Night Routine: optimize your sleep by respecting your sleep cycles

Quality sleep is essential for physical and mental health. Yet many people struggle to fall asleep or wake up tired despite a full night's sleep. The key? Adopting an effective night-time routine and respecting sleep cycles. Here are our top tips for optimizing your night's rest (without needing an infusion of coffee when you wake up).

Understanding sleep cycles for better sleep

Sleep is made up of several cycles, each lasting around 90 minutes. A cycle is divided into four phases:

1. Light sleep: Transition between wakefulness and sleep.
2. Deep sleep: Essential for physical recovery.
3. REM sleep: when dreams occur and the brain consolidates memory.

Waking up in the middle of a deep sleep can cause a persistent feeling of tiredness. The aim is to optimize your bedtime so that you wake up naturally at the end of a cycle.

Steps to an effective night routine

1. Create an atmosphere conducive to sleep

• Dim the lights an hour before bedtime.
• Avoid screens (smartphones, tablets, TV) that emit blue light, which disrupts melatonin production. Netflix can wait until tomorrow, and so can social networking.
• Maintain a room temperature of around 18-20°C in the chamber.

2. Set a bedtime that suits your rhythm

• Determine your wake-up time and count backwards by 90-minute increments to choose your ideal bedtime (yes, a little mental calculation before going to sleep, but I promise, it's worth it). If math before bed isn't your thing, you can always use an online sleep calculator.
• Go to bed at a set time to regulate your biological clock.

3. Adopt relaxing rituals

• Read a book (preferably a light novel rather than a thriller that will keep you awake until 3am).
• Practice breathing or meditation exercises to calm the nervous system (and forget about the to-do list that's haunting you).
• Take a soothing herbal tea (chamomile, valerian, lime blossom).

4. Limit stimulants in the evening

• Avoid caffeine and theine after 4pm.
• Eat a light supper, rich in tryptophan (found in bananas, nuts and brown rice) to promote the production of serotonin and melatonin (and avoid the "heavy stomach + insomnia" combo).
• Reduce alcohol consumption, which impairs sleep quality.

5. Use natural techniques to fall asleep faster

• Test the 4-7-8 method: inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, exhale slowly for 8 seconds.
• Diffuse relaxing essential oils (lavender, marjoram) in the bedroom.
• Listen to white noise or soothing sounds to help you fall asleep.

Optimize your alarm clock to get the day off to a good start

Waking up has a direct impact on our energy levels. For a gentle awakening:

• Use a dawn simulator that mimics natural light (because nobody likes to be rudely roused from sleep by a shrill alarm).
• Rapid exposure to daylight to stop melatonin production.
• Practice a short stretching or breathing session to energize the body.

Adopting a night routine consistent with your sleep cycles can considerably improve the quality of your rest. By applying these tips, you'll be able to wake up fresher and more energetic every morning. Try out different strategies and adapt them to your own rhythm to find the routine that suits you best!

By Candice Lhomme