Five Tips to Help Rehab Your Sleep

Sleep is one of the most important, yet overlooked, activities of our daily routine. It’s a time for our bodies to reset from the day we’ve had and recharge for the next. Dr. Will Cole shares his five top tips to help rehab your sleep and make your night more restful.

1. Supplement with magnesium*

Taking a magnesium supplement before bed is a great way to help prep your body for rest.* Your neurotransmitter, GABA, is key to your body’s regulation of its sleep system, and GABA receptors in your brain rely on magnesium to function properly.*

I personally love and recommend the NOW^® Magnesium Inositol Relax supplement because it combines magnesium with inositol that works in a complementary way to support relaxation and better sleep.* By adding inositol, a member of the B-complex family, it works to help support neurotransmitter signaling so that magnesium and GABA communicate as effectively as possible.* Plus, it comes in a delicious lemonade flavor that makes it enjoyable to drink each evening.

2. Limit screen time

Melatonin is a hormone that is responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle and is derived from the neurotransmitter, serotonin, and the amino acid, tryptophan. It is supposed to be low in the morning to help wake you up and high at night to help get you ready for sleep. However, certain activities can throw this delicate rhythm out of balance.

Blue light emitted from cell phones, laptops, and other screens send signals to your brain that it’s daylight and can inhibit your body’s production of melatonin. To help facilitate healthy melatonin balance, limit screen time in the evening and shut off all electronics a few hours before bed. But if you do have to look at screens in the evening, wearing amber-colored glasses can help block blue light emitted from screens.

3. Meditate

Your body might be ready to sleep after a busy day, but oftentimes, your mind is not. Racing thoughts and endless to-do lists can clutter our minds and make it difficult to wind down at the end of the day.

A regular meditation practice can do wonders for prepping your mind and body for a night of deep sleep. Set aside 10-30 minutes right before you go to bed to meditate, take slow deep breaths, and enjoy the calm silence.

4.  Journal

In addition to calming our bodies when we lay down, we also need to calm our minds - which can sometimes run wild thinking of all the things that may worry us or the long list of to-dos for tomorrow. While meditation works for some, for others it may be a little more difficult. The truth is that 90-95 percent of our thoughts aren't new thoughts; instead, our minds are repeating the same ones over and over, and more often than not, they're negative ones.

To combat these from taking over, try processing them through journaling. Whether it's writing about your day, a list of your top three priorities for tomorrow, something new that you learned, or any anxious thoughts that you need to release, writing it on paper can help get it out of your head and off your chest. If you need a bit of help or don't know where to start, try writing whatever is on your mind - whether it makes sense or not.

5.  Try aromatherapy

Diffusing essential oils in the evening and while you sleep can also promote relaxation and ensure quality sleep all night long. Certain essential oils like lavender in particular have been shown in multiple studies to help support relaxation and sleep. NOW offers 100% pure and organic essential oils like lavender and chamomile (which we also know helps improve sleep) as well as a Peaceful Sleep blend that combines the two with other well-known sleep-promoting oils so that you can take advantage of all of their benefits in one convenient blend.