How to get a better nights sleep

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I don’t know about your house, but in my house if Mommy doesn’t get a good nights sleep, no one is happy. Sleep, it’s the one thing that I can not live without. I love sleep so much that I have been learning how to help my husband get a better nights sleep.

My husband travels for his job. He is usually gone Monday through Thursday night. Which means that when he is gone, he sometimes will work really late at night. He has told me several times how he was up till 1 or more in the morning working.

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He is aware of his sleep problem so much that he asked me to get him a diffuser that he can put in his suitcase and some lavender oil.

When I look at his life and his stress level, it stresses me out. I cannot function without more than 6 hours of sleep. I prefer having 8-9 hours of sleep. Knowing this, I often wonder how he functions on such little sleep.

Needless to say, when my husband re-enters our house and bed time comes, he struggles.

Here’s a qucik list of his struggles:

-Restlessness
-So tired he can’t relax
-His brain doesn’t shut off
-Work is always on his brain
-The buzz of his phone has him constantly checking email

Recently, my husband came to bed at 1am and woke me up. Which meant that I had a hard time falling back to sleep. So it got me thinking. How can I help my husband to come to bed and stay asleep.

For me, I don’t have a hard time setting a bed time for myself. I know I have to be in bed by 10 for me to feel normal the next day. I have heard that others don’t need as much sleep. Unfortunately, for me and my family, I am not that lucky and I need sleep.

Suggestions for a better nights sleep

These are the suggestions I came up with for my husband. They are suggestions because a wife can’t tell her husband what to do. Period.

Set a bed time

I don’t know what it is about being an adult but for some reason we get stuck thinking we don’t need to have a bed time. I don’t know if it’s in our minds, or we think that we are going to miss the funniest thing Jimmy Fallon said. Everything is on YouTube within minutes after it airs, so we can watch the highlights in the morning.

These thoughts prevent us from being real with ourselves and realizing we need a bed time. Getting enough sleep allows our bodies to rebuild the muscles we used and it gives our brains rest.

Decide to turn off the phone at a certain hour.

This is especially hard. My husband’s phone has been known to buzz all night long depending on the demand and complexity of the assignment he is working on. It drives me bat shit crazy! Not gonna lie, I hate his phone.

Get more exercise

Exercise. This is something we both struggle with. We are out of our routine, but I know we will get back into our routine in the next couple of weeks. Everyone knows the more you exercise, the better you sleep.

Eat a healthier diet

Recently we took sugar, grains and dairy out of our diet. Our quality of sleep has improved so much since we did that. My husband doesn’t snore any more and I sleep less. I think it’s the sugar that makes me so tired and sleep longer.

Defuse lavender and camomile

I am huge fan of essential oils. I have been using them in our home for about 4 years now. When I first brought them in the house my husband thought I was kookoo bananas. Somewhere in the last year he has become a fan and he likes how they smell.

Like I said earlier, he asked for a defusser and lavender oil to take with him when he travels. lavender and camomile both help with sleep.

Get up at the same time every morning no matter what

The alarm clock is my worst enemy, but at the same time it is my best friend. I know that getting up at roughly the same time every morning will allow my body to be tired so I can go to sleep at a normal bed time.

Limit Caffeine

This is SO HARD! Especially when the 3pm slump kicks in and all you want is a cup of coffee to get you through the day. I read a book by Bob Harper a few years ago and he recommended that you don’t drink coffee after Noon. That way your body has enough time to process the caffeine in your system. I am not a doctor or a scientist so I don’t know the validity of this. I just know how my body reacts when I have caffeine after 3pm.

 

Get more sunshine or vitamin D

Again, I am not a doctor, but getting more vitamin D helps your body prepare for bedtime. It allows your body to process when day and night are.

Let the sun shine in

Open the curtains and shades in your room in the morning and allow the sun to shine in! This will help you with waking up in the morning and help your body shift into wake up mode.

Magnesium

I am not a doctor, but as I learn about this mineral, I have found that it helps the body relax and brings calm to the muscles. I just ordered this magnesium spray because I have heard so many good things about adding this to your nightly routine.  It doesn’t just help with you getting a better nights sleep, but it helps with headaches and joint pain and other things that I thought were just part of aging. I just ordered it so I will update when I can verify some of my symptoms becoming less.

Melatonin

This is the best thing I discovered this last year! Melatonin is awesome at helping your body relax and fall asleep. It doesn’t make your body stay asleep, but it does help with getting you to sleep. It helps so much that my husband has it in his suitcase for when he travels.

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Getting a good nights sleep helps our bodies reset for the next day. It helps with keeping us healthy, helps with our focus and it is just good for us.

Once these suggestions were made to my husband, he started to think about it. He realized his habits were impacting my rest.

Creating a bedtime routine can be hard as an adult. The moment we realize we need a routine, that’s when we become real adults taking ownership of our lives, our actions and what they do to others. I encourage you to reflect on your sleeping struggles and see if any of these suggestions might help you improve your rest so you get a better nights sleep.