It’s no secret that sleep is important. But for far too many of the folks we meet in our stores each day, the path to getting enough quality sleep seems an unsolvable mystery.
Are you one of them? Well, here’s the weird thing about sleep: it’s as basic—and as enjoyable—as eating, but people often think of it like flossing their teeth. It’s something they have to do, not something they enjoy doing. And, according to a recent Fast Company article, “Sleep is like love. You can’t force it.”
Good sleeping habits may seem hard to come by, but they’re not actually that mysterious. Here’s what we know about people who have no trouble catching zzz’s at night:
- Good sleepers love sleeping! It’s not hard for them to make it a priority when they actually like doing it and see it as “me-time.” That’s what we do; and it matters. Investing in a dreamy mattress can make a lot of difference in how much you look forward to bedtime.
- They get a kick out of their dreams. Without overanalyzing, they embrace the meaning, creativity, fun and just plain weirdness of dreaming, which is a crucial part of our brains’ memory storage and creativity.
- They treat bedtime as a ritual—it works for adults like it works for kids! We all need some wind-down time and maybe even a bedtime story or three. Good sleepers give themselves two bedtimes: one for winding down and the other for lights out.
- Just like they have two bedtimes, they have two wakeup times. Waking up gradually and feeling groggy is actually pleasant if you got a good night’s sleep! And it’s good for us, too (but pressing snooze isn’t). Waking slowly gives you a better chance of remembering your dreams and makes you more likely to tackle the day feeling rested. If you need an alarm to rise, consider trying one that wakes you gradually, or use an app that measures your sleep waves and gradually wakes you at an optimal time. That way, you don’t get that rude jolt out of a deep sleep in the morning.
- Good sleepers conk out because they’re plumb tuckered. If you don’t move enough to get physically tired in a day, it’ll be harder for you to sleep. Physical exercise helps to balance out all of that mental work you do at your desk and allows you to drift off without succumbing to the stressed-out worry train trying to catch up with your mind. If you do stuff with your body, that natural tiredness catches up with you at bedtime—just like you want it to!
Sleep tight, Urbanites!