Sleep and I are much like orange juice and cereal. Historically speaking, we just don’t mix. No matter how many times I’ve made attempts to be an “early to bed, early to rise” human, I tend to be the type who tosses, turns, and ends up succumbing to blue light at 2 a.m. in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that morning will soon be approaching. Because I’m not a quitter and because I’ve truly been feeling the woes of lack of sleep, I loaded up on sleep products over the past month, and dare I say it: I just woke up from the best sleep of my entire life.
I’ve dabbled with a sleep mask here and there in the past, but this time around, I really committed and went all out in the name of creating a nighttime ritual that worked for me. My bedroom is a haven. It can be used as a sleep supplement, humidifier, or sound machine.Finally Say: I have my sleep schedule in place. Here are five of my holy-grail products that helped me fall asleep, stay awake, and be annoyingly chipper these past weeks.
1. A sleep supplement with Melatonin vitamin B6
The Beauty zzZz formula by HUM makes the perfect nightcap. It. I’m not sure why I’ve never gone out of my way to try a sleep supplement (looking back, it definitely feels like a facepalm situation, but I digress), but this stuff seriously works. There’s something about the combination of melatonin and vitamin B6 that helps me fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling well-rested, which is truly something I don’t think I’ve been able to say since I was in the womb.
HUM Nutrition
Beauty zzZz
It contains melatonin to promote restful sleep, vitamin A6 to normalize circadian rhythms, and calcium to improve your sleep quality.
Use code TEG20 to receive 20% off your first HUM order above $39
I like to take one tablet each of Beauty zzZz and set my alarm for the following day. After that, I drift off to sleep with an interesting, but not too-intense, read. After about a half hour, I start to find myself feeling zen AF, and then at the 45-minute mark, I’m nodding off mid-sentence and into a seriously good slumber that I can’t stop talking about. Falling asleep was definitely my main concern, but I’d be remiss not to mention that once I’m asleep, this supplement helps me Do not fall asleep. You heard me: No turning, tossing, or staring at your clock as it approaches wake-up time. If there’s one sleep product worth investing in, it’s this stuff.
2. A white noise machine
My family was a bit neurotic when I was younger about having fans to block out noise while sleeping. It was definitely a comfort thing that I weaned myself off of with age—mostly because traveling back and forth from college with a huge box fan was annoying as hell. I never really thought I needed anything like it until I moved into a new apartment in January that sits adjacent to Chicago’s Brown Line.
Every 15 minutes, the train comes through, and if I’m not in a super deep sleep, it definitely wakes me up. While a bit annoying, it was definitely a push to get a more legit, small-space-friendly white noise machine, and I can’t get enough of this one from Amazon. It does an amazing job of drowning out outside noises and keeps those pesky middle-of-the night noises from getting me up.
Marpac
White Noise Machine
This white noise machine is a game-changer. I love how small but powerful it is. It can be easily stored on my nightstand, and it is perfect for me to take with me when I travel.
3. A cooling duvet cover
I don’t know if it’s hormones or what,However, in the last few years as a 20-something, my life has been a blur. Always sweat. I started setting my bedroom temperature to 65 degrees overnight, which definitely helped a bit, but I’d still often find myself having to peek out my feet and hang them over the side of my bed to help cool off. If there is one thing that I can count on to wake me up from a deep slumber overnight, it’s the uncomfortably annoying feeling that my body is engulfed in flames. I’m not a fan.
I came across this cooling comforter from Buffy, which is a lot cooler and more lightweight than the previous one my boyfriend and I had, and now that I’m able to enjoy a night of sleep without waking up drenched in sweat, I’m never, ever turning back.
Buffy
Cooling Comforter
This comforter is a dream for hot sleepers (i.e. ME). I don’t need to be covered while I sleep, but I also don’t want to sweat so this comforter really allows me to have the best both of them.
4. A Kindle
Okay, so, as sleep experts would most likely tell you, a Kindle still emits Some light. Comparable to my iPhone’s blue light late at nights as I scroll through TikTok, my Kindle is a major sleep improvement. I started reading from a Kindle a few months ago, and over the past few weeks, I’ve been a lot more consistent about reading it before bed as I wait for my Beauty zzZz sleep supplement to kick in. I reduce the brightness to a minimum, dim the lamp in the background, and choose light, easy-to-sleep reads.
This helps me reduce the blue light that I see before bed. It also helps me to keep my mind from worrying and worrying. My combination of reading and melatonin + vitamin B6 really helps me wind down and I love every moment of it.
Amazon
Kindle Paperwhite
Seriously, if you don’t have a Kindle yet, you should. I absolutely love how lightweight and simple this eReader is—it’s totally replaced my late night TikTok scroll and, since using it, I feel like I’m able to cut my wind-down time in half before bed.
5. A cool-mist humidifier
Next to feeling like my skin is literally on fire in the middle of the night, there’s one other ailment that’s sure to wake me up from a dead sleep against my will: a good ole tickle in the throat courtesy of my dry AF apartment. Over this past winter, I’ve definitely been noticing that my hair, skin, humor, etc. Although my hair, skin, humor, and nails are dryer than usual, I noticed that they were all more dry than usual. The extra moisture in the air has made my nightly coughing fits less frequent.
Raydrop
Cool Mist Humidifier
Although it isn’t the most glamorous humidifier out there, it does the job. The reservoir is large enough to keep it going all night but small enough to fit under my sink during daytime. Since I started using it, my nose and throat have been noticeably moistened over the night. This is crucial if I want to sleep through a full night.
This post is sponsored by Hum Nutrition, but all opinions are those of The Everygirl editorial staff.
Source: The Every Girl