Perfecting your sleep environment

Perfecting a good morning routine forms a great foundation for the day ahead and I think it all starts the night before.  Waking up feeling refreshed and raring to go all depends on having a good sleep doesn’t it?  I’m pretty fortunate that I’m a pretty good sleeper on the whole, it’s rare that I struggle to doze off at night, but I realise that is not the case for everyone.

No matter how crazy your day has been it’s always best to try to take some time to slow down and unwind before falling into bed.  If you don’t as soon as you hit the pillow your head will still be spinning with thoughts.  It goes without saying that taking time out to have a bath, relax and enjoy some general chill time before trying to sleep is great but who actually has time for all of that each night? Not me for one!  Try to make some small changes in the hour before bed.  That means no TV, no sugar and no work.  I like to listen to some chilled music (Radio 2 have some great documentaries on late at night) and generally slow things down a bit.

Your bed itself should be a haven of comfort so investing in it should not be overlooked.  A good quality mattress, pillows and bedding make a massive difference.  It’s no coincidence that when you stay in a nice hotel the beds normally feel like heaven, they use premium cottons and well-made mattresses.  Try switching to Egyptian cotton bedding too and there is no way you will want to buy cheap supermarket sheets ever again.  

Next comes the mattress.  I know you probably think that your current mattress is ‘fine’, but fine really isn’t good enough.  Depending on your personal sleeping habits it is likely that you spend around a third of your life in bed, so you need to ensure that this is spent in comfort.  You’ve no doubt seen the Casper mattress advertised everywhere.  They offer comfort and support all in one through their high-density memory foam and transition comfort zone layers.  The zoned layers treat your shoulders and hips differently for better alignment and deeper comfort.  Honestly, once you upgrade your mattress to a new one like the Casper you will quickly realise that your old one was anything but fine!

It’s important to get the temperature right during the night too.  As we move into summer it’s worth thinking about switching your heavy duvet for something a bit lighter.  Being too hot or too cold is a major factor in a restless night’s sleep.  I’ve switched to a summer recently too, it’s only 4.5 tog so it’s ideal, as the night temperature creeps up a little.

So now you have got to sleep, what about waking up?  I’m obviously lucky in that I work from home a lot of the time so waking up in the morning is not so much of a rush job for me as many of you probably face.  The one thing I would say is to stop using the snooze button.  Just set your alarm for as late as you possibly can and get up as soon as it kicks in.  An extra half hours sleep is much more beneficial than 30 mins of constant snooze button hitting.

How does your routine differ? Drop me a message on twitter @everyday_man and let me know!