4 tips for a better and satisfying sleep

Are you having trouble sleeping or simply wake up some mornings not feeling refreshed? Good news, I have put together four strategies that I've actually tested myself in my own life to not only sleep better, but also wake up faster and easier in the morning. I am super stoked to share these four different strategies, or four different tips that you should be thinking about when preparing for your night's rest, and how you want to get up in the morning. Let’s jump right in.

Tip number one 

This is the most obvious, and it's not so much as a strategy or a tip as it's just good wellbeing. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep per night, and that you're not sleep deprived. When you get a proper night's sleep, waking up becomes a lot easier. So if you're burning the candle at both ends, try to find some stability in your life. Try to find a way to manage your resources and make sure you're getting enough sleep. Aim for 7-8 hours per night, definitely try not to go below six. Obviously, many of you have a lot on your plate, but consider a good night’s sleep as an investment for a productive and meaningful day. 

Pro tip: 

Power naps are an excellent way to get a boost and feel refreshed. Taking a quick nap is a very good strategy to get more rest. Now be careful, you don't want to cross 30 minutes, otherwise you defeat the purpose entirely. If you exceed 30 minutes of sleep, you'll start to enter a different sleep cycle and that's where the sleep inertia can really take place. And if the sleep inertia gets hold of you, then it's going to make it a lot harder for you to wake up, and you won’t wake up feeling refreshed, but rather groggy and sluggish. 

Tip number two

This is also common knowledge, but this is a great strategy that believe it or not, not everyone uses. When you get up, have some caffeine, have a coffee, have a tea.  Caffeine is good. I mean, it's constitutional. Everybody knows that person that is more cranky in the morning without a coffee than others, there's a reason for this. The caffeine actually helps shake that sleep inertia, and gets you to a wakeful state much quicker. Do yourself a favour, get yourself that double double or green tea, and shake that tiredness. 

Tip number three

This one's becoming more and more of an issue, and it’s something that we have adopted only recently. We use our cellphones way too much before bed. Thirty years ago, our parents' generation wouldn't have had this problem. But I read this book called, indistractable by Nir Eyal and it touched upon the prevalence of being distracted by our phones and provided lots of insight regarding how your sleep routine should be handled. I know many of you won't believe this to be possible, but I do not sleep with any technology in my room. Shocking I know, but this trick did wonders for me, and it will do the same for your mind and health. Take your IPad, your IPhone, your Apple Watch, your laptop, and leave it on the other side of the house before going to bed. The amount of stimulation that our brains receive from being distracted either by an instagram notification, or reading a message from our phones is so stimulating that it can actually disrupt our sleep patterns and it can prevent us from getting wholesome rest.

I know what you’re thinking, what if there is an emergency? Well, the simple answer is, there rarely are any real emergencies, and if there is something that can’t wait until morning, someone can deliver the message the way we’ve done it for countless centuries before us, in person. 

Worry number two, how will I wake up in the morning, I need my alarm clock. A simple classic alarm clock does the trick, nothing fancy. It tells the time, and is reliable as ever. What I did was, I got a Google home. There's no screen on it, there's no stimuli. I talk to it, I tell it to set my alarm for five or eight in the morning. She wakes me up in the morning, that's it that's all.Trust me, getting rid of your phone at night is a huge game changer. You're going to feel a lot better and you're going to be a lot happier.

Tip number four

This one is really clutch and that's why I saved it for the last. Now this is one that people often overlook, but they don't realize how important it is. When you have light go off in the morning in conjunction with your alarm clock, you will notice a major improvement in how quickly it takes for you to get up and at em. It’s simple, when you sleep with the blinds open, the sun comes up, you wake up quicker, right? First thing you should do when you wake up is to crack those blinds open as you turn that alarm off. 

Pro tip:

I bought a scheduler so that my lamp goes off at the same time as my alarm clock goes off, so not only am I getting hit with the auditory wake up of the alarm clock, I'm getting hit with the visual blast of light in my eyes. When I changed this technique, I was never late anymore. I was never sleeping through clients. I was never brutally groggy to the point where I was just a miserable person in the mornings. This one was a huge game changer and if you're someone that struggles with getting up in the morning, changing this technique will make a huge difference.

I hope all these tips helped, and that they lead to better nights and more productive days. 

About the Author:

Scott Bailey has a BSc in Kinesiology from Mcgill University. He holds certification as a mobility and Kinesiology expert, CrossFit coach, personal training and various other specializations.

Scott has over 12 years of experience working with a diverse clientele from mobility re-conditioning clients to athletes of various sports. He currently works out of Club Sportif MAA, R Gym and Train Fitness Studio. You can catch him on Youtube at Trainingwithscott.com, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or are looking for some personal training sessions.