Sleep is very important for a healthy life. In most times, we always end the day tired and exhausted, and therefore, need quality sleep time to rest and recharge our bodies. But do you get enough sleep? The American Sleep Association revealed that 50-70 million US adults have a sleep disorder. Lack of proper sleep can have many negative repercussions, both short term, and long term.
For example, a recent study found that people who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to die early. Another study discovered that those who slept less than 4.5 hours a night had a very high body mass index.
Many people, in one way or another, find it hard to get some good sleep consistently. Be it because of stress, screens, light, or noise; it’s very easy to struggle to sleep well. While having some ground rules like no cell phones in bed should be your first step, sometimes using things that improve your sleep environment can help you sleep better.
Below are some carefully selected items that can help you improve your sleep.
- Smart Sleep Tracker
- Sleep Mask
- Earplugs
- Blackout Curtains
- Weighted Blankets
- Wake-up Light
- Aromatherapy Diffuser
- Sleep Spray for Pillows
- White Noise Machine
- Allergy-Friendly Pillow
- Memory Foam Mattress
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1. Smart Sleep Trackers
Better sleep begins by knowing how you sleep at night. If you don’t get the recommended hours of sleep or usually get off moments while sleeping, a sleep tracker can be helpful.
Sleep trackers collect highly detailed data regarding your sleep patterns including your snores, how much time you’re sleeping, and how long you take to fall asleep. Such information can prove useful when it comes to you improving your sleep.
There are tons of smart sleep trackers in the market from tracking apps to sleep-tracking wearables and smart sleep mattress trackers. These trackers monitor sleep through movement, sound, breathing patterns, heart rate, and brainwaves. A specialist can interpret the data and help you potentially improve your sleep.
Here are a couple of sleep monitors that you can choose from on Amazon
2. Sleep Masks
Sleep masks are useful items that you can use to overcome sleep problems caused by excessive light. Many people are disturbed by light before or during sleep. Research shows that leaving lights on during sleep can have a significant impact on the timing and secretion of melatonin. Light can also affect your sleep-wake cycles hence it’s good to keep your sleeping environment dark.
Sleep masks can be a great tool, especially for those who need to sleep during the day, such as shift workers and nurses. Sleep masks and eye masks work by covering the light receptors within the eyes thereby triggering the production of melatonin. These masks can improve your overall sleep quality and but also protect the skin around your eyes.
Our favourite sleep mask is the inexpensive Jersey Slumber Silk Sleep Mask by Sipwell.
3. Earplugs
Noise can be a huge sleep disruptor and the sounds can trigger unconscious physiological reactions during your sleep. If your partner snores or if you live near a freeway or in a noisy neighborhood, the noise may negatively affect your sleep. Earplugs offer a good way to block out sounds while you sleep, and improve the quality of your overall sleep, making sure you wake up rested and rejuvenated the next day.
Earplugs are quite comfortable and can generally be worn all night long.
Tip: Try combining earplugs with a sleep mask to fully cut out disruptions while promoting sleep and deeper relaxations.
4. Blackout Curtains
While most curtains filter light, you might want to block it out completely for better sleep, especially if you’re not that keen on using a sleep mask. Light suppresses the release of melatonin, thereby affecting the quality of sleep. Blackout curtains are the ideal choice for darkening your bedroom to create a perfect sleep environment.
Darkening the rooms regulates the times you sleep and wake, allowing you to sleep without the distraction of sunlight, headlights or streetlights.
The drapes not only block the lights but also help keep the heat out, creating a cool, dark room. Blackout drapery can also help babies sleep better and longer.
The thermal insulated curtains by Flamingo is a great choice for this.
5. Weighted Blankets
There’s something about blankets that make them so comforting both physically and psychologically.
Weighted blankets are quite popular nowadays, these heavier blankets most often make use of pellets or metal chains inserted and woven into the fibers to add additional weight, this in turn induces what’s called DPS (deep pressure stimulation). Many users who deal with sleep problems feel that these blankets and this mentioned effect improves their quality of sleep significantly.
Degrees of Comfort Weighted Blanket comes in many different sizes, weights and colours. They use what they call “Nano-Ceramic Bead Technology” which provides an unique experience similar to what a “weighted white sand beach blanket” would provide.
6. Wake-up Lights
Most of us use alarms to wake us in the morning. But are you one of those who has to set 10 alarms in the morning to get yourself out of bed? Wake-up lights offer a innovative yet nature-mimicking way to wake you up in the morning without the disruptive and jolting alarms.
These gadgets gradually emit light over a set number of minutes, mimicking the morning sunrise. The gradual light allows you to wake you naturally plus gives your body the natural boost it requires for the day. It also balances your circadian rhythms hence improving the quality of your sleep.
