Here are sleep micro-steps:
- Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool (between 60 and 67 degrees).
- No electronic devices starting 30 minutes before bedtime.
- No caffeine after 2 p.m.
- Remember, your bed is for sleep and sex only—no work!
- Sorry, Mr. Snuffles: No pets on the bed.-Take a hot bath with Epsom salts before bed to help calm your mind and body.
- Pajamas, nightdresses, and even special T-shirts send a sleep-friendly message to your body. If you wore it to the gym, don’t wear it to bed.
- Do some light stretching, deep breathing, yoga, or meditation to help your body and your mind transition to sleep.
- When reading in bed, make it a real book or an e-reader that does not emit blue light. And make sure it is not work-related: novels, poetry, philosophy, anything but work.
- Ease yourself into sleep mode by drinking some chamomile or lavender tea.
- Before bed, write a list of what you are grateful for. It’s a great way to make sure your blessings get the closing scene of the night.
Arianna Huffington; Founder/CEO, Thrive Global
“Pick a time each night to escort your devices out of your bedroom before you go to sleep. Our phones are repositories of everything we need to put away to allow us to sleep — our to-do lists, our inboxes, the demands of the world. So putting your phone to bed outside your bedroom as a regular part of your bedtime ritual makes you more likely to wake up as fully charged as your phone.”
Al Roker:
“I just got back from vacation, where we put the phones down and slept so much better. I set my Audible App for :15 in whatever book I’m reading and I am gone before the timer goes off.”
Heidi Zak, Co-Founder/CEO; ThirdLove:
“I am a sleep-focused person, and have always been. I know that I feel and perform my best when I get 8 hours of sleep a night. Even with running a fast growing startup and being the mom of 2 little kids, I find a way to make it a priority in my life. I don’t watch any TV, so that is one way I make more time for sleep.
I swear by my white noise sound machine (and have one in each of my kids rooms as well), and going to bed at the same time every night, even weekends generally. I aim for a 10:30 PM bedtime and a 6:30 am wake up. I also have the OK-to wake alarm clocks for my kids that get green at 7 AM that have helped train them (well, at least my oldest) to stay in their room until 7 AM.”
Debra Messing:
“I use a sleep meditation app on my phone! The Meditation Oasis podcast has hundreds of different meditations.”
