From breathing techniques to magnesium: 4 sleep hygiene hacks you'll want to try immediately.

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that a good night's sleep is essential to… well, everything. No matter how we fill our days, we all want to end them the same way: with a long stretch of blissful, uninterrupted sleep. 

The good news is, we know so much more about the elusive beast of sleep than we once did. And most importantly, we’ve started to understand “sleep hygiene”: those good habits that set us up properly for a night of solid Zs. 

So to get you started on the path to the ultimate good night’s rest, we’ve collated the 4 sleep hygiene hacks to try right now.

1. Try the 4-7-8 breathing hack

The way we breathe is intimately connected with our nervous systems, and calming our nervous systems is essential to falling – and staying – asleep. The more deeply and slowly we breathe, the clearer the message we send to our bodies that it’s time to hit the hay. 

But an instruction to just “breathe more deeply” is both frustrating and impossible to follow - which is where the 4-7-8 breathing hack comes in to take the guesswork away. 

To practise the 4-7-8 breathing technique, set yourself up in a comfortable seated position where you can keep your back straight. To begin, open your mouth and exhale loudly and completely, making a “whooshing” sound as you go. Next, close your mouth and inhale through your nose for a count of four. Hold that breath for seven seconds (or as long as you comfortably can – never push yourself to the point of discomfort with breathing exercises like this one). Finally, open your mouth and exhale for eight seconds, repeating the “whoosh” sound from the first step. 

Experts recommend starting with four lots of 4-7-8 breaths before bed and building your way up to eight repetitions. Before you know it, you’ll be deep-breathing your way to your best night’s rest in ages.

2. Try magnesium in a topical patch 

Anyone seriously dedicated to their sleep hygiene would have heard talks of magnesium. 

According to Healthline, it can promote relaxation to help you fall (and stay) asleep, as well as helping to regulate your sleep-wake cycle through the night. And it’s reported to potentially help reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety – some of which are the reasons so many of us find it hard to sleep. 

But like with any sleep hygiene hack, the ones you're inspired to try are the ones most convenient. That’s why there are other alternatives to taking oral magnesium supplements, like putting the stuff directly onto your skin via a topical patch. 

Magnesium patches, like The Patch Remedy’s Magnesium patches, can be a hassle-free option. As a topical patch, they don't require any mixing or measuring, and are ideal for those who have difficulty swallowing pills or aren't a fan of how magnesium powders can taste. These patches also use 100 per cent magnesium glycinate – the most bioavailable form of magnesium. 

They’re simple to use: pop one on a hairless area of the body (like your inner wrist or lower back) before bed, and the patch will release magnesium slowly over 12 hours while you sleep. They’re waterproof (so jumping in the shower isn’t an issue), vegan, and suitable for daily use.

The bonus? Magnesium has a bunch of other benefits too, from supporting healthy bones to targeting PMS symptoms. 

3. Treat your sleep space like a (temperature-controlled) temple

It’s simple biology that humans are meant to sleep in places that are cool and dark. When you think about it, it just makes sense: our body clocks (or fancy name: circadian rhythms) are designed to sleep at night, when both those conditions were once a given. Now that we live in houses with air conditioning and electricity, we have far more control over the temperature and lighting in our sleep spaces, but the best guidance says it’s critical to keep things as close to the experience of our ancestors as possible. That means a room which is dark, cool (but not freezing cold) and, as much as possible, free of light pollution. 

I won’t go as far to suggest that you sleep in a cave, but I will suggest it could be a useful reference point: If you wouldn’t find it in a cave (and I’m sorry, but that includes your phone), get it out of your sacred sleep space. 

4. Commit to winding down  

The idea of winding down before bed seems so incredibly simple, but is so much more complicated in practice. For most of us, rocketing through our days at a million miles an hour, the prospect of flicking an off-switch at the end of the day seems impossible. And that’s because, well, it is. 

Sleep experts put the “winding” in “winding down” for a reason, and that’s because there’s no quick fix. To work properly, your pre-bed wind down routine should be gradual, and needs to start long before you’d actually like to fall asleep. 

For the very best results, your pre-bed routine should be tailored to you, but it might include any or all of the following: 

• Taking a warm shower or bath

• Reading a book

• Turning off your phone, or at the very least, putting it in another room to charge overnight

• Doing a bedtime yoga routine (you can’t go wrong with YouTube favourite Yoga With Adriene’s 7 Minute Bedtime Yoga)

• Drinking something hot (and caffeine-free) like a herbal tea 

• Journaling or meditating to clearly mark the line between wake time and rest time 

Explore The Patch Remedy's Magnesium patches to promote calm and relaxation for improved sleep. 

Always read the label and follow the directions for use.

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.