Sleep Like a Dog

Have you ever noticed how your furry friend seems to close their eyes and fall asleep instantly, without a care in the world? A healthy amount of time spent sleeping for a dog is between 12 to 14 hours per day, and some dogs can easily sleep even more! Whereas humans need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Sometimes this feels like an impossible goal. From trouble falling asleep to staying asleep, one thing is certain -- getting good quality sleep can be hard! Know that you aren't the only one feeling envious of your furry friend. 

Sleep is an instinct for all animals because it's crucial for our survival to have periods of true rest. This includes physical, mental, and emotional rest, all of which we get when we sleep. Sleep helps us maintain proper functioning, so when we get a bad night’s sleep, we may be hungrier, we may be grumpier, we may be more emotional, we may have a shorter attention span, and overall, not feel our best. If you are fighting with nighttime approaching and need help, here are some quick tips to try and resolve your sleep struggles. 

1. Create a Nighttime Routine

·   Knowing that you need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, set an alarm for when you need to be awake and then find what time you need to be asleep. This is a simple habit that helps you obtain your full sleeping period. Next, plan to start winding down about two hours before the time you need to be asleep. This way you don’t have to stress about falling asleep right away and can give yourself time to stimulate the natural release of melatonin and relax into the night. 

2. Take Care of Your Physical Needs

·   Make sure you are eating balanced meals throughout the day and avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening. Find some ways to shake out extra energy throughout the day to make sure you are physically tired by the evening. This doesn't have to be a full-blown workout but taking a walk, dancing to some music in your room or finding an enjoyable way to move your body is important to set yourself up for a good night’s sleep. 

3. Unplug and Temperature Reset

·   After dinner and during your two-hour wind-down period, try to stay away from screens. Screens emit blue light which stops our brains from releasing melatonin (our natural sleep hormone). Also, screens tend to mentally stimulate us, which is what we are trying to avoid before bedtime. Instead of a screen, try reading a book, listening to a podcast, working on a puzzle for a bit or some other soothing activity. 

·   Before you get into bed, take a warm bath or shower to get your body temperature to move from warm to cold. You’ll know when you step out of a warm shower and feel the cold slowly start seeping through you, that it's your time to crawl under the covers. When our bodies go from warm to cold, our brain releases melatonin and helps us get sleepy. Plus, it’s easier to get comfortable in bed when you are cold, and the blankets of your bed start to warm you up.

4. Make the Room Ready for a Snooze

·   Try to stay out of your bed during the day and if possible, try to avoid spending unnecessary time in your bedroom as well. Make your bed and bedroom your sleep sanctuary. When we work from our beds, we stop seeing our bed as a place to sleep and instead see it as a place of stress. Your bed should be a safe space to recover from the day; not where the day takes place. 

·   Make your bed every morning. Even though it can be annoying, it will feel good to get into a freshly made bed each night. So, even when you are groggy in the morning try to make your bed so that your future self can get the best night’s rest possible. Unmaking the bed and getting in becomes a ritual to look forward to and marks the start of sleep approaching. 

·   Make the room as dark as possible. Darkness helps our brains release melatonin so using blackout shades or a sleep mask can help us encourage sleepiness. 

·   Try out a sound machine. Sometimes we need a little help to drown out background noise that we may be more aware of when we are trying to sleep. White noise or rain sounds can be really soothing and help us get comfortable in our environment. 

Just remember that everyone has experienced a bad night of sleep and with a consistent sleep routine in place and a sleeping sanctuary set up, you too can sleep like a dog.