17 Practical Tips for Better Sleep

Health
better sleep

You can’t sleep because you’re tired all day only to be wired all night.

You can’t find the energy to workout or eat healthy (so you grab whatever is convenient).

You can’t even get your daily tasks done—much less have energy toward fulfilling your goals or maintaining relationships.

You lose patience with your kids.

You let the tiniest inconvenience ruin your day.

It’s like being hangry but worse, because food can fix your problem within minutes—but you need hours of sleep to recover from being sleep deprived.

So you end up spending your day doing the bare minimum only to find yourself up all night again thinking about the things you didn’t do during the day.

How do we break this endless cycle? Sleeping better starts with living better.

Everyone thinks of rest and self care as spa treatments or just laying around like a couch potato binging shows—but is this really how we want to live? Is this fulfilling? Is this refueling you?

Or is this draining you and contributing to bad habits—including our lack of sleep?

If you haven’t done anything to require rest except exist, it’s hard for our bodies to enter full rest.

We’re restless from being so comfortable all day.

They say having a good morning routine starts in the evening.

Having a good nights sleep starts with how you spend your day.

Are you filling your mind with uplifting content? Or are you watching the news that is filled with fear to get more views that keeps you awake all night?

Are you keeping up with your cleaning and clutter, or are you surrounding by unmade decisions and tasks you’ve been putting off that your brain reminds you about when you lay down at night?

Let’s talk about 17 practical tips for better sleep and better life overall.

Effects of Lack Of Sleep

There’s a reason why Bryan Johnson puts the most emphasis on sleep in his Blueprint protocol for his “Don’t Die” campaign.

Lack of sleep is harmful to your overall health and can even decrease your lifespan.

This study shows “the relationship between inadequate sleep and a wide range of disorders, such as hypertension, obesity and type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, impaired immune functioning, and more.”

Did you know that sleeping is how we lose weight?

We use our existing fat cells as fuel when we exercise or eat appropriately, then we release the CO2 from the fat cells by breathing them out, specifically at night while we sleep. We burn a ton of calories at night, and this is how—breathing!

If your weight loss has stalled and you’ve been having trouble sleeping—fixing your sleep could be the answer.

So if your goals are:

  • health and weight loss
  • longevity and anti-aging
  • not feeling wired at night
  • more energy during the day
  • having patience with your kids
  • better relationships
  • reaching your goals + getting your to do list done
  • thriving—not just surviving
  • more happiness and less anger

Let’s look into some steps you can take to get there.

Day Time Prep

How you spend your days is how you spend your life.

I got this from Ben Greenfield, and it has become my life motto.

Also, how we spend our days affects how we spend our nights.

If you have ever thought:

“If I could just get a good nights sleep, I’d feel so much better during the day and have energy for the things I want to do.”

I think you have it backwards.

I used to think this too.

But if we spend our days being productive, not skipping workouts, not just barely getting by—we’d be sleeping much better.

When I’m wired at night, it’s often because I’m feeling anxious about all the things I didn’t get done.

And I didn’t get them done because I was too tired and did the bare minimum all day.

So let’s go over what we can do during the day to set ourselves up for a good night’s sleep.

1. Sun Exposure (morning and evening)

Getting in the sun, specifically during sunrise and sunset, helps your body produce the hormones needed for waking up and falling asleep (cortisol in the morning, and melatonin at night).

I know this sounds like an annoying new thing to add to your morning routine. But if you’re working a 9-5, maybe just try taking an early morning break at work and walking around the building.

It doesn’t have to be as soon as the sun comes up. But getting out for 5-10 minutes and being in the sunlight really helps.

Bonus points if you can go barefoot and ground during. Although this might be tricky at work—but you could just get grounding shoes for that.

If the sun isn’t up in the morning when you have to get up, flip on as much overhead lighting in the house to let your body know it’s time to get up.

Getting in the evening sun during sunset will help your body know it’s time to produce melatonin. This is hormone that regulates your sleep/wake cycles and is produced when it’s dark.

After sunset you should avoid using overhead lighting in the house. This will also help your melatonin levels.

You could also opt for red light therapy if you have it. You can use this in the morning and at night as it will mimic the sun.

It’s great at providing energy in the morning and for winding down at night.

2. Caffeine Timing

Limit caffeine and for sure no caffeine after 12pm.

