3 habits you should follow to get good sleep

To get a good night’s sleep, a nutritionist unpacked ways that will help you make better lifestyle choices.
(SAI Bureau) A lifestyle filled with deadlines, stringent work schedules, erratic shifts and junk food can cause irregular sleep cycles. Where good sleep is supposed to be a daily requirement, it ends up becoming a luxury for many.
Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar took to Instagram recently to share three habits to get good sleep. As part of her 12-week fitness project, she shared three important ways to help you get a proper night’s rest: fixing your bedtime, a warm water bath with neem leaves and nutmeg and rubbing ghee on the soles of your feet.
FIXED BEDTIME
Rujuta shared that following a fixed bedtime routine keeps your body in sync with other functions like digestion. It also prevents diseases and premature ageing.
“Ayurveda gives a whole lot of importance to dinacharya or to following a routine in life where things are done on time. We all understand that this is important be it in business or academics but with health, we don’t appreciate it in its full glory. A fixed bedtime helps your body to be in sync with the natural rhythms, improves digestion and helps prevent diseases or ageing,” she wrote.
WARM WATER BATH WITH NEEM LEAVES/NUTMEG
Bathing in warm water with neem leaves or nutmeg can optimise your sleep and give you a sense of calm.
She added, “Neem is celebrated in India for its ability to fight infections and keep your immunity up. Nutmeg too is known for its antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. A warm bath in the night with any of these or both of these will leave you feeling calm, strong in your mind and help optimise sleep.”
GHEE ON THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET
Rujuta shared that rubbing ghee on the soles of your feet helps with bloating at night. It is also useful when you’re feeling anxious and improves your quality of sleep.
“This has many benefits, especially for those who feel bloated and gassy at night. It also brings about a balance in your constitution and is especially useful when anxiety and fatigue may have gripped you. It leads to improved sleep quality and allows you to wake up feeling fresh as a daisy. Traditionally, there was also a special waati (kansya) with which you are supposed to rub the ghee on your feet,”
Besides this, the nutritionist shared three more habits that should be a part of your daily sleep hygiene.
Keep a 2-3 hour gap between dinner and bedtime.
No gadgets 60 minutes before sleeping.
Have haldi milk at night.
Sleep in a well-ventilated, cool and dark room.
Say a prayer before sleeping.