Sleeping pills and other medication is definitely a solution, but if you don’t want to self-medicate to get the sleep you need just yet, other options include chamomile tea before bed and relaxing baths. But see, to get better sleep, first you need to identify the factors that are keeping you from sleeping well and eliminate them. It won’t do you any good to take relaxing baths every night when it’s a bad quality mattress keeping you up at night.

In a recent article, US-Mattress said that “Those who sleep hot often say that innerspring mattresses offer the highest level of air circulation. And, anyone who has trouble getting in and out of bed may find innerspring to be the best option.” Now, if you’ve been sleeping on a mattress that isn’t right for you, then it won’t matter what else you do.

That said, let’s talk about eight proven habits to help you sleep better at night. While you try to weed out the real culprit, these might help.

1. Avoid Afternoon Naps

Countless sleep therapists all over the world recommend not sleeping during the day to anyone who has trouble sleeping at night. That’s because sleeping during the day can disturb your natural circadian rhythm, and hinder your sleep even more.

Sleeping during the day can also make you feel well-rested and active when it’s actually time to sleep. But even that feeling is short-lived, and you end up feeling burned out when it’s time to work and be at your best.

2. Increase Daylight Exposure

Your body has been programmed to react a certain way to many incoming signals throughout your life, and some of these reactions are more obvious than others. Your hand instantly recoils the moment you touch something hot, and your body reacts in a more subtle fashion to how much light there is around you.

During the day when you stay in the dark, your body fails to recognize that it is, in fact, daytime. This puts your internal clock off and makes you unable to sleep at night. This is why it’s a good idea to soak up as much sunlight as you can during the day, and hope it helps you feel sleepier when night comes.

3. Skip the Caffeine

We all know how coffee, tea, and any other caffeinated beverage can make you feel charged and hyper after you drink it. When you drink beverages like this a few hours before bed, you’re already setting the stage for a restless night full of interrupted or troubled sleep.

To make sure you have an easy time falling asleep, stay away from all kinds of caffeine in the evening. Sure, you might still have trouble falling asleep but at least caffeine won’t be one more thing adding to it!

4. Stick to Regular Bedtimes

You might have a better time with your sleep schedule if it’s consistent. If you go to bed at 10 pm one night and then have to stay up until 3 am the next, your body will obviously not cooperate. As much as it’s annoying to admit, your body has its own needs, and it would be an awful idea to think that it will automatically adjust to random bedtimes whenever.

Try sticking to a single bedtime and stick to it for a couple of weeks. Chances are that your body will grow accustomed to sleeping at that time and you’ll improve the quality of your life.

5. Don’t Take Your Daytime Problems to Bed

Your bed should be where you relax and rest. When you wake up in the morning, step out of bed immediately and avoid sitting there with the phone in your hands before stepping into the shower or brushing your teeth.

Avoid doing any of your office work in bed, and avoid using your phone in bed right before you want to sleep. Doing these things can make your mind associate your bed with things that aren’t sleep and rest, and that makes it harder for you to relax at night.

6. Eat Well!

Avoid drinking too much water before bed – the last thing you want is to have to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. This only disturbs you and you’ll probably have a hard time relaxing enough to fall asleep again.

Avoid any kind of heavy meal a few hours before bedtime and keep your dinner light. On the other hand, make sure to eat something before you go to sleep – you won’t have an easy time falling asleep on an empty stomach either.

7. Avoid Alcohol

Don’t drink before bed. Alcohol can increase symptoms associated with sleep apnea and has been linked to disrupted sleep patterns in the past according to Healthline – that’s definitely not something you want to be putting in your system right before bed.

If you really want to be sipping on something, try calming teas with blends of soothing herbs, or some warm milk instead. These will warm your body up and help you relax. Pair that with some light reading and it’s the perfect thing to sleep to.

8. Choose the Right Temperature Settings

Sleeping can be tough when you’re too hot or too cold, which is why the right temperature settings are essential. For many people, sleeping in a room that’s on the colder side with a weighted blanket is the ideal setting.

The blanket provides comfort and warmth, while the chilly atmosphere helps you feel even cozier in your cocoon.

When you’re going to bed, make sure there are no distractions or things that would keep you awake. Turn the lights off and minimize the noise, take your mind off work and choose the right kind of pajamas for a good night of rest.

The post 8 Proven Habits to Sleep Better at Night appeared first on Along the Boards.