This Sunrise Alarm Clock by Fitmaker is a solid choice for achieving this.
7. Aromatherapy Diffusers
The sensuous fragrance of essential oils can help you relax, relieve stress, and drift off to sleep. An aromatherapy diffuser can help elevate your mood, improve concentration, ease your breathing, de-stress, and relax your body and mind.
Essential oil extracts are known for promoting physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being, and diffusing them in your bedroom can enhance your sleep. Whether you’re sleeping at night or taking a nap in the afternoon, aromatherapy diffusers will help you sleep better and relax your brain and body.
This essential oil diffuser by InnoGear is one of the best sellers on Amazon with more than 13500+ reviews. (most of them 5 stars)
8. Sleep Spray for Pillows
Speaking of soothing aromas, we didn’t know hand-held sprays for this specific purpose existed until the compilation of this list of sleep products. Many users and reviewers swear by the effectiveness of spraying these essential and botanical oils on your pillow before a good nights sleep.
If you’re open to trying something new to help you in sleeping better, whether for beauty or health and wellbeing, the Deep Sleep Pillow Spray by ThisWorks could be a nice item to try out.
We’ve discussed essential oils before and how they can be used as natural medicine, this spray and its concoction of proven actives from nature, botanical oils, essential oils is a innovative way for inducing better sleep.
9. White Noise Machine
White noise machines can help you to ease your way into a relaxing and refreshing night of deep sleep by blocking distracting noises and producing soothing sounds. The machines produce soft, steady, repetitive loops of sound to overcome outside disruptions and lull your brain into relaxation and deep sleep.
Most sound machines incorporate different sound variations including nature sounds, such as rainfall, wind, waves, or burbling streams. The white noise will calm your mind and enhance the quality of your sleep.
This sound machine by Adaptive Sound Technologies beats the competition out of the park.
10. Allergy-Friendly Pillow
The pillow! They’re probably one of the most comforting and loyal “friends” we human beings have. Think about it… Your pillow listens to all your troubles, thoughts and dreams while never judging you one single time.
If you can’t get the sleep you need and want, perhaps buying a brand new, fresh and comfy pillow can be good. Not to mention an allergy-friendly pillow that’s effective vs dust mites and other gremlins that could potentially agitate you before and during sleep.
Our pillow pick is the plush gel bed pillow by DreamNorth. You get two good pillows for quite the good price.
11. Memory Foam Mattress
Last but not least, if you’ve tried most things but still haven’t attained to the sleep quality you desire, maybe its time to get a new bed or mattress. We’ve reviewed the best mattress to buy online before, and we’d like to feature one of the best ones from the brands we reviewed.
Namely the 12″ Gel Memory Foam Mattress by Lucid.
It has a medium-plush feel and the surface is made of 3″ ventilated gel memory foam + 1″ bamboo charcoal memory foam support layer and 8″ high density foam make up the base of the mattress.
Why memory foam, you might wonder. Here are some convincing benefits and reasons to why a memory foam mattress could be the next mattress for you:
- The memory foam provides a true fit of your body by moulding itself according to your physical features.
- Memory foam is more allergy friendly than other mattress, this is mainly because the fibers and material in memory foam generally collects less dust mites.
- Memory foam can relieve bodily pain by displacing pressure from certain pain-points in your body.
- Memory foam is good at adapting to different temperatures, and certain memory foam mattress even offer a cooling feature for those who are sensitive to certain temperatures.
If you haven’t tried a memory foam mattress, this could be the right time to just that. Lucid mattresses also offer some of the best mattresses on the market for the lowest prices.
Oh and If you can’t or don’t want to invest in a new memory foam mattress, consider getting a memory foam mattress topper instead. This memory foam topper by Advanced Sleep Solutions can be a better choice for you. Apparently it can make you feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud!
Honorable Mentions
- Tools for meditation during the day or before sleep can be a smart way of indirectly affecting your sleep. Most often when people can’t sleep its due to an overthinking mind that just won’t give the person a break. One sound way to tame an overthinking mind is through meditation.
- Natural sleep supplements, or serenity-inducing natural herbs can be a good way to naturally allow for better sleep.
Conclusion
If you are dealing with sleepless nights, trying one of these recommended products can be a smart choice. We all deal with those restless nights, some more than others and if you’re one of those peeps that have to deal with sleeplessness more often than not, hopefully you’ve gained some ideas to try something new.
Our main goal is to share insights and knowledge that help infuse your life with joy and relaxation. In other words, TrueRelaxations is a digital magazine dedicated to your supreme wellbeing.