Cheap or Free Solutions To Sleep Better At Night

We all desire to sleep a little better at night, right? What if we told you there are things you can do that you might already own or able to get for a reasonable cost to help you sleep better? Most of these things you can even do when you are away from home, so that's a big bonus!

Do any or all of these and let us know your results after about a month.

1. Control The Noise!

It never fails, as soon as you lay your head down at night all of a sudden the house starts talking. There are creaks, bumps, and ticks that come out of no where just to bother you at night. Maybe there is a spouse making even more noise. We can't offer a fix for those noises, but we suggest  you using a white noise sound machine to help give you a consistent noise that doesn't have a pattern or volume changes. It is proven that white noise helps ease your mind and takes away from the noises that keep you awake.

Most of everyone has a smartphone these days, so you can easily download an app to play via your cellphone at night. We personally use "NoiseBox" from the Apple App store. Choose the frequency options that are pleasant to you. We have found a deeper, less harsh, sound is more soothing. If you can get your spouse to do it on the other side of the bed it really fills the room up and is easy to travel with. Another great option is an inexpensive box fan from your local big box store.

2. Clean To Dream!

A bed time routine is extremely important to have, they give you closure to the day and tell your body exactly what it needs to prepare for. At the end of the day taking a quick rinse in the shower will not only wash off the dirt and grime from the day, but essentially soothe your body with water causing a natural relaxation. The smells from your soaps will also open up your airways and cause your brain to release relaxation goodies in your body to relax.

The alternative benefit is you won't be transferring any dirt or oils into your mattress or sheets causing them to last even longer! Doing this every night will speed up the time to get your body into a deeper sleep.

3. Schedule Sleep!

We tend to schedule everything else in our life, but we just fall asleep whenever. Scheduling isn't just for soccer games or work meetings, it is extremely useful for things like sleep. Sure we aren't able to pin point every single night when we are going to fall asleep, but if we can narrow it down to a reasonable window of time our body starts adjusting. Having that time at the end of the day to allow for a proper nights rest gives you a stopping point for the day, almost like having a daily goal to hit. This also trains your body to expect to rest. Doing so helps create a relaxation as soon as you lay down.

4. You Can Smell The Sleep!

When you get your whole body involved in the sleeping process, you are able to rest for much longer and recover from the day in less time. This allows you to tackle the next day fully recharged. The sense of smell is incredibly powerful. It can recall memories from childhood or it can help you even heal from injuries. Having specific smells using aromatherapy creates a sleepy reaction in your body. It can open up your airway for deeper, more relaxing, breathes. It can also allow your imagination to open up to a tropical island getaway! Having certain smells in your bedroom is a great addition to your sleep routine and sends signals to your brain to relax. Smells such as lavender, sandalwood, & cedarwood are great starting points.  Side note: do not use candles as apart of your aromatherapy solution, it is not safe to sleep with candles lit. 

5. Go To Darkness

Creating a sanctuary in your bedroom is extremely key to allowing maximum relaxation. Reducing over head lighting to bedside lamps, covering windows to keep out street lights and cars passing by, is another option. We have personally taken it to a little more extreme by covering all of the blue and red lights on cable boxes, surge protectors, baby monitors, & etc. to help keep the glow from filling the room. A simple piece of tape can greatly reduce the amount of ambient light within your room. Also, reducing screen time (TV & cellphone) right before bed time allows your brain to shut down properly. There are numerous studies showing that keeping all of the excess of lights out of the room including cell phones greatly increases your restfulness.

We hope these solutions work for you as well as they have worked for us. These are great, no cost or little cost, options that can improve your overall wellbeing. With that being said, if your mattress is failing, these solutions will be greatly reduced in effectiveness and you are really pushing a wet rope up hill. These might be able to hold you over until you can afford a proper mattress, which is great!

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