Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, but we should, as a rule, aim for seven hours. Here are 9 tips for a better slumber.
1
TAKE A SLEEP AID.
Sleeping pills may work for you, but the jury is out on how effective they are. Some researchers have even suggested a link between sleeping medications like Nytol and Alzheimer’s. So try something more old-fashioned like a cup of hot milk (which contains tryptophan, an amino acid that helps you sleep) or a cup of tart cherry juice, which studies show can lead to a modest improvement in sleep.
2
BANISH CELL PHONES AND COMPUTERS FROM THE ROOM (AND PICK UP A BOOK INSTEAD).
Keeping your phone on your bedside table is a terrible idea. Also make sure you leave at least 30 minutes between checking your email and turning in for the night. Light emitted by our gadgets adversely affects our melatonin levels, which affects sleep. By contrast, reading lowers stress levels faster than any other common activity—and it will help you escape the worries of real life.
3
KEEP THAT CLOCK OUT OF SIGHT.
Seeing it from your bed can induce anxiety: Only five hours until the alarm goes off! Turn it away so you can’t see it. If you can avoid having to set an alarm at all, even better.
4
EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST— AND A SMALLER, EARLIER DINNER.
This is the hardest one for many of us, trained as we are to eat and run in the morning, but try to find time for a proper breakfast— and go easy on food late at night. No one wants to sleep on a full stomach.
5
PLAN OUT YOUR DAY WHEN YOU WAKE UP.
This will help induce a calmer mind, ready to tackle what’s ahead. While you’re waiting for your coffee, just write out the five or six things you plan to do and in what order.
6
MIND YOUR BREATHING.
Try meditation every morning for 10 minutes. A few simple breathing exercises should do the trick, maybe with the help of an app like Headspace.
7
DRINK LESS ALCOHOL, AND MORE WATER.
You really don’t need us to explain why. We’ve all had to deal with the consequences of a boozy night.
8
TIDY UP YOUR BEDROOM.
The room in which you sleep should only be the room in which you sleep. It’s not your office or your TV den. A cluttered bedroom is like a cluttered mind —it can make you feel distracted and anxious. Keep floors and surfaces as clean as possible. In feng shui terms, you shouldn’t even place anything under the bed—energy should circulate.
9
INSTALL BLACKOUT CURTAINS OR WEAR AN EYE MASK. For those who live in cities, in particular, light pollution can have a profound effect on our ability to sleep well. Take the time and money to install window treatments that really shut out the ambient light, or get an eye mask. It might be strange to adapt to it at first, but it’s a whole lot more practical, and cost-effective, than moving to the country.
8 6 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 17 O U T
INVEST IN A NEW MATTRESS Thanks to technology, it’s never been easier to buy one. We tried out three new models, and these were the results:
TUFT & NEEDLE TuftAndNeedle.com Price: $500 (Full); $600 (Queen) Daehee Park and JT Marino founded Tuft & Needle in 2012 after the newlywed Marino, shopping around with his wife, realized there was an opportunity for a reasonably priced and comfortable mattress. Pros: Great value. Foam mattresses can feel excessively hot, but by experimenting with a two-layer instead of a three-layer foam, Tuft & Needle have created a mattress that can breathe a little more easily. Cons: It can still be hot.
SONNO SonnoBed.com Price: $760 (Full); $875 (Queen) One of the latest entries into the foam mattress category, Sonno was created by Dino Corella and has a unique claim to fame: Each side of the mattress can be customized, so you get two levels of firmness, choosing from soft, medium, and firm. Pros: Easy to flip over, thanks to the handles on each side. Cons: The firm side could be firmer. Plus, five layers of foam—two for each side and one for the center—made the bed a little too toasty.
HELIX’S MADE-TO-ORDER MATTRESS HelixSleep.com Price: $800 (Full); $900 (Queen) Helix specializes in customizing mattresses, and found a mattress with firmness, sink, and support based on our answers to its comprehensive questionnaire on sleep habits, body shape, size, and weight. You can upgrade to a mattress with different zones for each partner too. Pros: The mattress arrives in under a week in a box compact enough to carry up a few flights. Difference in sleep quality is immediate. Helix also offers a cooling mattress that works well all summer, and a 100-night sleep test period, so if you’re not satisfied, they’ll refund your purchase and pick up the mattress. Cons: The instructions suggests that the mattress, once unwrapped and unrolled, takes its full shape after about 45 minutes. For us, it took half a day.
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY J O H N M AC C O N N E L L
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