Sleep expert shares top tips on how to set up bedroom to get the best night's sleep
Whether you’ve been struggling to sleep for a while or clocks going forward hampered your routine, the importance of a quality shut-eye goes absolutely undisputed. A lack of sleep can hike your risk of serious health problems, including diabetes, dementia and heart attacks. Fortunately, a small fruit could help improve your slumber.
Characterised by a sweet yet tart flavour, kiwi offers more than a pleasant-tasting snack.
Packed with antioxidants and vitamins, the small fruit could help improve various aspects of sleep, according to Bed Kingdom.
The sleep expert said: “Kiwifruit has been a feature in many people’s bedtime routines for many years, and the science backs up kiwi’s value as a sleep aid.
“Studies have shown that kiwifruit can help improve sleep quality, sleep timings, and sleep efficiency after a month of regular kiwifruit consumption before sleep.
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“Kiwifruit contains high amounts of serotonin and antioxidants, as well as vitamins like folate, which is a B vitamin, which can help treat sleep disorders as well as help reset your sleep schedule.”
Don’t take just Bed Kingdom’s word for it, as research, published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also backs the small food.
The research team decided to put kiwi’s nutritional profile to the test by looking at 24 subjects aged between 20 to 55 years.
The participants were instructed to consume two kiwifruits “one hour” before bedtime each night for four “weeks”.
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They were also asked to log a sleep diary to assess their sleep quality, including how long it took them to fall asleep, the time of getting up, as well as total sleep time.
After four weeks of this addition, the participants reported lower amounts of waking time, longer sleep times and better sleep efficiency.
The researchers penned: “Kiwifruit consumption may improve sleep onset, duration, and efficiency in adults with self-reported sleep disturbances.”
Despite these promising findings, the team also explained that further investigation of the sleep-promoting properties of kiwifruit may be warranted.
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If you’re not a fan of the green fruit, the experts from Bed Kingdom suggested some other sleep hacks to help get your routine back on track.
Use light to your advantage
When you get up, you should try to let as much light in as you can to help your body wake up.
Bed Kingdom said: “At night, the opposite applies, and you should do your best to have as dark a room as possible when getting to sleep.
“Adjusting the light levels for when you want to sleep and wake up will greatly help reset your sleep schedule because properly timed light triggers can reset the human clock within one to three days.”
Stick to a schedule
Structure helps your body to stay in tune with its circadian rhythm more easily, helping to create a healthy sleep schedule.
The expert said: “To dial in the schedule, you can gradually wind down as bedtime approaches and, if possible, slowly induce wakefulness as your wake-up time approaches.
“For bedtime, it is useful not to use electronics an hour before bed since they keep your brain alert.”
Don’t drink caffeine too late
Last but not least, keep an eye out for the timing of your last coffee, tea, caffeinated soft drink, or even supplement that contains the culprit.
Bed Kingdom added: “Caffeine is relatively long-lasting. After six hours, roughly half of the consumed caffeine is still present in the body, and it can take up to 10 hours to leave the bloodstream completely.
“To keep to a healthy sleep schedule, it is a good choice to limit caffeine intake in the later parts of the day and remove it completely as bedtime approaches.”
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