10 Simple Hacks to Fall Asleep In Seconds
It’s easier said than done trying to actually catch some Z’s, and there is an entire spectrum of people, all desperately trying to claim back the realm of sleep and their quality of sleep. We all want high quality of sleep, and yet so many of us find ourselves tossing and turning hours after we hit the pillow, unable to slip into the Land of Nod.
However, we all deserve to get the kind of sleep we deserve, and so we’ve rounded up some of our best and most useful sleep hacks to try and help you find it a little bit easier to curl up under the covers and nod off. So, without further ado, here are ten simple sleep hacks…
1. Read a Book before Bed
One of the best and renowned sleep hacks is to turn down the lights, snuggle down, and have a quick read of a good bedside tome. It doesn’t have to be particularly highbrow reading, although reading something you find boring or stale might well induce your visit to the Land of Nod. Reading helps facilitate sleep by forcing you to remove yourself from electronic equipment – items designed to keep your mind visually stimulated – and into a relaxed activity. So, next time you’re struggling to get to sleep, try picking up one of those books on your bedside. It might just be the thing to help.
2. Set a Formal Bedtime
Setting a formal bedtime – as in a time in which you force yourself to go to bed every evening – can be extremely beneficial in terms of helping you get to sleep post-haste. Not only can setting a formal bedtime help you physically, it has some strong psychological benefits. Setting a certain time for you to go to sleep helps your mind recognize that it is time for you to start unwinding and relaxing, much in the same way a child learns to sleep through the night. A regular bedtime also helps your brain adjust its levels of serotonin and melatonin, and helps balance your circadian rhythm out. In short, all good things, and essential sleep hacks that you should implement if you want to be asleep within seconds.
3. Eat a Healthier Diet
We know everyone keeps extolling the virtues of a healthier diet, and believe us, we’re sick of it too. However, if you’ll hear us out, adjusting your diet to help you get better sleep, might just be worth it. Research has found that increasing your intake of fruits, vegetables, and pulses can help improve your sleep and the time it takes for you to go to sleep dramatically, thanks to enhancing your levels of magnesium, potassium, or other essential minerals that your body needs. Even incorporating more turkey – rich in tryptophan which helps induce drowsiness and sleepiness – can help make the distance between awake and sleep much easier.
4. Keep Your Room Cool
The last tip we can offer to help you get to sleep quicker, is to make sure that you keep your room as cool as possible – but not too cool. Years of scientific research have found that your body temperature is key when trying to get to sleep, as your body temperature naturally drops when you start to nod off. Therefore maintaining a cool, but not cold temperature in your room is essential. Similar to the way how coming out of a hot bath makes you feel sleepy thanks to your body’s temperature drop, the best course of action is keeping a fan or a window open to keep cool air circulating, and then taking the opportunity to snuggle down. Lovely.
5. Practice Yoga before Bed
If you fancy exploring something a little less orthodox, then research suggests that doing a spot of yoga can help relax your body and help you get to sleep in record time. In terms of sleep hacks, yoga has long been touted as an avenue worth exploring; certain sequences such as ‘Salute to the Moon’ are designed to be slow, gentle movements that promote a feeling of relaxation and which help relieve any bodily aches that might keep you up at night. Yoga gets a lot of attention for its health benefits, but if you’re stuck on a sleepless night, try your hand at some yoga and find yourself relaxing and nodding off immediately.
6. Meditate
The meditation revolution keeps on rolling through our cities and cultures, touted as a huge help for anyone who needs it – and with good reason. In terms of being simultaneously rudimentary and revolutionary, meditation has been commended as a kind of cure-all for a large swathe of physical or psychological ailments – in this case being unable to go to sleep. Meditation allows you to calm your restless mind and focus on the kind of slow, rhythmic breathing that helps make sleeping better. In fact one of the suggested breathing techniques, the ujjayi breath (or ocean breath), is perfect for calming you down and helping you nod off to sleep.
7. Drink Some Warm Milk
Sometimes the old wives’ tales turn out to have some common sense or a grain of surprising truth in them. For example, the old adage about drinking warm milk helping you go to sleep, turns out to be not only true, but a beneficial sleep hack for anyone trying to get to sleep quicker. Warm milk, or similarly crafted milk-based beverages, may have shaky standing as a soporific thanks to the ongoing debate over the actual effectiveness of tryptophan in aiding sleep. However, psychologists have considered that drinking warm milk may have an unconscious psychological effect, and that it relates to the childhood experience of breastfeeding and the comfort associated with it. So, if you want to have a little sip of something before you hit the hay, try a glass of warm milk, rather than the traditional boozy nightcap. You’ll feel better for it in the morning – in more ways than one.
