By Rebecca Jarvis,
Sleep disturbances, nausea, heartburn and leg cramps are common in pregnancy. If you are someone who had bad sleeping habits before pregnancy, it might be getting difficult for you to sleep properly now. Don’t worry! If you are pregnant and facing poor sleep problems, we have compiled some tips for you to get better sleep at night while you are pregnant and even after that.
Relaxing Bedtime Routine
You must have a very relaxing bedtime routine. You can read in bed or take a nice shower 20 minutes before you get into bed.
Keep your bedroom peaceful and clean
You will feel warmer than usual during your pregnancy so you should keep your room cool. Remove clutter from your room and make sure there is no noise there at night time. Get yourself a pregnancy pillow; it will help you to sleep more peacefully with proper neck alignment. Check out some soft pregnancy pillows here.
Choose left side to sleep
Try sleeping on your left side as this position will improves blood and nutrients flow towards your baby. If you will get used to of this sleeping position, it will be easier for you to sleep properly when your belly gets bigger in last months of pregnancy.
Food and Drink Intake
Avoid caffeine completely
You must forget about all the drinks that contain caffeine for instance, coffee, soda, tea and chocolate shakes. Avoid them during evening and night time.
Drink less fluid at night
You must drink fluids during the day but cut down their intake at night time. This will help you go to bathroom at night less. These bathroom breaks at night also disturbs sleep.
Avoid spicy food
Eating spicy food with chilies and sauces during pregnancy isn’t good for you digestion. If you will eat such food at night you will end up having heartburn and acidity which causes the biggest trouble in your sleep routine. Choose light meals and eat early around 7 to 8 PM. Keep some healthy snacks around you in case you get hungry or feel sick. It will also save you from morning sickness.
You must give yourself 2-3 hours to digest food before you go to bed. Try to walk for 20 minutes after having dinner.
Avoid Stress
Take short naps
When you take naps (40 to 60 minutes of sleep) in daytime it improves your memory, refreshes your mood and decreases feelings of tiredness. Don’t take a nap longer than 1-2 hours or it will it difficult for you to fall asleep at night.
Don’t exercise before sleeping
Most people workout in daytime but some workout in night time as they don’t have time during the day. Even if you only have time to exercise in evening, make sure you don’t work out too close to your bed time as that will cause insomnia and disturb your sleeping cycle. There should be at least 3-4 hours difference in your work out and sleeping time.
Have a massage
Have a facial massage once in 2 weeks. It will help you rewind and sleep better.
Meditate
Learn about meditating techniques to relax your mind and body. Deep breathing and light meditation sounds help in sleeping better.
Write down your thoughts
When you feel anxiety due to overthinking and it disturbs your sleep, start writing your thoughts on a paper. If you are worried about the things you have to do the next day, list them down. Whatever is on your mind, write it and let it get out of your mind before you go to bed. This way you will be able to get rid of your thoughts and fall asleep.
Join a class about pregnancy
If you feel worried about labor and delivery pains, post-pregnancy problems, baby care or how are you going to breastfeed, get enrolled in a class. Information and guidance will help you relax and feel better about it. You will also find really useful tips from other pregnant women.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Jarvis is a professional interior decorator who likes to blog about latest home decorating trends. She believes that it is very important to have a comfortable and well styled personal space in each house for a happy and healthy life. You can read her latest posts on https://artofpillows.com
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