The quality of your sleep is VERY important. If you have ever shared a bedroom with someone, you probably known that someone can sleep without being awake even if you blast the volume of the TV.
However, there are others who are easily woken up just by the sound of footsteps.
If you are a light sleeper, chances are you have been woken up a few times in the night for simple sounds such as the banging of a door, the switch of a light or the simple murmurs of your partner.
However, if you are heavy sleeper, you may have trouble waking up despite the loud noises around you.
Whether you are a light or heavy sleeper, it is important to have a good and healthy sleep.
If you are a heavy sleeper, and you want to learn how to be easily awaken when you fall asleep, this article is for you.
In this article, we will be discussing on how to become a light sleeper and ways to have a healthy sleep.
How to BECOME a Light Sleeper?
It’s not easy being a light sleeper, nor being a heavy sleeper.
As a heavy sleeper, you can sleep through anything while as a light sleeper you can wake up at the slightest noise.
Being a light sleeper would mean you are to wake up a couple of times a night due to disturbances and this can impact the quality of your sleep.
For some light sleeper, instead of resting peacefully in their bed, they have to toss and turn, until they feel tired and fell asleep.
There are both pros and cons when you are light sleeper.
So, if you want to be one, the key is being alert and being aware of your surroundings.
Try being aware of your surrounding despite falling asleep.
An example of which is taking care of your baby.
Another way is to remain at the Stage 1 of your sleep.
During sleep, you alternate between cycles of REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non–rapid eye movement).
These sleep cycles repeat every 90 minutes.
Stage one is considered as the light sleep stage while Stage 3 is heavy sleep where your breathing slows down and your muscles relax.
To also become a light sleeper, you can try setting an alarm beside you to help you wake up.
Light sleepers have the tendency to be awake at the smallest sound, so do try to test yourself by waking up at different alarms.
Do also try to wake up at the first sound of your alarm.
Take note that it is not good to become a light sleeper on a regular basis since you could do more harm to your body with the lack of a full deep sleep.
So, it is highly advised to get a deep and healthy sleep each night.
What Makes Someone A Light Sleeper?
Based on studies, genetics, sleep disorders and a person’s lifestyle all play a role in determining if a person is light or heavy sleeper.
For sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, it may contribute to light sleep.
Due to the breathing irregularities, it will cause multiple awakening of a person throughout the night.
Some studies also suggest that the differences in brainwave activity can make someone a light or heavy sleeper.
Based on a small study, published in 2010 in Current Biology, those brains who produce the most high-frequency sleep spindles are more likely to sleep through loud noises.
Hence, if you have low-frequency sleep spindles, you are likely to awake with simple noises.
For the lifestyle, the factors you control can affect the quality of your sleep.
You might not be getting enough sleep because you are not spending time enough time in your bed due to the lifestyle you have.
By the way, I made a video explaining a simple technique you can use to fall asleep in 5 seconds or so. It works, and the military use this! You can watch it on my YouTube channel or below:
Practicing healthy sleep habits — maintaining a regular sleep schedule; limiting caffeine and alcohol use; and sleeping in a quiet, dark, and cool space — can all help foster deeper, heavier sleep.
But researchers agree that the quantity and quality of your sleep is more important to your health.
Practice healthy habits like maintaining a sleep schedule, and limiting alcohol and caffeine intake can help you.
Light Sleeper Personality
Due to a poor quality sleep, light sleepers are:
- Irritable
- Heightened emotional activity
- Can have anxiety
Light Sleeper Symptoms
- They feel tired throughout the day.
- They have trouble falling asleep at night.
- They have difficulty staying asleep when they are awakened at night.
- They wake up frequently throughout the night.
How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep When You’re a Light Sleeper
If you’re a light sleeper, chances are you have trouble falling asleep and keeping asleep.
All you want is a good night’s sleep but fail to achieve it.
So, what is a good night’s sleep and how can you achieve it?
A good sleep is described as:
- Falling asleep easily
- Waking up at the right time
- You are not awakened several times in a night
- You feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning.
So, below are some habits you can use to have a good night’s sleep. Here is what you should know about getting to sleep throughout the night as a light sleeper.
- Follow a schedule.
Create a schedule of your bedtime and your wake time.
You should go to sleep and get up at the same time everyday, including your weekends.
Avoid staying up too late specially on the weekends.
If you stay up late, it will be difficult for you to sleep during Sunday. Considering you have school or work on Monday, it’s best to sleep early so, you won’t end up tired and sleepy the next day.
Your goal is to create a programmed and scheduled waking up and sleeping time, so your body can adjust and follow this schedule.Also, avoid from falling asleep in the afternoon because you may end up awake during the night.
- Develop a consistent bedtime routine
To prepare and relax yourself before going to bed, you can create a routine.
Like taking a warm bath, applying your skincare routine, or reading a book.
