7 Proven Tips for Better Sleep at Night

With aging comes numerous health concerns, including sleep difficulties. Poor sleep contributes to many of these problems, reducing the quality of life in people over 65.
Updated: August 3rd, 2023
Ashley Lipman

Contributor

Ashley Lipman

Sleep is an important factor in our daily routine and health, but it can be challenging to get a good night's sleep as you get older.

Perhaps this is because, as an adult, you have a lot of responsibilities and other things to accomplish. There are tasks to complete and bills to pay. You might even have an underlying condition that hinders you from sleeping peacefully. 

Whatever's the case, losing sleep is annoying and damaging. You become crankier in the morning, and you're more prone to sickness because your body isn't able to get the time to rest and heal, and you even feel like you age ten more years. 

Luckily, not getting a good night's sleep can be fixed. The following tips have been proven and tested in combating sleep deprivation.

Make Your Bed as Cozy as Possible

A cozy bed.

The bed is where you sleep every night, so it must be cozy and comfortable enough to get you ready for sleep. 

To achieve this, you can invest in various high-quality bed accessories, like an excellent memory foam mattress, bed sheets, and pillows. You can even buy a weighted blanket. For the utmost comfort and breathability, consider opting for linen bed sheets. 

You can also choose to expand the coziness feel to your whole bedroom. Purchase heavy curtains to block the light, invest in a white noise machine — the options are infinite. 

Exercise Daily

Exercise isn't only effective in maintaining your physical health, but it's also great for letting you sleep at night. This is because exercise increases the effect of natural sleep hormones, especially melatonin. 

That said, try to avoid exercising too close to bedtime because this might be too stimulating and you can't sleep. Instead, do your exercise in the morning. 

Make a Sleep Routine — and Follow It Every Night

Before you go to sleep, you should do a routine of activities that help you unwind — such as taking a long bath, drinking a glass of milk, or reading a few chapters of a book — and you should stick to this routine every day. This is because routines signal the body and mind that it's almost time to sleep, so you'll be able to rest easy. 

Reserve Your Bed for Sleep

Don't use your bedroom as an office where you do your work or as a recreation room where you marathon your favorite shows. If you do this, you might associate your bedroom with stress and activity, thus making it harder for you to sleep. 

So, reserve your bed for sleep only — that way, you will associate your bed with sleep only, not activity. 

Avoid Alcohol, Coffee, and Nicotine 

A coffee cup on a table.

Coffee and nicotine are stimulants, so your focus and energy will be enhanced when you take them. For this reason, you should not consume them about six hours before your bedtime. 

Likewise, alcohol has the same effect as well — which you might surprising. It can get you tired, but it will still disrupt your sleep at night. So, you should avoid consuming alcohol before you sleep. 

Eat a Small Snack

When you go to bed hungry, it might take you forever to sleep because of your grumbly stomach. So eat a small snack before you sleep. Just make sure it's not a big meal because eating a big meal also keeps you awake. 

Consult a Doctor

Sometimes, no matter how dedicated you are to getting a night of better sleep, you still can't do it. It's either you toss and turn all night long, hoping for sleep to come, or you sleep for a while before you wake up abruptly. 

If this is the case, then perhaps it is time to see a doctor. You need to know if you have a sleep disorder so that you can do something to treat it. 

As we get older, it gets more difficult to sleep properly at night. 

According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night. But older people tend to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier than they did when they were younger.

Health issues can contribute to sleep problems and health problems and contribute to health problems. These health issues include sleep apnea, which, left untreated, can leader to higher risks of other health problems. Good sleep is good for you. 

Fortunately, there are ways to fix this problem, and the seven tips mentioned above are some of the tested and proven pieces of advice. 

So, choose a tip that you feel like doing yourself, and hopefully, you will sleep well in the nights to come.

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