How To Prepare Your Body For Sleep (When Running On A Tight Schedule)

Sleep is extremely important to your health and wellbeing.

When leading a busy life with a tight schedule, it can be difficult to maintain positive sleep habits, but it is crucial to your daily functioning as well as your long-term health.

Here are some ways to help prepare your body for sleep with little time.

Plan your days better (ideally in advance)

One of the most important factors to consider when you are trying to prepare your body for sleep is to plan your time better.

Start thinking about your days (or maybe even weeks) in advance.

Good night’s sleep begins long before you get in bed.

Consider things like meal planning that would help you cut down the amount of time you have to spend each day cooking meals, or maximizing your downtime like working on a commute or answering emails.

It may not seem like a lot, but every minute that you can be more efficient adds up and eventually, that time makes it less stressful and easier to fall into your sleep routine.

The goal is to get everything done at least 2 hours before bedtime to allow yourself time to cool down and ease into a state of relaxation.

This will allow you to fall asleep much faster, and with plenty of time to fall asleep, you won’t feel as anxious trying to ensure that you get enough rest for the next day. 

Try sleep tracking tools

One way to help you improve and maintain good sleeping habits is with sleep tracking tools and applications.

There are many options to consider, from watches, bracelets, apps, and rings, so you should always take time to consider researching which options are better Oura or Motiv.  Motiv and Oura the 2 equally amazing new players in the smart ring space.

A smart ring is a stylishly minimal band with built-in biometric sensors that pulls data directly from your fingers. They track your sleep patterns, heart rate, body temperature, and fitness activities, while freeing up your wrist for an analog watch, bracelet, or something more…nude.

Utilising ways to track your sleep will help you monitor the nights that you are getting quality sleep, while being able to identify low-scoring and poor sleep nights. This can help you to change your habits, or recognize what steps you have taken are working. 

Build a nightly routine

It is important to consider your schedule and build a routine before going to bed. Although setting time aside is important, the structure of the time spent before sleeping can impact the amount and quality of your sleep.

Create habits and patterns that you follow regularly, as this will subconsciously help your body to recognise when it is appropriate to start winding down and falling asleep.

Consider meditating or doing breathing exercises regularly, which only takes several minutes.

Disassociate work from a place of rest

A problem for some people that arises when they are trying to sleep is that they are continuously stressing over different things that have impacted and affected them during the day. Whether they are thinking about work, school, arguments, or problems, people end up carrying those burdens to bed with them.

This ensures that they will not have a restful sleep, making it difficult to fall asleep in the first place, probably causing them to toss and turn throughout the night, and even waking up and interrupting the crucial stages of sleep.

It is important that you avoid stress in the bedroom. Avoid fighting with your partner if you share a bed. Keep your office in a separate room and never bring work into bed, as you want to associate your bed solely with sleep, rest and comfort. Doing this will help to promote an improved rest and evening routines to help prepare you for sleep, which is absolutely helpful when you have little time with a tight schedule.

Avoid caffeine and food before sleeping

What you eat and drink also has an impact on your body in more ways than you might think, and that translates to your sleeping habits.

It is important that you remember to not eat prior to going to bed, allowing yourself plenty of time to digest your food.

If you don’t, your stomach will remain active while you are trying to get to bed, potentially leading to various ways that you might feel sick such as heartburn, acid reflux, and chest pains that can lead to other problems down the road.

Additionally consuming certain types of foods and even drinks can contribute to an uneasy sleep, keeping you awake and up at night, leading you to feel tired in the morning without quality rest.