8. Cut out The Caffeine
One of the best sleep hacks out there is to cut out of the most prevalent addictive chemicals out there: caffeine. Yep, we’re all guilty of partaking in some caffeine at one point or another, whether it’s in our tea, coffee, or even out of chocolate. However, if you want to make sure you go to sleep as soon as possible, try and cut caffeine out of your diet after a certain point in the day. Studies indicate that cutting off your caffeine intake after 3pm helps improve quality of sleep, and the time it takes for you to get to sleep. So, if you want to try something to help you nod off in record time, try ditching that late evening cup of coffee, and see what happens.
9. Turn off The Electronics
One of the biggest, best sleep hacks for the modern-day person, is to remove those pesky electronics from your bedroom to stop you playing with them. Numerous studies have found that the blue light from electronic devices disrupts your brain’s ability to begin relaxing for better quality sleep, as well as the likelihood of being unable to properly relax before hitting the hay, thanks to devices intended to keep you engaged. Instead, try and turn off your laptop, phone or tablet about an hour before you go to bed, so that your mind can unwind properly, and you can get that all-important quality of sleep that you deserve.
10. Invest In Some Blackout Curtains
This can be an issue no matter what your bedroom situation is, but it is always worth investing in a solid pair of blackout curtains if you’re looking for a great go-to sleep hack. With more and more light pollution in the day-to-day – your neighbour’s backyard spotlight, the streetlamps outside, everyone’s car headlights coming in at 1am – it can be harder and harder to sleep with all that extra light pouring in and messing up your chance at sleep. Blackout curtains are a great preventative measure, as they’ll make sure your sleep is longer, better, and is much less likely to be disturbed.
(lifehack.org )
6 Tips for making friends as an adult
Starting new friendships as an adult can feel difficult and intimidating. During childhood, you could meet new people who were in similar life stages through school or extracurricular activities. But when we’re fully engaged in adulting, our lives tend to become more consumed with changes and obligations that differ for each person, from romantic partners to young children to long work hours.
However, studies show that close friendships can have a profound impact on your overall health and happiness. According to a 2010 report in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, having strong social ties can even boost your immune system and help you live longer. So how do you make (and keep) friends as an adult? Here are our six top tips.
1. Keep a positive mindset
First and foremost, making new friends requires stepping beyond your comfort zone and putting yourself out there. If you experience social anxiety or fear of rejection, try to confront your inner voice and adjust any negative assumptions you might have about how people will respond to you.
A 1980s study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that volunteers who believed that a person they were interacting with liked (or disliked) them began to act in ways that made this belief more likely to come true. This suggests that if you go into social situations with the confidence that most people will like you, it’s more likely that this will actually be the case. Remind yourself of your likeable qualities and be open to the possibilities.
2. Initiate, initiate, initiate
This step is particularly important for people who find themselves in new social settings, whether you’ve recently moved to a new city or started a new job. The best way to initiate a friendly interaction with a stranger is by sparking up a conversation and putting your communication skills to work. But how?
One simple way to approach this is to say hello, offer an observation or insight that applies to the current situation, and then follow it up with a question. For example, if it’s your first day at a new job, introduce yourself to a colleague and tell them, briefly, about your position. Then ask: “What is your role?” or “How long have you been with the company?”
Of course, it’s important to acknowledge that not everyone is open to having a conversation with strangers at all times. Before you initiate a chat, be sure to pay attention to what the person is doing: Do they seem upset, hyper-focused, or in a hurry? If so, you might try again later—or with someone else.
3. Practice vulnerability
Studies have found that when strangers are getting to know one another, the more they each share about themselves, the more they end up liking one another. What’s more: good rapport often ramps up when people realize they have something in common—so if you’re looking for ways to deepen your connections, don’t be afraid to get vulnerable. If you want to establish deep, meaningful friendships, ask other people thoughtful questions that get them to share about themselves, practice active listening, and be ready to open up to others about yourself, too.
Group of adults with their arms around each other on top of a mountain at sunset.
4. Accept invitations
If someone invites you to do something, try your best to make it happen. If you’re experiencing social anxiety, remind yourself that this person invited you to get together because they want to spend time in your presence. If you’re sick or busy and have to decline their invite, make an effort to reschedule the plans and put them on the calendar so you’ll remain accountable.
5. Look out for local events and group meetups
Find an event, class, or meetup that you want to attend using local directories or social media. If you can, it’s best to sign up for activities that give you multiple opportunities to connect with a group of people, such as a book club, a language class, or a hiking group.
6. Use your network
Leaning on your current connections can be a great way to meet people. At work, mention to a coworker that you’re looking to grow your social circle, or consider inviting your colleagues to go out for drinks after work or attend a yoga class. You can also reach out to old friends or acquaintances, like former roommates.
