Struggling to get a good night’s sleep? Expert shares 10 effective tips

"Sleep is the foundation of mental and physical health, and all aspects of human performance," said Andrew Huberman, a a neuroscience expert at Standford University

These are a few tips you can practice to get better sleep every night. (Photo: Pexels)

While we are busy with our skincare routines, plating up healthy and tasty meals, working out and pushing our limits, there is one aspect of health that many tend to overlook — sleep.

Sleep deprivation manifests itself as irritation, frustration, increased hunger, fatigue as well as heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, among other things, say experts. Many people struggle to get a good night’s sleep of at least 7-8 hours, either because they have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. This can be the case owing to many reasons like increased screen exposure, too much caffeine consumption close to

bed time, anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, and more. A return to work-from-home amid a third wave has only made things worse.

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The following tips, shared by Andrew Huberman, a neuroscience expert at Standford University, might help you get more and better sleep. He took to Instagram to share some science-supported tips and tricks for improved sleep, and wrote in the caption, “Sleep is the foundation of mental and physical health, and all aspects of human performance. Here I describe 10 things that anyone can do to help support a better night sleep.”

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A post shared by Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. (@hubermanlab)

Tips to improve sleep:

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View sunlight by going outside within 30-60 minutes of waking. Do that again in the afternoon, prior to sunset. If you want to wake up before the sun is out and you want to be awake, turn on artificial lights and then go outside once the sun rises.
Wake up at the same time each day and go to sleep when you first start to feel sleepy.
Avoid caffeine within 8-10 hours of bedtime.
If you have sleep disturbances, insomnia, or anxiety about sleep, try some form of self-hypnosis.
Avoid viewing bright lights — especially bright overhead lights between 10pm and 4am.
Limit daytime naps to less than 90 minutes, or don’t nap at all.

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If you wake up in the middle of the night (which, by the way, is normal to do once or so each night) but you can’t fall back asleep, consider doing an NSDR protocol when you wake up.
Expect to feel really alert ~1 hour before your natural bedtime. This is a naturally occurring spike in wakefulness that sleep researches have observed.
Keep the room you sleep in cool and dark and layer on blankets that you can remove.

He also advises some supplements — (30-60 minute before bed): 145mg Magneisum Threonate or 200mg Magnesium Bisglycinate, 50mg Apigenin, 100-400mg Theanine, but insists that it “should be cleared with your doctor. I recommend starting with behavioral tools.”

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