As it turns out, there’s a way around that, and it’s to grow your own top-shelf, high-quality cannabis from the comforts of home. Many countries and states are passing marijuana laws that give their citizens the privilege to grow cannabis from home with the right licensing.

Decide to take this route and you’ll likely come across some bumps in the road when you first start out, but eventually, you could be growing bud that puts dispensary products to shame. To get to that point, you’ll definitely want to follow these tips for getting great bud in your grow room:

1. Start with Good Genetics

If you don’t start your grow off with strong genes, there’s no hope for getting that top-shelf bud you’re striving for. Beginning with a good genetic framework is everything, and behind every breathtaking bud that’s covered in crystals are strong genes.

Even if you spend thousands on grow room equipment and supplies, this money won’t amount to anything if you fail to consider genetics when choosing your strains.

2. Know That It’s Easier to Add Humidity Than to Remove It

Every grower knows that humidity is an important factor in the grow room environment. But what many growers don’t recognize is that it’s much more difficult to remove humidity from the air than it is to add it back in. On top of that, too much humidity usually leads to bigger problems than too little.

The main reason that it can be difficult to bring the humidity down is that plants increase moisture levels in the air, so you’re basically working against a force of nature. Healthline even says that this is done through evapotranspiration, where “water from the soil makes its way up through the roots of the plant, through the stems, and up to the leaves (transpiration), where it’s evaporated into the air through pores on the leaves, called stomata.”

When maintaining grow room humidity, the main takeaway is to keep your baseline on the low end of the ideal humidity range rather than the high-end. That way if the humidity does start to get too high, getting it back in check won’t be impossible.

You’ll definitely want to use a humidity controller to help out with your grow room moisture control. Check out this complete guide to humidity controllers for more info on which controller to use.

3. Treat Your Mother Plants Like Royalty

If you’re new to this, you might not realize just yet how important your mother plants are, but you’ll figure it out pretty soon.

Keeping the mothers (the plants that stay in the vegetative stage so that clones can repeatedly be clipped from them) happy and healthy should always be a top priority because, without the mothers, you’ll have to start creating your strain gene pool from scratch. A lot of growers just throw their mother plants in a room, set their light systems to “Veg”, and forget about them.

Some growers don’t even keep mother plants, but there are a lot of advantages to having them. With a mother, you know that all of the clones taken from that plant will turn out to be female, which isn’t the case if you choose to start each crop from new seeds.

4. Flush the Plants When Necessary

Giving your crop a good flushing every once in a while can help the plants to get rid of harmful buildup in their root systems. Build up can happen over time from salts in fertilizer products, and can even saturate the roots in toxic levels, so do your plants a favor and water them without nutrients occasionally.

When you flush your plants, this is also a good time to check the pH. Ph levels say a lot about a crop’s health, so you can use a pH meter or testing strip to see where the crop stands on this front. For soil growing, your aim is for a pH between 6 and 7.

5. Give Organic Growing a Try

Even if you breeze right past the organic section in the grocery store, you might want to think twice about that when it comes to your grow room. Some of the best bud known to man is grown organically, and best of all, using organic practices is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. It’s not guaranteed that growing organically will improve bud quality, but it definitely can’t hurt to try. Don’t Get Cocky (Master the Basics First)

What happens with a lot of growers is they get over-confident before mastering the basics. They assume that just because they’ve had one successful harvesting, they’re now experts and they can jump into more advanced techniques.

These are the growers that quickly realize it takes more than just one successful crop to be considered a pro. Before moving on to more challenging practices, like growing hydroponically, master the basics first. This involves everything from popping your seeds to harvesting to drying to curing.

6. Learn How to Manipulate Climate (Temperature & Humidity)

Manipulation is a big part of any grow op, and two of the most crucial factors to manipulate are temperature and humidity. We’ve already covered the importance of humidity, so let’s focus on temperature.

While it’s normal to assume that temperature control is easy, that’s not always the case. Temperature fluctuations are common, especially with high heat output lights like HPS fixtures. When the lights are on, you can definitely expect the overall temperature of the room or tent to rise, then drop back down once the lights switch off.

This is why you need to learn how to manipulate temperature and gain complete control over this important environmental factor in order to get great bud. You’ll definitely want to use automation and lots of monitoring tools to help out, and keep an especially close eye on things for the first two weeks.

The post 6 Must-Follow Tips and Tricks for Getting Great Bud in a Grow Room appeared first on Along the Boards.