A few tips for better sleep...

serpentegena

...compiled from my reading on neuroscience, and different popular research on sleep wellness.

1) Avoid exercise, or any stimulating activities before bed. These raise your cortisol levels, which in turn impedes your attempt to go to sleep.

2) Turn off all screens at least one hour before going to sleep. Avoid all spicy, greasy or sugary food. This tapers off production of dopamine, which also interferes with sleep. Instead, in the hour preceding your bedtime, try doing calm activities like reading, or drinking a herbal tea you enjoy.

3) Habits - Have a set time to go to sleep, and a sleep ritual. Set a sleep alarm that triggers the sleep ritual. After a while doing it, your body will get used to the ritual and triggering it will announce it's time to turn to sleep mode. This happens thanks to a magical process occurring in the basal ganglia of the brain, where the brain creates "automation" for habits so it doesn't have to think about it.

4) Don't skip supper, even if you are on a diet. Having some food to digest during the night keeps the body satisfied. Going hungry at night may trigger a cortisol and/or ghrelin spike, where the body is jolting you awake so you can go and find food.

These tips should help anyone who is struggling to sleep because of an imbalance in one of the aforementioned hormones, or because of an erratic sleep schedule.

Does anyone have other tips like these, and the way they act on brain chemistry?