December 18th, 2019 by Chris Chapman

Is there anything worse than being unable to sleep at night? If you’re tossing and turning in bed and unable to drop off, you might not feel like there is! Our bodies are finely-tuned machines that are designed to naturally fall asleep at a certain time of day, but in life, there are plenty of things that can throw your body off balance to keep you up at night. If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, pinpointing what’s keeping you awake is the first step towards solving your problem. We’ve outlined the 5 most common reasons you might not be getting a good sleep below, so you can get the peaceful sleep that you deserve!

You’re Worrying About Not Falling Asleep

We’ve all been there; you’re tired, but you have to be up early in the morning for a flight, or a job interview, or a family outing. You set your alarm, and you realise that you’ve only got a few hours to go until you have to be up. You jump into bed and try and force yourself to sleep, but it doesn’t happen right away, meaning you’re left lying in bed watching the time tick by. As the minutes turn to hours, you might become more and more frustrated, which is why clock-watching in bed is never a good idea! It’s easy to fall into a vicious cycle of frustration and sleeplessness this way – sometimes for days at a time.

You probably know that being calm and relaxed is important for getting a good night’s rest, so you should remove anything that might stress you out from your bedroom. That includes clocks! Put your phone on silent and turn it face down so you aren’t tempted to sneak a peak at the time. If you have an alarm clock in your room, you should turn it away from your bed, and keep any clocks or watches out of your view. This will help prevent you from worrying too much about the time, allowing you to naturally drift off to sleep.

Your Diet

The food you eat doesn’t just affect your weight – it can affect almost every part of your life! Your body is a finely-tuned machine that needs lots of different nutrients to work properly. Loading your body full of fat and sugar can throw off the natural balance of your body and negatively affect every part of your life – including your sleep schedule.

Our bodies’ sleep schedules are partly governed by a hormone called melatonin, which your brain releases to tell your body that it’s time to go to sleep (and when to wake up, too). Eating a few of these melatonin-rich foods – like almonds, avocados, or cherries – in the evening will help increase the melatonin levels in your body, helping you fall asleep more naturally. Eating healthily will also help you maintain a healthy weight, which is another big sleep aid.

On the other side of the coin, if you have an unhealthy diet full of sugar and additives, you might find it more difficult to fall asleep. This isn’t to say you can’t treat yourself to a cake every now and then, but be aware that eating too much sugar or salt sends your body into overdrive as it releases a rush of hormones to deal with it all. You might not really notice these hormones springing to life, but they can impair your sleep, meaning you’ll find it more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Messing Up Your Sleep Schedule

Our bodies have a natural rhythm that governs when we fall asleep and when we wake up. Everyone’s is slightly different, so you should listen to your body and follow its natural sleep schedule as closely as possible. If you go to bed too late or too early one night (it happens) you should still try and wake up at your usual time in the morning, even on weekends.

This is all in service of your body’s natural sleep schedule – a long lie-in can throw off this schedule and will make your body want to go to sleep later to compensate. If you wake up a few hours later than normal, it stands to reason that your body won’t be ready for bed until a few hours later than normal, too! Making up for extra sleep in the morning might seem like a good idea at the time, but it could come back to bite you if you get into a really irregular sleep pattern.

You’ve Had a Nightcap

Some people swear by their glass of wine in the evening to help themselves fall asleep. The reasoning makes sense – alcohol does make you sleepy and it can send you to sleep, but this doesn’t actually mean you’ll get a good night’s rest! In fact, drinking alcohol before bed can severely affect the quality of sleep you get, leaving you feeling tired and grouchy in the morning. This is all because of your body’s natural sleep cycle, and while alcohol helps you with the first stage of sleep (falling asleep), it can really disrupt the other stages!

When you fall asleep, you actually cycle through several stages of sleep. Dropping into the later stages of sleep is important, and your body needs to be able to do this naturally or you won’t feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning. Alcohol disrupts the way your body cycles through these stages, so while you might fall asleep faster, you’ll pay the price for it in the morning!

Of course, all of this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a drink every now and then – drinking in the early afternoon or evening won’t harm your natural sleep schedule, so feel free to enjoy happy hour!

Your Bed is Uncomfortable

Your bed should be your haven – making sure it’s comfortable should be your top priority! If you’ve got a lumpy, sagging mattress or a bed that gets uncomfortably cold on a night, this can severely impact the amount and quality of sleep you get. An uncomfortable bed can keep you up at night and, when you fall asleep, can even disturb your body’s natural sleep cycle, so it’s worth making sure your bed is as luxuriously comfortable as you can make it.

A supportive mattress will help your muscles relax through the night, so you’ll feel properly rested and ready to take on the day when you wake up! Soft bedding and electric blankets will also help you sleep better, giving you a cosy and contented feeling that helps get you ready for sleep. Ultimately, you can try all the relaxing techniques you want – from drinking warm milk to trying some scented candles – but if your bed is uncomfortable, then you won’t be getting a quality sleep! If you’re struggling to sleep and you’re not sure why, your bed is the first place you should look.