10 Tips for a Better Night’s Sleep
It’s no secret that coffee contains caffeine, a stimulant that regularly gets a bad rap for causing countless sleepless nights. But with the 95 million cups of coffee consumed in the UK every single day, is it possible to continue to enjoy our favourite drink, without losing sleep over it?
Sleep is so important to us. It’s when our memories are filed and stored (or wiped clean), and it’s when our body repairs itself from the damage done to it throughout the day. So, it comes as no surprise that insufficient sleep has been linked to weight gain, heart disease, inflammation in the body and prolonged illness.
If you’re tossing and turning at night and watching the clock hands creep into the early hours, now’s the time to do something about it.
If you enjoy a cup of coffee before bed, don’t despair. It may be worth switching to a lower caffeine content coffee such as our Definitely Decaf. You may wonder, ‘is decaf coffee free of caffeine?’. Yes, mostly! The decaffeination process removes the majority of the caffeine, leaving a great tasting drink, without the unpleasant stimulant effects of the caffeine – the caffeine content in our decaf is no more than 0.01%. However, you could just switch to a blend which uses a lower caffeine content bean like our Breakfast Blend which, as a 100% Arabica blend, will deliver a lower caffeine content than Robusta blends.
If you’ve already made the switch and are still lying awake making lists until well into the early hours, there are plenty of other tips you can try to get a better night’s sleep.
Daytime routines to help you catch more ZZZs
- Harvard Medical School recommends exercising daily, but not within three hours of your bedtime. By taking more physical activity during the day, you’ll be more tired and are more likely to sleep better – just don’t start doing a HIIT class in the last two hours of your day. Too much energy may have the reverse effect and keep you going until the early hours.
- Try and get yourself into a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time each day. This will make getting up in the morning much easier, as your body will be used to it.
- Find more time in the day to relax. If you dash about all day long every day, it’s often hard to switch off. Look for pockets of time each day where you can sit down and relax for a while, watch some telly, read a book with a cup of our decaffeinated Raw Bean Definitely Decaf, take a warm bath or listen to soothing music. After taking some time to relax each day you’ll find it easier to switch off at night.
Diet tips for a better night’s sleep
- Eat foods high in tryptophan and serotonin. By building foods rich in these sleep-promoting hormones into your diet, you’re more likely to drift off when you want to. These hormones can be found in milk, chicken, turkey, and pumpkin seeds.
- Give spicy foods and large meals before bedtime a miss. It’s also smart to steer clear of sugar too to avoid those 11pm energy spikes.
- Drink decaffeinated coffee for a warm beverage that won’t keep you up for hours. Try our coffee-bags for a soothing cup of goodness that tastes just like regular coffee, without the buzz.
Create a relaxing environment for rest
- Train your body that your bed is there for sleep. If you answer phone calls or watch TV in bed, you’re giving your body mixed messages, conditioning it to be awake, despite being in bed.
- Sleep in a darkened room. If you have a street lamp outside, or if you struggle to snooze beyond sunrise, invest in some blackout curtains.
- Keep a pad of paper beside your bed and when, as you’re drifting off, you remember that phone call you absolutely must make in the morning, or the packed lunch for the little one’s school trip, jot it down. Park it on your notepad, ready for when you can deal with it.
- Ban digital devices from the bedroom and turn them off a good hour before bed. The blue light they emit suppresses melatonin, the sleep hormone.
- Ensure your room is relaxing and restful. Make sure it’s an ambient temperature. Too hot or too cold, you won’t sleep well. Go for a cooler room at between 16 - 18 degrees. Keep your room tidy, so when you crawl between the sheets, you can relax properly. Add some plants to your bedroom. As well as creating a calming ambience, they also help remove the CO2 in the air.
Once you’ve done all that, you’ll be snoring in no time. Now, go pour yourself a relaxing cup of decaffeinated coffee and start that bedtime wind-down. Sweet dreams! For more information about our range of coffee products and their caffeine content, contact us today.