Go through your contact list and reach out by asking to grab a coffee or talk a long walk to catch up. You probably have plenty of shared experience to bond over, and you might even revive an old friendship or expand your circle of friends.
Establishing a connection is the first step in creating a new friendship, but to transition from strangers to good friends, you have to follow up and make plans on an ongoing basis. Research shows that forming a friendship can take up to 90 hours and becoming best friends can take more than double that time.
So make sure you’re regularly reaching out to your new friends—the best way to make and keep new friends in adulthood is to show an interest in the things that are important to them and be present in their life.
(bungalow.com)
Why You Need a Digital Detox
You know when you’ve overindulged on food. Your body feels sluggish and bloated and you lack energy and feel overly full and uncomfortable. Many people try to combat that gross feeling by eliminating highly processed foods and avoiding high-calorie, low-nutrition foods for a few days. In essence, they are “detoxing” their body to feel better.
But what happens when it’s your mind that doesn’t feel great? Technology has improved our lives in many ways. Like anything in life, though, too much can sometimes lead to harm. Have you ever thought about trying a digital detox to give your mind and body a rest? For some, a digital detox can be just as beneficial to the body as eating your daily vegetables.
Why you need a digital detox
Social media and technology stimulate parts of the brain that “reward” us, much like certain illicit substances do. We get a dopamine rush and feel pleasure when we get “likes” or responses. That rush can sometimes cause us to fall into a trap of using social media as a way to relieve stress, loneliness or depression.
A 2017 study from Harvard University found that social media can have a significantly negative impact on social relationships, self-esteem, academic success and overall emotional well-being. The study also linked high-volume social media usage to depression and anxiety.
Even if you’re not actually addicted, most everyone could benefit from an occasional social media break, especially when the news cycle is stressful and worrisome. It’s good to take a break from technology in order to “reset” your brain.
But what, exactly, is a digital detox?
A digital detox is a defined period of time in which you significantly reduce the time you spend interacting with technology. The amount of time can range from a few hours to a few days to many months, depending on your need.
A digital detox can be as easy as simply turning off your notifications, setting a time limit on your amount of screen time per day, or having a set period of self-imposed, non-screen time.
Some people choose to cut out all social media and non-necessary technology during a digital detox, and some choose not to use their smartphones, tablets, computers, or technology at all.
It’s easy to check your screen time on your phone by looking at your system settings. iPhone users, for example, get a notification on Sundays that summarizes their past week’s screen time. In the Settings menu, the notification tells the average amount of time per day users use their phone and if there has been an increase or decrease in the usage.
Ideas for a detox
How you choose to step away depends on you, but here are some ideas to start your technology mental cleanse.
- Check your phone and social media only once a day.
- Leave your phone in another room at night before you sleep.
- Remove social media apps from your phone.
- Opt out of social media notifications.
- Block social media sites using a web filtering tool.
- Delete your social media profiles forever (or for a certain period of time to see how you like it).
You may want to have a plan on how you will fill the void in the first few days. Some people might have withdrawal symptoms, such as a heightened craving for social media or a fear you might be missing something important or entertaining.
Additional benefits of trying a detox
Taking a break from digital distractions has a lot of health benefits, such as:
Becoming more productive.
A paper in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology showed that people spend much more time on social networks than they think they do, causing them to engage in more multi-tasking and distractions from work or hobbies.
Improving your sleep.
A 2014 study of adults aged 19 to 32 found that on average, they check their social media accounts for over an hour a day. Of those, 57% reported sleep disturbances.
Improving your personal relationships.
Less time scrolling through social media can mean more face-to-face interactions with friends, family and loved ones. In addition, the trap of falling prey to social media “fights” is dramatically reduced, which lowers stress.
Reducing stress.
Social media tends to feed our “fear of missing out” and can create added pressure to be connected, witty or responsive. Maintaining a large social network may also add to daily stress and being bombarded constantly with information, opinions and comparisons is detrimental to mental well-being.
Finding new or old hobbies.
Remember how you used to love reading, hiking or woodworking? By taking an online break, you may find yourself rediscovering or participating in hobbies or other enjoyable activities you would normally not have time for.
Becoming more mindful.
By reducing those digital distractions, you can become more in tune with what’s around you and how you’re feeling in the moment.
Becoming better connected.
Social media may lead us to believe we are truly connected to our friends and family, but it’s an illusion. By deleting that crutch, you’ll open yourself up to seeing more people and having more genuine conversations free of edits or filters.
Improving your self-esteem.
Being online all the time can cause us to compare ourselves, our lives and our own happiness with what we see. This can harm our self-esteem.
Resetting your tolerance for social media.
You’ll soon find that your need to check sites will ease and you can control your need for constant online connection. You’ll also appreciate the positive aspects of social media more and be able to decide what negative aspects to avoid.
