After a dull and exhausting day at work, it is not easy to relax your body and mind enough so that you can fall asleep. And if you add in the stress and anxiety that come with a regular day at work or school you will have all the ingredients that you need to remain awake for several hours turning or tossing in bed. But, there are some simple ways or tricks that you can use to relax your body and calm your mind before bed.
#1 Wind Down Before Bed
It is always important to spare at least half an hour for winding down before you go to sleep because this gives the body enough time to relax and prepare for sleep. Although different people will have their distinct ways of winding down it is important to make sure that you do not use or engage in any activity that might stimulate your brain like working of playing on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Instead, you should have a step by step bedtime ritual that consists of activities that prepare your body and mind for sleep.
#2 Avoid Alcohol and Coffee
The main reason why most people will always start the day with a warm cup of coffee is that it helps to keep them alert, but this is not what your body/mind needs as you prepare to go to bed. In fact, you should also not take coffee late in the evening because its effects last for several hours and it might make it hard for you to relax as you prepare to sleep. Contrary to popular belief alcohol is also not a good idea when trying to relax before bed because it might make you feel sleepy but it will interfere with your sleep quality.
#3 Brew Some Herbal Tea
If you must drink something before bed, the best idea is to go for some herbal bedtime teas. These drinks will not only help you fall asleep fast, but they are very useful in relaxing everything from the muscles to the brain and turning off your mind. Some of the best herbal bedtime teas include chamomile, valerian, passion flower and also lavender. Also, making them is easy and will only take you a few minutes as it is all about steeping the dry herbs in hot water for a couple of minutes and then sieving the mixture. But make sure that you never add a lot of refined sugar to the teas because it will affect the effectiveness.
#4 Read Something
Most people will always feel sleepy when reading a book, and this is regardless of how uninteresting or captivating it might be, and so you can also use this trick when trying to relax before bedtime. First, reading a book in bed will distract your mind and help you forget some of the worries that are making it arduous for you to relax. Secondly, the effort and concentration that you put into the reading or the movement from one line to the other will also leave you feeling sleepy. And by adding in a comfortable bed reading pillow to the equation, you can be confident that you will be asleep long before you finish reading one chapter.
#5 Do Some Yoga or Meditate
Yoga and meditation are among the best methods of turning off your mind before bed, and the best thing about both relaxation techniques is that they only take a few minutes to do once you master the art. A few yoga poses before bed can also speed up your heart and make you just tired enough to fall asleep. However, just like exercising overdoing yoga can lead to a spike in the production of adrenaline which is not what you require when trying to clear your mind. Meditation, on the other hand, will need a lot of practice to master but once you understand how to do it well, you will never have any difficulties trying to relax the body and mind.
#6 Take a Bath
A warm bath is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when trying to figure out how to clear your mind for sleep. However, it is also a very useful technique that can be very handy and is also very easy to do. A hot bath before bed will always relax your muscles and calm your mind. Also, the temperature of the water will raise your core temperature which can act as a trigger that tells the brain that it is time for sleep. Coupling the warm bath with aromatherapy oils and some soothing music provides even better results because it helps you relax more and faster than you would by just taking a shower.
#7 Try Some Deep Breathing Routines
If you are always trying to understand how to clear your mind for sleep, this might itself be the reason why you find it hard to relax before bed. Worrying about not being able to relax enough to fall asleep can lead to a vicious cycle that can make it more difficult for you to snooze. Luckily, you can solve this with some simple deep breathing routines that help to calm your nerves. A simple deep breathing exercise entails taking a deep breath through the nose and then exhaling through the mouth slowly. You should then repeat this for a few minutes or until you clear your thoughts and feel relaxed enough.
#8 Some Mental Exercises Can Be Very Helpful
Mental exercises can help you let go of stressful incidences or events of the day which might be making it laborious for you to relax for sleep. A few minutes before going to bed you should try distracting your brain with numbers and word puzzles or even something that can challenge your mind such as trying to learn the words of a song or memorize a poem. These simple mental exercises will always make you feel relaxed and hence also make it easy for you to snooze.
Conclusion
With the tips above you should not have any trouble figuring out how to relax your mind before bedtime. However, most of these things will require consistency to work well for you. And so, even in days when you are not feeling tired or stressed it is still a good idea to always spare some time to wind down, meditate or do some yoga and also take a warm bath. Also, combining different bedtime relaxation techniques is also better than just relying on one thing.