of not sleeping all night and then napping all day it can be hard to get out of. This is a really good technique for helping to reset your body clock.

13 – Headspace App

Again, this is not one I have tried myself but I have heard great things about the meditations on it, and know many people find it effective to help them relax at bedtime.

14 – White Noise

Some love it and some hate it. White noise machines are popular for babies but can be really useful for adults too. I like to have the fan on at night, part of it is because I am struggling with my temperature due to being poorly at the moment, but I also like the gentle noise to go to sleep to. If you don’t want to buy a fancy machine you can also get videos on YouTube that play all sorts of things from the waves on a beach, to the rain forest to a hoover!

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So that’s my list with some of my top tips for helping to get a good night’s sleep! Do you have anymore you can add? Please pop them in the comments below as they may help someone else reading. A big thankyou to the other bloggers I have featured in this post who had some great ideas which I had to include! Hope you all have a great night’s sleep now after reading this,