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5 Things To Help You Sleep

This post was sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. All opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Do you never seem to sleep well or often suffer from insomnia? Check out these things to help you sleep instead of tossing and turning all night.

I so often miss the sleep of my childhood. No matter how early or late it was I always went right to sleep.

I then slept right through the night and always woke up refreshed and ready to get through my day. Fast forward to my teen and adult years and stress had totally wrecked my restful sleep.

Ever since, I've suffered from bouts of insomnia or I get to sleep pretty easily but then wake up approximately 500 times during the night, which leads to me feeling like I haven't really slept at all.

That's why I'm sharing these things to help you sleep today with the help of the National Sleep Foundation where you can find all sorts of sleep resources and tips.

5 Things To Help You Sleep

1. Create a sleeping routine and stick to it. Naturally, we are supposed to be awake when it's light outside and want to sleep when it's dark.

But in today's world it's just not always possible to keep that sort of routine due to working different shifts or other obligations.

As such, creating a sleeping routine can be very important as after a while your body will eventually grow used to the schedule.

I personally go to bed when I feel tired with varying times, but I almost always get up at the same time, even on weekends.

Some nights I may only get a few hours sleep but that certainly helps me want to sleep more the next night.

2. Try out different things to relax you before bed time. It can be pretty impossible to totally get rid of your day to day stresses but you can at least let yourself relax an hour or so before bed time.

Try different things that relax you so you don't get used to your relaxing activity of choice.

Some of my favorites include a warm bath or shower, reading a book, listening to calming music, writing my frustrations out, baking, meditating or just focusing on my breathing, and taking extra time to play with our cats.

If I can at least get my mind somewhat calmed down it usually doesn't take hours for me to go to sleep.

3. Make sure you're physically tired. One thing that always frustrated me when I tried to sleep was that I always felt so tired, sometimes so tired I felt like I was beyond tired to even sleep.

What I didn't really realize was that I was mentally exhausted but not really physically tired. When I am physically tired I find it much more easy to go to sleep.

So, I make sure to exercise or at least do a physically demanding task like moving heavy things most every day to help me sleep.

4. Are you really comfortable? Sometimes we get so caught up in the day to day routine of going to bed we don't really realize how uncomfortable we are when we go to sleep because we are so used to it.

When's the last time you bought a new mattress or at least put a comfy mattress topper on? Do you need new pillows?

Maybe you prefer sleeping when you're all cozy and warm or you're like me and actually like it to be a bit cooler. Perhaps you have street lights peeking into your window that are more annoying than you thought.

5. See if you have any other medical issues if you still have problems sleeping. If you're still having issues going to sleep or sleeping throughout the night it may be time to see your doctor. 

There are some sleep health illnesses you could have such as insomnia, narcolepsy, cataplexy, and others that you may need further assistance in helping to resolve.

The National Sleep Foundation has a lot of great information and resources for those of us that have sleep issues including more sleeping tips and how to start a conversation with your doctor if you're having problems sleeping.

If you're having sleeping issues it's above all important to remember you are not alone. I've talked to so many people that also have problems sleeping but it's something we rarely bring up as mattering much.

Be sure to visit www.sleepfoundation.org and www.sleep.org for more information about sleep struggles.