Caffeine can stay in your system for up to 10 hours after you drink it. According to WebMD, half of it is still in your bloodstream after 6 hours.

I also like to be picky with my caffeine. Coffee is a superfood in my opinion, but it has more pesticides like glyphosate than any other crop. Coffee is also known to get moldy. So make sure your getting a good brand that is organic and tested for mold.

Kion, Bulletproof, Danger, and Purity are the coffee brands I know of that meet this criteria.

You could also go for a matcha and herbal tea as a good caffeine source.

My other favorite is a good nootropic like Qualia Mind.

3. Meal Timing

I’m all about fasting, IF, time restricted eating—whatever the cool kids are calling it these days. I have a post that details all the benefits of fasting.

But even if you’re not, you should stop eating at least 3 hours before bed. (Hashtag ban midnight snacks.)

The reason is because you want to make sure your body is done digesting food before you lay down.

Gastric emptying tests show that it takes about 4 hours to get 90% of your food to move out of your stomach into your small intestine according to Medline Plus.

if your body is working to digest all night, it can’t work on other important tasks like weight loss, building your immune function, etc.

Laying down on a full stomach slows down digestion and can give you heartburn and acid reflux.

This is why we should take a walk after eating. It not only is helpful for digestion, but it also helps your blood sugars to regulate. Another bonus for weight loss, but also just your overall health and well being—including sleep.

Bonus if you can go for a walk after dinner during sunset to get your sun exposure at night.

4. Work Out

Even if you’re tired—get a good sweat session in. At least go on a good walk at a fast pace. Go up hills or use the incline on a treadmill.

We live sedentary lifestyles nowadays. It’s easy to see how our bodies aren’t ready for rest when we’ve been sitting all day.

It’s similar to how kids don’t want to sit still. If you need them to sit still, you have to let them run around for a while first.

It’s kind of the same for our bodies. If you want it to rest well, you have to get active first.

This is one I tend to put off when I’m tired, but it’s a mistake. If I want energy, I need to work out to get it. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you’ve ever experienced a runner’s high—you get it.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Newton’s first law of inertia: An object in motion stays in motion.

It’s about how an object will stay at whatever speed and direction it’s going unless something stops it.

This idea works for humans too, not just objects. So if you want to get energy, get moving.

If you want to stop being lazy and putting off your workouts, be the force that puts your body in motion.

If you need workout ideas, check out this post: 7 Easy Workouts for Busy Moms.

Working out will give you the energy needed to get through the day and also the activity needed to have a restful night’s sleep. Win-win.

5. Proper Nutrition

It’s so easy to neglect good nutrition with you’re tired, but that’s when you need it most.

Don’t grab fast food or eat a bunch of junk food. Make a home cooked meal. There are tons of quick and easy meal ideas that are healthy.

Eggs and bacon, meat and potatoes, fruit, salad. Keep it simple.

Don’t worry about calories here. Eat foods without a nutrition label. Real food. This is what is optimal for your body.

You could eat 5000 calories of nutritionally dead food and your body would still be hungry because you didn’t feed it the fuel it needed. It’s like giving your unleaded gas tank diesel. It doesn’t work.

And if your body isn’t constantly battling the bad food you’re eating, it will be able to rest better at night.

I have a post that goes into more details about how to stop counting calories.

6. Sauna

Getting in a sauna session at the end of the day is a great way to get a good night’s sleep. Aim for a 30 minute session about 1-2 hours before you fall asleep.

The sauna will help you relax, reduces pain and stress.

This article from Sleep.com explains that blood vessels in your body widen during sauna use, which can cause sleep benefits:

“When exposed to sauna heat, the body’s core temperature rises, causing blood vessels in the skin to dilate. This increase in blood flow can stimulate the production of endorphins, which are hormones that act as natural pain relievers and promote relaxation and well-being, ” says Dr. Paul Daidone.

It can also increase serotonin, the happy hormone that regulates mood, sleep, and appetite.

When you get out of the sauna and your body temperature drops back down, this signals your brain to produce melatonin—which will help you sleep.

83.5% of people who regularly use saunas reported sleep benefits in this study.

Bonus points if you can use your sauna session as quiet time or for meditation.

You can usually take advantage of the sauna at your gym for this. There are medspas with sauna packages too, but they get pretty pricey compared to a gym membership.

