Introduction

Hey Dreamie team! Welcome to our first blog post in our series dedicated to improving your sleep. 

In this post, we're going to share some quick tips that you can try right now to help you improve your sleep.

And be sure to follow the rest of the series, where we go indepth on each tip.

So happy reading, and have a good night!

1. Set the Perfect Temperature

Our bodies change temperature as you fall asleep. We cool down when we lie down, and warm up when we get up. So if your room is too hot, you might find it difficult to fall asleep. 

So make sure the temperature is on the cooler side before you shut your eyes at night. This will support you to get a higher quality sleep and fall asleep faster.

That's why the perfect temperature is between 15.6–19.4°C (60–67°F). 

If you're interested in the science behind it, we'd definitely recommend this article by Healthline.

 

Image by Im3rd Media

 

But like all things, it comes down to individual preferences, so find the right temperature for your body. You could also try taking a warm both or shower before bed to help regulate your body temperature. 

As your body starts to cool down after the bath, this may send a signal to your brain that it's time to hit the hay.

2. Blue Light is the Enemy

Stay away from screens at least two hours before bed. Why? 

Our eyes aren't very good at blocking out blue light. This means that the majority of it passes right through to the back of our retinas.

The problem here is that your brain thinks that it's day time. 

Yep, it's like sending a signal to your brain that it's time to wake up! And, on our pursuit to fall asleep fast, we want exactly the opposite...

 

Image by Andrew Neel

 

If you have no choice (such as shift workers or you just can't resisit checking your phone at night), you can also look into getting blue-light blocking glasses. You can also activate 'Night Shift' mode on your phone on laptop, which helps to filter out blue and green wavelengths at night.

Blue light also surpresses your body's natural production of melatonin, which is responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles. Long story short, make sure you put away the screens before bed. 

3. Total Blackout

Making your room as dark as possible can also support you to get a quality night's rest. You want to avoid being exposed to light in the early hours while you're still sleeping, because it's going to start telling your body that it's time to wake up! And that's not what we want.

Studies also show that darkness promotes production of melatonin, which as we covered above, is an essential hormone for sleep. 

The best way to do this is with a sleeping mask that can provide true blackout. The problem with some of the cheaper and smaller shaped masks is that they're flimsy and allow light to come in. 

Dreamie, on the other hand, is oversized on purpose to give you a super comfortable fit but also block out the sleep-ruining light! On top of that, our pure 6A grade silk has a host of benefits such as helping your skin retain moisture, as well as being hypoallergenic.

Another common suggestion is to invest in blackout curtains. These are made with a thicker material that doesn't let light in. It's like a Dreamie Sleep Mask for your windows.

4. Try the 4-7-8 breathing method

This tip is going to help you relax while promoting the calmness required to achieve deep sleep. The “4-7-8” method was developed by Dr. Andrew Weil and is simple yet powerful. 

Closely related to the breath control techniques in yoga, the 4-7-8 method is basically a breathing pattern that relaxes the nervous system. 

Outside of falling asleep, you can also try it out if you ever feel nervous or anxious.

So how does it work?

 

Image by Crystal Kennings

 

Here's how to do it:

1. Put your tongue behind your front teeth.
2. Exhale through your mouth, making a 'whoosh' sound.
3. Close your mouth and inhale through your nose while counting to four in your head.
4. Hold your breath and count to seven in your head.
5. Open your mouth and fully exhale, making the 'whoosh' sound again while counting to eight in your head.
6. Repeat at least three times.

Give it a go and let us know if it works for you! 

5. Stop Drinking Caffeine Before 2 or 3pm

Caffeine and coffee is a quintessential part of peoples' lives around the world. And at Dreamie, we love coffee just as much as we love sleep!

But the problem is that caffeine takes a long time for yourt body to break-down.

In fact, it has a 'half-life' of 3 to 5 hours! The half-life is the amount of time that your body takes to eliminate half of the caffeine. The remaining coffee can stay in your system for a long time after.

As we know, caffeine can give us a kick and help us stay productive during the day. It does this by stimulating the central nervous system, heart and muscles.

For sleep, this is definitely something we want to avoid.

 

Image by Gates Notes

 In the book, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD, the most important questions about sleep are answered, including how caffeine and even alcohol affects sleep. What happens during REM sleep? And why our sleep patterns change across our lifetime.

Bottom line, according to many experts, you should stop caffeine intake before 3 or even 2pm (at least 6 hours before bed) to avoid it affecting your sleep. 

P.S. This book is an essential if you want to understand and improve your sleep so you should definitely check it out!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading through this guide and we hope it helped you out. The aim of this article was to be short, but also cover a lot of tips that you can try out straight away. 

If these helped you out, definitely reach out to us and let us know!

Wishing you a good night's sleep.

- The Dreamie Sleep Team