How To Feel Less Tired
A poor night's sleep can leave you feeling tired and stressed, reaching for that extra cup of coffee mid-afternoon to keep you perked up. Here are our secrets to combating tiredness and fatigue and getting a great night's sleep, every night.
Sleep is your best friend when it comes to living your best life every day. It’s your body’s way to process the day, and to restore and rejuvenate itself. It’s one of the most revitalizing things you can do, in terms of improving mental alertness, physical vitality, creativity and a sense of humour. Best of all - it’s free.
Getting into good sleeping habits is the key to keeping your energy levels up throughout the day. However, with full, busy lives and a lot to think about, sometimes getting to sleep isn’t as easy as it could be.
With this in mind, we’ve decided to offer up our top 10 life hacks for you to make sure you sleep like a baby all night, every night! Some of them might surprise you…
1) Healthy Eating & Drinking
Cultivating hassle-free healthy alternatives to bad eating and drinking habits can help the body’s metabolism function properly, leading to better quality sleep, and giving you more enthusiasm with which to greet the day. More often than not, we try to over-compensate day time fatigue with unhealthy drinks and snacks – feeding our bodies with too much caffeine and sugar, as well as starchy foods. This adds to, rather than decreases, stress in our minds and bodies.
Try to incorporate healthy snacks like seeds, nuts and fruit to replace the crisps and chocolate. Eat little and often throughout the day – it’s easier on your digestion than big starchy meals. Don’t forget, we have a dazzling array of decaffeinated alternatives too. Our amazing fruit infusions and herbal teas are simply delicious, as well as utterly refreshing. They’re more than just hot drinks – they’re an adventure in smells and tastes and you can have a lot of fun experimenting with the different flavours.
2) Staying Hydrated
This kind of goes without saying. Our bodies are mostly H2O and cannot function for long without water, and dehydration can lead to feelings of tiredness. Yet it’s one of those things many of us are not so good at. Staying hydrated doesn’t have to be boring – have a look at our top tips on how to liven up your daily dose of water.
We’re recommended to drink around 2 litres of fluids a day - and even more if having a very active day. Twinings' fruit and herbal infusions are 100% natural and caffeine free, and can be enjoyed hot or cold. Go fruity to stay hydrated the natural way. We have loads of ideas for delicious iced teas and mocktails too, putting the happy into hydrating.
3) Exercise
Staying active is a great way to both energise yourself and ensure you're tired out when it comes to the end of the day. It leads to a healthy fatigue and is a great way to reduce stress and build strength, health and vitality. A morning walk, jog or swim can set you up for a great day, which in turn leads to a good night’s sleep.
4) Creating Regular Patterns
Circadian rhythms are changes that happen within your body that follow a daily pattern. They’re often affected by light and darkness, and are controlled by your body clock.
Your circadian rhythm isn’t just related to sleep - it’s also the reason behind that post-lunch energy dip you tend to experience, which is even more noticeable if you're already sleep deprived.
The best way to ensure you have a healthy circadian rhythm is to try to go to bed and wake up at similar times every day (even at weekends!). Try to get into a good daily routine and you should find yourself naturally drifting off into a restful night's sleep and waking up refreshed without having to reach for the snooze button.
5) Bedtime Routine
Establishing a regular bedtime routine will again really help your body to know when it’s time to unwind, relax and prepare for the land of nod. Simple things like having a bath or reading a book with a soothing hot drink like camomile as you snuggle down will trigger your mind and body’s sleep memory, letting it know that it’s time to sleep peacefully.
6) Daylight
Getting lots of daylight is also really important for your body’s rhythm, as well as your overall sense of wellbeing, as it increases serotonin levels.
Try putting your desk close to the window, take a stroll outside during your work breaks and keep the curtains open during the day. Daylight also nourishes us with Vitamin D. Your circadian rhythm likes to know day from night, so giving enough clues really helps you get a good night’s sleep.
7) Calm Music
Playing calming music during your preparations for bed can be really soothing. Try creating playlists of your favourite calming music, preferably without words. This can do wonders to create a sense of peace and tranquillity, which is important for a restful slumber.
8) Take a Break From Screens
The pieces of technology which so many of us use everyday can be a real distraction when it comes to getting a full night’s sleep. Keep your bedroom a work (and social media) free zone, and try to turn off the TV, computer and phone a good hour before you turn in. This helps the brain to wind down.
Also remember that our body clock is affected by light, so turning screens off an hour or so before bed won't just help you wind down mentally, but let your body clock know it's nearly time for bed.
9) Avoid Caffeine After 3pm
If you don’t want to go totally caffeine free (and let’s face it, mornings wouldn’t be the same without your first cup of strong breakfast tea!) then try our range of green teas for a healthy and delicious energy boost during the day.
Try to avoid caffeine completely after 3pm, because it can stay in your system for up to 6 hours and really impacts your ability to fall asleep. Instead, try our fruit and herbal infusions for a fantastically energising caffeine free alternative.
10) Mindfulness
There are a huge range of apps available to help you schedule moments of calm and mindfulness throughout the day, as well as at bedtime. If you’ve arrived still buzzing from the day’s busyness then why not try a simple 3 minute mindfulness exercise, to both get in touch with your body and calm your mind.
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