The Most Effective Sleep Rituals Revealed

We’re all aware of the important role sleep plays in our lives. Our mental health, physical health, careers and lifestyles depend so heavily on the ability to get solid hours of sleep every night.

As creatures of habit, we need routines to keep all aspects of our lives organized and flowing in the right way. Bedtime is no exception to this, and it couldn’t be more true when thinking about how we interact with sleep.

Establishing a good, healthy bedtime routine is very often the key, or at least the foundation, to getting the sleep we need in order to function at full capacity the next day.

However, with so much advice around what to do and what to avoid when putting together a sleep routine that works, it can often do the opposite and result in more stress and less sleep.

With that in mind, we’ve taken a deep dive into the most popular sleep routines. Pitting them against each other, we’ve uncovered the ones to seriously consider adopting, while highlighting some you may wish to avoid. Keep reading to find out more.

How We Got There

In order for us to find the sleep rituals that will have you nodding off in a good way, we surveyed over 2,000 people to gather a host of data around sleep, including how many hours we get and to what ends we go in order to achieve them.

Then, we cross referenced some of the key data points, such as the average hours of sleep people get per night and the rituals cited to achieve a good nights’ sleep.

By doing this we were able to compare and contrast each ritual against each other, and identify how effective they were for people achieving at least seven hours of sleep a night.

The Results

Having analyzed the data, we came across some truly staggering statistics. When it came to the most popular bedtime rituals, the results predictably leaned towards practices traditionally associated with bedtime.

However, what we did find that piqued interest were the significant gulfs in efficiency between the most popular sleep rituals, with some proving to be far more effective in achieving over seven hours sleep than others.

Here’s what we found.

The Most Popular Sleep Rituals

In order for us to understand which sleep rituals work most efficiently for us, naturally we had to identify the sleep rituals being used across the country. While many of the most popular were fairly predictable, it was their popularity, or lack of, that perhaps raised some eyebrows.

• Reading - 40%

• Turn off technology - 33%

• Set out your clothes for tomorrow - 20%

• Take a hot shower or soak in the bath - 20%

• Cup of tea - 20%

• Make tomorrow's to-do list - 14%

• Prayer - 13%

• Meditate - 11%

• Stretch - 10%

• A long walk - 7%

• Journaling - 7%

This proved interesting as although survey participants were able to choose more than one option, some of the more in vogue practices such as meditating, journaling and stretches still scored relatively low.

This provided a good foundation for the next area we wanted to explore.

The Most Effective Sleep Rituals

Many of us may have an idea of what to do in order to prepare for sleep. As mentioned before, the issue around establishing a good sleep routine isn’t a lack of options.

With so many options and information available, the issues arguably lay around which approaches work best compared to others, and whether we are making use of the most effective practicesout there. Our data around this proved an interesting read.

The most effective rituals, in order from most effective to least effective, are:

Our survey also showed that taking a walk before bed is the activity that aids sleep the least, with it being seven times less effective than reading.

Further results showed that of the people surveyed, turning off all tech items before trying to sleep was twice as effective as drinking a cup of tea before bed for those who got an average of over seven hours’ sleep a night.

Another interesting find was that, setting out tomorrow’s outfit was found to be three times more effective as a sleep ritual than meditation, with only 37% of those who meditate before bed getting more than seven hours of sleep.

Final Thoughts

It’s safe to say that when it comes to the sleep rituals we utilise, the most popular practices tend to be fairly well known. The real point of significance seems to be in how well these practices actually work in aiding more sleep.

There may be a bit of trial and error when it comes to what works for you, but what is certain is that utilizing the most effective sleep rituals out there will no doubt boost your hours of rest for tonight and many nights to come.

While we all should take advantage of a strong sleep routine, we also need the right things in place to help us along the way. That’s why all our wooden beds are made to measure and are customizable to fit seamlessly into your bedroom. For more information and advice on what bed to go for, contact our team today.