3 Tips For Improving Your Sleep

Sleep. It’s the one thing that most people want more of, but struggle to make a priority. In fact, according to The Sleep Foundation, over 1/3 of Americans don’t get enough sleep (meaning, they’re sleeping less than 7 hours per night).

Work stress, increasing personal commitments, health conditions, etc. — the contributors to restless sleep are seemingly endless. Poor sleep maintenance, or the ability to stay asleep, can be just as detrimental as not falling asleep in the first place.

TaskHuman coaches believe deeply in the power of healthy sleep habits. Sleep is the foundation of your well-being, and coaches can help you create a tailored plan to gain more restful sleep on a consistent basis, regardless of what’s going on in your life.

Here are 3 strategies TaskHuman coaches encourage you to try to sleep better tonight, and every night.

1. Create a Routine – and Keep It

Routines can help with sleep because they keep your day on track. When you create a routine, your body learns to anticipate what comes next, and the same goes for sleep.

Think back to the last time you were with a toddler. They thrive on a consistent routine, and for good reason. It helps them transition from one activity to the next without anxiety about what they’re supposed to do. Regardless of age, our bodies still crave this ingrained knowledge — this includes having an intentional nighttime wind-down.

Consider approaching your whole day as one big routine. Coach Tiffany Albury suggests having a hard stop to ending your work day and remaining consistent throughout the week.

This consistency encompasses food and eating rituals too.

In fact, Coach Tiffany shares that one of her core tips for better sleep is to “figure out what you are eating or drinking during the day that is causing you to feel restless” at night. It can be so tempting to reach for a second or third coffee, especially when you’re working from home where you may be lacking the natural breaks of an office or interacting with others. However, this extra caffeine can keep your body up a lot longer than needed over time. 

Similarly, Coach Tara Mazanec is “really specific about how I fuel before I go to bed. I will eat more calming foods like banana or turkey and also have a soothing sleepy time tea.” 

When we talk about routines, it can be easy to plan all the obligations and forget the fun. But the fun is important for your wellbeing, and sleep too. It reduces stress and anxiety, and builds connection—all of which help create the atmosphere for good sleep.

As you consider mapping out your routine, you’ll want to incorporate this next strategy too.

2. Move, Move, Move

Our bodies are made for movement. Yet, our schedules are often packed with back-to-back commitments, making it difficult to justify physical activity or find the drive to do anything but relax on the couch and unwind. Add on poor body positioning in the office and exposure to blue light, and the cycle of exhaustion and sleeplessness is perpetuated.

Any coach will tell you that even a little bit of movement helps. Coach Julia Pontones suggests setting aside time (even 5-10 minutes) for moments of movement throughout the day. This could mean stretching, yoga, or a walk around the block to “reset the body and make sure you’re getting that natural circadian day and night.” She also encourages separating your spaces, especially important for those who work from home (read: leave your work laptop out of the bedroom!).

Moving your body more frequently helps to regulate stress and anxiety, eliminate excess energy, and even increase focus. So while you’re taking a pause from work during movement breaks, you can actually be more productive because your brain is calmer and more efficient.

Coach Tara Mazanec achieves this by incorporating “mini-breaks during the day to increase the oxygen in my blood flow.” To guarantee she does this, she sets a timer on her phone that acts as a sign to do 10 squats and/or 10 jumping jacks, paired with eating mindfully. “I move away from my computer and turn my phone off or put it across the room because that just gives me that little break.”

Ultimately, focus on doing what you can rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach. On lighter work days, schedule a sweat-inducing workout with a TaskHuman coach. On the days when work is busier, build in movement breaks where you can—even if it’s just a 10-minute walk.

To increase the sleep benefits from your movement breaks, take them outside!

3. Embrace Natural Light

Sunshine and light jump-start your body for sleep by boosting daytime hormones. When they peak at the correct time, they wane appropriately too, priming your body for good sleep.

Being somewhere quiet and calm outside like a public park or your local arboretum can support sleep by reducing stress and anxiety. Similar to movement breaks, consider starting with something simple and quick, like having a warm drink, stretching, or journaling outside.

Keep in mind that, unlike your computer screen, the blue light found in nature packs a healthy dose of Vitamin D, a known immunity booster. Give yourself some of the real thing and aim to eliminate electronics in the hour before bedtime.

Coach Kelly Hawk even encourages keeping your phone in another room, so for the times you wake up in the middle of the night and start scrolling social media (we know how hard sleep is after this habit!), you give yourself the chance to practice deep breathing or have a sip of water instead.  

Thinking back to what we can learn from toddlers, there are endless technologies on the market that can help with sleep such as weighted blankets, temperature-controlling mattresses, Circadian-rhythm controlled lights, and science-backed white-noise machines. Finding a tool that works for you if you need extra support can be another effective way of supporting your sleep needs.

For more tips and individualized support for better sleep, schedule a 1:1 session with a TaskHuman coach today.

Get Better Sleep Today

Updated January 2025