Simply sleep well

1. Calmness If you haven't slept properly for weeks, you don't want more than to finally sleep through the night again. However, this urgent wish creates stress. This little breathing exercise helps to feel a little more serenity:
First take a few minutes' deep breath through the right nostril while gently holding the left nostril closed. Close both nostrils briefly and then release the left nostril. Now breathe out through the left nostril and then in again. Close both nostrils again and then release the right nostril and breathe out. Start the exercise all over again and keep fetching it until you feel calmer.

2. Routine and rituals If you fall into bed exhausted after a hard day and still can't get any sleep, you probably just haven't found your way to rest mode yet. Due to the permanent tension during the day, one part of our vegetative nervous system (the parasympathetic nervous system) is completely suppressed. Activate it with fixed evening rituals: a cup of tea on the edge of the bed, a few lines of diary writing or putting on your favourite cuddly socks are useful to show the body: "now is rest". Rituals have to be practised and therefore do not work on the first day, but usually only after a few weeks. But then they are reliable sleep aids. To bridge the time until then, treat yourself to an occasional ear candle treatment. This has a relaxing effect even without practice.

3. Screen work in the evening We take away our children's mobile phones in the evening because we know that screen time after 8 pm disturbs healthy sleep. This is also true for ourselves. The reason is not only the many disturbing messages we might get to read, but also the high blue content of the screen. If you don't want to do without screen work before going to sleep, glasses with a blue filter will do you good. However, they do not filter out the disturbing messages, so you should switch off your mobile phone and laptop at least an hour before going to bed.