Sleep your way to happiness
Getting enough sleep can seriously impact your mental health
I know what you might be thinking, how can I sleep my way to happiness? I’m going to give you a few tried and tested pointers on how you can start to feel happier every day after getting a good nights rest.
Keep a journal for your thoughts and dreams
Simply writing down all that clutter in your head paves the way for a restful and calm nights sleep. By writing down things that are going on in your head before bed means you won’t be thinking about them over and over again when you’re trying to sleep. It makes room for logical thought, and clears your mind of the stuff that doesn’t really matter. If you find that your sleep often gets disturbed by dreams you should write them down too as they may be trying to tell you something.
Prepare yourself for restful sleep
This means reading, listening to music, anything that lets you unwind. You can’t expect to fall asleep and wake up refreshed if you’re not ready to sleep. Try to put your mind at ease. Life can be very hectic, never mind what goes on in your head throughout the day. Relaxing yourself makes it easier to get your creativity flowing and strengthens your intuition. And that can only be a good thing! If you’re not in the right mindset before sleep or you’re worrying about something then you’re only setting yourself up for failure. We’ve all been there. Take yourself to your happy place, and stay there. You deserve it!
Accomplish something before bed
I don’t know about you, but I always find that I’m more motivated to do things at night. This is entirely left up to the individual. Whether it’s at night or in the morning or just after lunch, do something worthwhile for yourself. You’ll feel a better sense of self worth and as though your life means something. Those are good attitudes to adopt. Even if it’s something small, it doesn’t matter what the task is. It can be as simple as finishing a crossword puzzle. Maybe read the next chapter of your book. Anything that brings you closer to where you want to be.
Base your thoughts on gratitude
This one is by far the most important. I’ve learned over the years that being bitter gets you nowhere. By placing emphasis on and indulging in thoughts of gratitude, it lets you see things from a clearer perspective. These kind of thoughts cannot hurt you. These are the kind of thoughts that make you happy. They are beneficial to your state of mind, and opens the door to a restful nights sleep. It’s so important to keep our thoughts in check, as many people can get lost and lose sight of what is really worthwhile in life. Taking a generous and kind view of yourself and others can work wonders for your sleep, and your life. P.S.: It works during the day too!
Keep a bottle of water beside your bed
Being dehydrated can get you into all sorts of trouble, mentally and physically. Let’s face it, not many of us get our recommended 5 a day never mind 8 glasses of water. So it’s helpful that before bed, you drink some water, and right when you wake up. If you want to be fancy about it you can add some lemon juice and really kick things into gear. When your body is hydrated you can think more logically and you will feel better so getting your liquids in day and night is a really good choice.
Submit to sleep
Simply dedicating yourself to sleep will make it easier to get into a healthy sleeping cycle. That means turning off your phone, with no exceptions. You can still use it for an alarm I guess. What I mean by dedication is acknowledging that you have decided to give yourself this time to rest with no distractions. If you keep flipping your phone back on, thinking of all the profile pictures you didn’t yet ‘like’ you can totally ruin your efforts to get to sleep. Turn it off, sugar!
So there you have it. I’m not saying they’re miracle workers, but give them a try and get back to me. I’d like to hear how it goes.
Have a good day!