Reading a book is an effective way of helping you fall asleep. Your brain and eyes get tired from processing the information that will eventually help you fall asleep.
- Make your bedroom relaxing, quiet, and dark.
One of the most important thing to know and be aware of is your sleeping environment.
You have to know if your sleeping environment is suitable for you to fall asleep or is it causing havoc to your sleep.
For example, if you live in a big city with big lights and are exposed to a lot of lights, this may mess with your circadian rhythms which will contribute to you not getting to sleep properly.
If you’re place is right beside a busy street and traffic, chances are you’ll be easily woken up by the blaring of horns.
If these are your issues, try investing in black out curtains or headphones to help you fall asleep.
You may also try buying scented candles to help you fall asleep and use eye masks.
Do try to make your bed as comfortable as possible.
- Remove all electronic devices
This means you have to keep all screens like televisions, computers and most specially your cell phone out of your bedroom.
If not, you can turn them off before going to bed.
This is because blue light coming from the electronic devices keeps your body from producing melatonin.
Melatonin is the hormone in our body that helps us to get a restful sleep.
If we hinder this hormone, chances are we won’t get enough sleep.
Plus, scrolling through your feed instead of sleeping will distract you from falling asleep.
- Keep your bedroom cool.
Atleast keep the temperature of your room cool for a peaceful asleep.
Make sure the room isn’t too hot or too cold. Plus, dim the lights and avoid bringing work to your room.
Your room should be a place to rest and relax, and not to stress you’re your work or school requirements.
- Avoid late afternoon or evening naps.
As much as you want to fall asleep and take a nap, you should avoid taking one because it will not help you fall asleep in the evening.
You can try taking a 10-15 minute power nap.
- Exercise at regular times every day and make sure to stop at least three hours before bedtime.
If you are having trouble falling asleep, you can try to exercise to help tire yourself out. This is because studies have shown that how much exercise you do on a daily basis corresponds to your sleep quality. So, you’ll get better sleep when you exercise.
- Avoid caffeine late in the day, including caffeine found in foods like chocolate.
For a lot of people, coffee is life. If that’s the case, you might want to change your iced macchiato to a decaffeinated drink.
We don’t want you to be hyper and awake when it’s time to fall asleep, do we?
- Avoid eating large meals close to bedtime.
Don’t eat a large meal when it’s close to bedtime to avoid heartburn.
Do try to eat at least 3 hours before sleep. You can try to eat snack or small meals dinnertime and bedtime.
Also please do avoid having coffee or any others food that has caffeine in it before bedtime.
- Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages close to bedtime.
Aside from coffee, avoid drinking alcohol.
It can help you knock you out but it will interfere with your sleep by not letting you reach deep sleep.
If you still continue to have trouble falling asleep, do try to consult a doctor. They may have some suggestions on getting a better night’s sleep. Or your doctor might recommend you for a couple of testing for a potential sleep disorder.
How to help my Baby fall asleep since she is a Light Sleeper
Is your baby a light sleeper? Does she wake up every time you make a noise or when you open the door? This is a very common complaint from many parents.
They say their babies go from asleep to wide awake just by simple noises or disturbances.
To answer this, we have to dispel one myth first.
And that is…
All babies are light sleepers, and all babies are heavy sleepers. So, for that matter, are all adults.
To help your baby fall asleep, you have to teach them to fall asleep on their own without the aid of sleeping props.
Sleeping props are pacifiers, rocking the baby and feeding them.
If they fall asleep with a pacifier, they will become dependent on it.
If they fall asleep nursing, then they’ll expect to be nursed when they wake up.
If they rocked to sleep, they would fuss around and cry once they wake up in the middle of the night.
The same way with adults, they have to fall asleep on their own by dispelling all the things that can wake them up.
Helping them fall asleep also depends on a baby.
There are tons of unique learning styles for each.
The key takeaway for this is they have to practice falling asleep without the sleeping aids.
Use Natural Sleep Remedies to Sleep Deeper
You can use natural sleeping remedies to help you fall asleep.
You can choose chamomile tea, honey remedies, essential oils, magnesium supplements or a warm bath.
If you prefer a convenient natural remedy, you can choose an over-the-counter sleeping aids. These are some of the suggestions:
- Som Sleep
It’s a 100% natural drink and helps you sleep better. You can sleep deeply for the whole night when you drink one of these before bed. You also wont feel a hangover or a foffy brain the next morning either.
- Bach’s Rescue Remedy
Bach’s is a homeopathic remedy made of natural ingredient. It isn’t known to interact with other meds that you may be taking.
- Alteril
These gel caps are helpful especially if you are battling insomnia. The negative things about is it makes you drowsy. Although it will help you fall asleep.
Conclusion
Whether you are light sleeper or heavy sleeper, it is important to get a good and healthy sleep. Make the necessary precautions and steps in achieving a healthy and balanced lifestyle. You can start it off with taking 8 hours of sleep.