Getting your own at home sauna will cost thousands. But they do make sauna blankets for a doable price! I have my eye on the Higher Dose sauna blanket. Lifepro is a more affordable brand for a sauna blanket as well.

7. Get Things Done

Don’t leave unfinished work that keeps you up at night.

Do something daily toward your long term goals.

Both will make you feel a sense of accomplishment and like you’ve earned your rest at night.

Taking action relieves anxiety. So your anxiety won’t keep you up all night if you made progress toward your goals and checked off your to do list.

Get the laundry put up, the dishes done, and keep up with the general daily cleaning.

A sink full of dishes will keep me up at night.

My never ending list of house renovations, decluttering, and work projects also keep me up at night.

Make a list of your top 3 things you need to get done each day and then do them. Sleep well knowing you didn’t waste the day.

8. Limit Alcohol

Alcohol will disrupt your sleep. It will cause you to wake up throughout the night several times.

It will delay and shorten your REM sleep cycle, which is the deepest sleep.

Alcohol also interacts with your bodies neurotransmitter systems that regulate sleep.

Overall, you just get crappy sleep if you drink alcohol. Even if you just drink one.

I’m not saying never drink again if you want to, but consider the cost to benefits. If you have something important the next day, just skip it.

Even if you’re not hungover, your sleep will be affected and you’ll not be on your A game. You can have a good time without it.

I do want to try Dry Farm Wines and see how I do with a low alcohol, no sugar option.

I also want to try Ketone Aid’s Hard Ketones. They have zero alcohol but offers a buzz like alcohol would give you. This could be a great alternative.

Here’s another resource on what alcohol does to your body from Andrew Huberman.

Night Time Prep

1. Set a Bedtime

The kids have a set bedtime and usually wake up the same time everyday.

As a parent I can clearly see how important this is and how it affects my kids moods and behaviors the next day when we push bedtime back or they didn’t sleep well.

Make your own sleep a priority the same way you do for your kids. Have a set bedtime and wake time and stick to it—even on the weekends.

2. Have a Bedtime Routine

Your brain likes consistency and routine. Notice how you get hungry at lunch everyday? That’s because you’ve trained your brain to expect food at that time.

Having a set routine before bedtime will get your brain and body into a state of knowing its time to wind down, making it easier to fall asleep.

Ideas for a nighttime routine:

  • wash your face and brush your teeth
  • turn off the tv
  • put your phone away
  • lay in the bed
  • read
  • journal

3. Journal/Notebook

Keep a journal or a notebook on your nightstand. This is to write down anything you don’t want to forget that comes to mind right when you are trying to fall asleep.

You could also use your notes app on your phone—but only if you can be disciplined enough to put it back down after and not start doomscrolling.

Your brain will remind you of things you forgot or your unwritten to do list that isn’t complete when you lay down.

Having something on your night stand you can easily grab to write down anything you don’t want to forget will keep the info in your head from keep you up at night.

A study found that writing down a to-do list before bed can significantly improve sleep quality. The results showed that those who wrote a detailed to-do list fell asleep faster than those who reflected on their day.

Researchers believe this works because writing down tasks helps offload mental clutter, reducing nighttime overthinking and anxiety. If your mind races with unfinished tasks or worries at night, try journaling or making a to-do list before bed—it may help you fall asleep faster and improve overall rest.

4. Gratitiude

You could also use your journal to reflect on your day. Even if it’s one sentence about what you are grateful for that happened today.

I like to keep one as a memory journal about my kids and what we did that day. Even if we stayed home and did nothing, I will just record something funny they said.

This state of gratitude will also help you combat any anxious thoughts that come to mind. You’ll be too focused on the good things to let it bother you.

Even if you don’t want to write this down in a journal, just take some time to think about this. I often use this as my prayer time at night instead of writing it down.

5. Pray

Especially if you’re a worrier. When everything is quiet and you’re trying to lay down and rest, this is when intrusive thoughts will enter your brain.

If you’re a Christian or spiritual in general, you may have an understanding that this is usually not even your own thoughts. It’s often coming from the enemy.

(insert pic of an angel and devil on your shoulder)

He will remind you of embarrassing moments or have you wondering if someone is mad at you.

Pay attention to the pronouns being used. Are you thinking, “You are so stupid,” or, “I am so stupid.”

