Natural Ways To Get A Better Night’s Sleep

If you ever find yourself tossing and turning in the night, or just lying there for hours while your overactive mind keeps you up, you’ll know how frustrating it can be to wake up in the morning and feel like you haven’t slept at all. It sucks!

Luckily, there are lots of small things we can do to improve our evening routine and get a better night’s sleep. While there’s nothing wrong with using over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids, if you prefer to go the natural route, these tips might just be the key to sleeping more soundly.

Here are some of the things I do to get relaxed and ready for an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Enjoy some bedtime tea

A hot drink before bed is a surefire way to help you wind down. I prefer to stay away from sweet, sugary drinks or snacks at night so I tend to go for herbal teas instead.

Look out for ingredients like chamomile and lavender which have calming properties and are known to relieve stress and anxiety. Also double, even triple, check that your tea does not contain caffeine – this will definitely disrupt your sleep.

My favourite at the moment is the Pukka Love Tea. It’s not advertised as a part of their sleep range, but I find it to be really relaxing and easy to sip on before bed. The Night Time Tea is great too, it’s just a little stronger tasting.

If you’re not a fan of chamomile or lavender, try out the Whittard’s Dreamtime Flavour Instant Tea instead. It’s flavoured with honey, apricot and vanilla so it’s a bit sweeter than some other bedtime drinks.

Reduce light levels

I’m one of those people who can’t sleep unless they’re in complete darkness, so this is a massive one for me! Light can be a big distractor. Whether it’s natural or artificial, it has the power to majorly disrupt your sleep cycle.

I always make sure to cover objects that emit light, so they have no chance of keeping me awake. If you have a TV in your room, you might find it helpful to put a sticker over the standby light or just disconnect your electronic devices entirely. You’ll be surprised at just how much of a difference it’ll make.

I’m also a massive fan of blackout curtains so I highly suggest investing in some of these. After buying a pair, I can honestly say that I’ve never slept better. They’re so good!

If you’re in student halls or rented accommodation and you’re not allowed to change the curtains, I’d suggest a blackout blind instead. This is what I used throughout my time at uni and it worked perfectly. It’s a bit of a pain to keep taking it off the window in the morning, but totally worth it to get a better night’s sleep.

Do some light stretching

It might sound strange to exercise before bed. Surely this is just going to make you feel even more awake? But as long as you’re not doing a 30 minute cardio workout, or pumping weights, you’re all good. In fact, doing a small bit of stretching or even some yoga can help you release tension and relax.

If you’ve been sitting at a desk all day, chances are that your muscles (especially those in your neck) are feeling achy and tight. Going straight to bed with all that discomfort is not exactly going to make it easy to drift off.

Try and stretch for at least 5 minutes each night. Your body will thank you in the morning if you do!

Plus, you don’t even have to move too much, here’s a whole routine that you do right from your bed.

Practice mindfulness

If you’ve read my self-care post, you’ll know that I swear by pre-bed meditation. I think this is the key to feeling more calm and restful before settling down for the night.

It’s obviously important to get your body into a relaxed state, but focussing your thoughts and regulating your breathing is just as essential. If your mind is going into overdrive, this is definitely not conducive to a good night’s sleep.

Apps like Meditopia and Headspace are amazing for helping you wind down and feel less stressed.

Change your pillow

For the longest time I couldn’t understand why I was constantly waking up in the middle of the night … or why my neck was always so sore in the morning. Turns out sleeping on a pillow that’s as hard as a brick does have some consequences.

Some people might find it easier to sleep on a firm pillow or mattress, in which case a memory foam pillow would be a good option.

For people like me, who want to feel like they’re being absorbed into their bed, a feather and down pillow is the way to go.

I also highly recommend getting a silk pillowcase, they are so soft and make your bedding feel way more luxe. You can read more about their benefits here.

Use a lavender spray

I feel like people really underestimate just how much scents and fragrances can alter our mood. When we smell something, it actually triggers an emotional response in brain which changes the way we’re feeling.

Lavender pillow mists are amazing because they really help get you into a relaxed state before bed. I generally use this one from The Body Shop or the Deep Sleep Spray by This Works. The latter has added camomile and vetivert so it’s meant to be even more calming.

Have a warm bath

I’m definitely more of a shower person, but every now and again it’s nice to dim the lights and take a long soak. Showering can often feel very functional: you get in, wash your hair, wash your body, then get out. So having a bath is an excellent way of slowing down your day and allotting yourself some time to just chill.

For extra relaxation, you can even add some epsom salts to relax your muscles. Or use a bath tea, like this one, which contains sleep-inducing essential oils.

Minimise your screen time

Another proven way to get a better night’s sleep is to reduce our blue light exposure. Blue light suppresses the production of melatonin (a hormone that helps control our sleep cycle), meaning that we don’t feel tired when we naturally should.

To avoid this, it’s good to set a ‘curfew’ for electronic device use. Ideally, we should stop using our phone or laptop a couple of hours before we plan to go to sleep.

Of course, this isn’t always possible so there are a few other things we can do to lower our exposure. The easiest solution is to turn down the brightness on our devices or switch them to dark mode (where possible), this will certainly help give our eyes a break. Blue light glasses are also a great way to combat sleeplessness while still allowing us to enjoy our nightly Netflix binge.

Tidy your room

We all know the phrase: a tidy room is a tidy mind. I didn’t take it seriously until essay stress at university meant that my bedroom was a mess. Surprisingly the clothes, books and sheets of paper covering my desk (and some of my floor) had a massive impact on my ability to fall asleep.

If you’re feeling the same, try decluttering your room and see if it makes a difference. I promise you that your mind will feel so much clearer and drifting off will become a breeze!

Invest in a good duvet

Most British flats and houses don’t have built-in air con, so it can be really difficult to regulate the temperature of your bedroom. In summer, sleeping with a super thick duvet on top of you is just the worst. But it’s not like the hot weather lasts forever, so it hardly seems worth going out and buying a lighter blanket or comforter.

Luckily, there’s a perfect solution to this: an all season duvet.

Honestly I feel like everyone needs one in their life, it’s a total game changer.

Technically an all season duvet is in fact two duvets that, depending on your needs, you can clip together or use separately. The 4.5 tog one is perfect for summer, the 9 tog one for those transitional months, and (when clipped up) the 13.5 tog duvet for the winter.

This might seem like an extravagance, but if your body is at an optimal temperature for sleep, you’ll find it much easier to drift off.

Do you have any other tips for getting a better night’s sleep? Let me know in the comments.