4 Tips for Better Sleep

It’s no secret sleep is critical to one’s overall health and well-being. We’ve all heard getting six to eight hours of sleep is recommended, but busy work schedules and ongoing personal commitments make it difficult to make sleep a priority. So how can you ensure you’re getting quality shuteye? Next time you’re ready to crawl into bed, apply these four tips to help get better sleep.

Harness the power of light: Light plays a critical role in producing melatonin, the hormone that helps induce sleepiness and regulate your sleep/wake cycle. Setting the right ambiance in your living room or bedroom with warmer, sunset-like shades of white light when you are ready to unwind can help support melatonin production and promote better sleep.

With this in mind, Philips Hue White Ambiance offers a ‘Relax’ mode that delivers a warm, amber-toned light designed to help you unwind and prepare for an undisturbed sleep. The connected lighting system also has a ‘Nightlight’ mode that delivers a dim level of amber-reddish light designed to help you navigate the room to care for a crying child or go to the bathroom with minimal disruption to your sleep cycle.

Keep a consistent sleep schedule: Oftentimes, we tend to sleep less during the work week and make up for it over the weekend. By constantly shifting our sleeping patterns, we subject ourselves to jet-lag-like symptoms. We are creatures of habit and establishing a consistent time to go to bed helps your body react in kind.

The Philips Hue app offers routines to help you maintain a natural rhythm with the right shade of white light. Just set the time you want to start your go to sleep routine and select how long you want your lights to fade out in the app. Your lights will gradually dim until they turn off, helping to gently ease your body into a peaceful sleep.

Pay attention to how you wake up: Exposing yourself to bright daylight is just as critical for regulating your sleep cycle and supporting better sleep quality. Try to make sure you get enough light in the first one or two hours after waking. Light that emits cooler blue tones can help you feel refreshed, be more alert and improve your mood. Philips Hue White Ambiance’s “Energize” mode, which emits cooler blue tones of light, is designed with this in mind.

Tone down the use of technology before bed: In order to prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep, you should try to avoid intense light with cooler blue tones, which suppresses melatonin production. Relax an hour or two before going to bed – tucking away your mobile phone, computer or tablet, which might cause stress or overstimulate you prior to bedtime, disrupting your ability to sleep.

Every day brings new opportunities and challenges, all of which are more easily faced if you’ve had a great sleep. Apply these tips, and you’ll be rested and refreshed, ready for whatever tomorrow throws at you.