Do you talk to yourself in third person? I doubt it. That’s how you know it’s not even your own thoughts.

And if you start praying, the enemy will stop. He doesn’t want to send you running to the Lord.

Resist the devil and he will flee. James 4:7

And if this is too far fetched for you, and you think it’s your own mind—that’s even more of a reason to pray.

Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life. Don’t bend the truth or say things that you know are not right.

Proverbs 4:23-25

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:27,34

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7

6. Read

Reading can help you wind down for the evening. Just make sure it’s nothing suspenseful that will keep you up all night—or that you can’t put down because you have to find out what happens next.

Reading is a great alternative to binging Netflix or scrolling social media. I’m not saying these things are bad. Just don’t do them before bed when you’re trying to fall asleep.

There’s lots of info circulating about how blue light is bad for you. I have blue light blocking glasses (just my regular prescription glasses).

But I will still be up all night if I watched an action film that got my heart racing or scrolled socials and saw a bunch of political posts or just regular fear inciting news even if I had my blue light blockers on.

I believe the real problem with tv and phones is the info you’re consuming on them more than the blue light.

7. Clean/Declutter

I’m no minimalist (although I dream of this). But having a clean space that is clutter free makes it so much easier to fall asleep.

I’m mainly talking about your bedroom for this one, so that’s why I have it in the night time section.

But having a clean house in general will help.

A cluttered space makes a cluttered mind. Which will make falling asleep more challenging.

Get your clothes put up and get the area tidy in general. Make sure everything has a place. Get rid of any trash, water cups, etc.

Take the time to do this and then it’s easy to maintain. Set a timer for 10 minutes and get as much done as you can.

Clean sheets are also a game changer for good sleep.

8. Clean and Dark

Seep in a cool dark room. This is probably obvious, but it could be a good reminder for some.

If you’re trying to fall asleep with the TV on or you forget to turn off a lamp before you start dozing off, it will disrupt your sleep.

And it is the worst to wake up hot in the middle of the night. I would much rather sleep cold with extra blankets.

9. Sleep on Non-Toxic Bedding

We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping. Making sure our bedding isn’t toxic is so important. This doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Start with your sheets and your pillow.

Linen and 100% organic cotton is best for sheets.

Wool, organic cotton, duck feathers, and latex filled are best for pillows.

Also look for a GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification or a OEKO-TEX Certification when buying any bedding. These are the standard non-toxic certifications for any materials (clothing too).

I have a more in depth post about this where I talk about mattresses, mattress toppers and blankets in THIS POST.

Personal Sleep Experience

I used to sleep so good as a child. I would lay so still and my parents would have to get really close to my face to make sure I was breathing when they would check on me.

My dad is the same way. He could sleep through a tornado. He actually did sleep during a storm on a houseboat. My mom and granddaddy didn’t think they were going to survive—yet my dad was able to sleep through it.

I tell my kids he was sleeping like Jesus in the storm (Matthew 8:23-27).

I really want to get back to sleeping that good. I struggle with it now, especially after having my second born (who was not a good sleeper like my first). But he sleeps good now and I still don’t.

I have been drinking large amounts of caffeine all day to feel more awake. So this is the main change I will need to tackle.

We’re also in the middle of a renovation and things get cluttered/messy often. We don’t have a proper closet to keep things tidy in our master bedroom.

But I can still organize things the best I can. When I do it makes me sleep so much better.

I also sleep way better when I read vs when I stay up on my phone or watching tv.

If I watch some kind of action or drama show or movie I will be up all night. Not out of fear—it just gets my heart racing and then I’m not in a state to fall asleep.

I also avoid alcohol almost completely now. It’s not worth the lack of sleep I get. I have experimented with having a drink earlier in the day vs at night and it doesn’t help much. My sleep still suffers.

I also want to get my health in check as I know that is my main problem with my sleep habits.

Working out daily, walks after dinner, nutritious food.

I also need to use my red light therapy more intentionally.

Everything is connected. If your sleep is bad your health is off. If your health is off, your mind is off. If your mind is off you can’t sleep.

But we can break the cycle.

What are some things from this list you plan to implement in the coming weeks?

Reply to this email and let me know!

The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
    whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
    permits them no sleep.
Ecclesiastes 5:12

That one friend who always shares random information you didn't ask for.

Related Posts