- Take meals Three hours before sleep
- Exercise Two hours before sleep
- Bath One hour before sleep
The ultimate aim of this formula is to produce a relaxation effect in the body, easing the transition to sleep mode. Let's examine the steps in detail:
Three hours before sleep: Take in warm or spicy food to raise the body temperature. However, try not to consume food later than that as an active digestive system during bedtime keeps you awake instead. Some literature recommends that heavy meals should not be taken in the four hours leading to bedtime.
Two hours before sleep: Do light exercises such as gentle stretching or yoga that makes you sweat a little. This also relieves tension, helping you to relax. The key here is "light" as strenuous exercise creates a stimulating effect that deters sleep.
One hour before sleep: Take a warm bath or shower to raise the body temperature for a while. Now, this step seems to be counter-intuitive ("shouldn't it be a cold bath?" I hear you ask), but is actually not. The rise in temperature is only momental as at the end of the bath, the body will work to transmit the heat away from the heart and dissipate it away through our extremities. This rapid drop in body temperature signals to the body that it is time to go to sleep, cuing the onset of the much awaited sleepiness.
That's all for today!
Good night & Sleep tight!