Sleep and productivity are inextricably linked. Your health, well-being, and work all improve when you get enough sleep.

Advantages of Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep allows your body to recover physically. While you sleep, your body tissues repair and strengthen. To enhance cardiovascular health, your heart rests, and your blood pressure changes throughout the night. Your body also produces hormones that aid your immune system in fighting infections while you sleep, so getting enough sleep can help you avoid getting sick and recover quickly.

Sleep also benefits your mental health, mood, and cognitive function. During sleep, your brain creates and maintains memory-forming and memory-retention pathways. These processes contribute to the growth of learning and problem-solving abilities, both of which are required for peak performance.

How to Sleep Better

Here are 5 things to do every night to sleep better and boost your productivity.

1) Make your sleeping environment as comfortable as possible

Your bedroom should be your personal haven for rest. Create the best sleeping environment by using these tips:

- Basic Essentials: Get yourself a comfortable mattress, a good pillow, and soft bedding.

- Darken Your Room: Quality of sleep can be hindered by light. To keep light out of the room, use a sleeping mask or dark curtains.

- Reduce Noise Levels: Excessive noise can be reduced by using earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones. To mask unwanted sounds, you could also use a fan or a white noise machine.

- Cool Your Room: As you sleep, your body temperature drops so ensure that your bedroom is comfortable and cool (the optimal temperature for sleeping is around 65 degrees Fahrenheit or 18.3 degrees Celsius).

2) Wear blue-light-blocking glasses

Electronic screen light comes in all colours, but blues are the worst. Blue light tricks the brain into believing it is daytime. When this happens, the body stops producing melatonin, a sleep hormone. Melatonin is nature's way of assisting us in winding down and preparing for sleep.

Given the high levels of blue light in our homes (from our phones, televisions, and computers), blue-light-blocking glasses have become essential to me. People can reduce eye strain, eye damage, and sleep disruptions simply by wearing blue-light-blocking glasses.

Zero D makes high-quality and stylish blue-light-blocking glasses at affordable prices! I highly recommend checking them out here and getting a pair for yourself!

3) Relieve your mind before you sleep

Dwelling about things that haven't happened — or may never happen — is a prevalent cause of insomnia.

Journaling before bedtime is one way to relax your mind and body. Writing down your worries has been shown to help clear the mind of stressful thoughts so they don't keep you awake at night. Personally, I journal 30 minutes before going to bed, and it has greatly improved my sleep quality.

Deep breathing exercises are also beneficial. Deep breathing is a scientifically proven method of calming the body and mind that you can easily do before going to bed and when you wake up in the middle of the night.

Changing your breathing rhythm slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and activates the body's parasympathetic "rest and digest" system, which can turn worrying and anxiety off.

Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing, focuses primarily on relaxing the diaphragm, the main respiratory muscle.
- Begin by taking a deep breath through your nose to a slow count of six, feeling your stomach rise with your hand as it fills with air.
- Count to six again as you slowly expel your breath.

4) Elevate Your Sleep Hygiene

Getting up and going to bed at the same time every day helps your body establish a consistent sleep rhythm. Exercising on a daily basis can also help you to sleep better. Avoid exercising too close to your bedtime.

It's also important to consider what you consume in the hours before going to bed. Avoid nicotine, caffeine, heavy meals and alcohol as they are stimulants that can disrupt your sleep.

5) Implement simple stretching routines

Stretching before going to bed can help with pain, high blood pressure, restless leg syndrome, and anxiety. Stretching also improves blood flow and relieves muscle tension, which both help with muscle recovery and sleep quality. The more you can loosen up your body before going to bed, the better your sleep will be.

I do simple stretches such as the neck stretch which only requires less than 5 minutes.

Here's how you can do the neck stretch:
1. Maintain proper posture when sitting or standing.
2. Tip your right ear toward your right shoulder while reaching your left hand toward the floor, keeping your face forward.
3. With your right hand, gently guide your head towards your right shoulder.
4. Hold the position for 20 to 30 seconds.
5. Repeat on the right two to three times, then switch sides and repeat.

You'll discover which sleep routines work best for your body and health with time and practice. When you get more and better sleep, you can feel better and work more efficiently.