Finland is the country of contrast. In summertime we have midnight sun and nightless nights, whereas in some periods of wintertime we don’t see the sun at all (nor light, for that matter). Of course, how drastic the light situation is depends greatly on what latitude one lives. I’d say in Helsinki the situation is not as bad as here in Oulu for example, about 600km (370 miles) further north than the Finnish capital.
As our body is regulated by cicardian rhythms, which are those processes dictated by our biological clock that occur and are repeated daily, it is normal to feel more active in summertime when there’s more light than in wintertime and it’s good to partly go to with that flow. When it comes to sleeping routines, however, how to cope? Here’s my mini sleeping survival guide especially thought if you live in Nordic countries, but I’m sure you’ll get great advice you can apply wherever you are currently living! As I went on writing this post I realized it was getting too long, so I will today share 4 out of the eight bullets of my guide.
1. Exercise
You feel like you don’t have time to do that? Well, you don’t have to necessarily go to gym or similar to exercise. There are so many ways to workout at home without any specific machinery. Include exercising in your daily activities. For example, what about going by walk to work or to shop? Physical exercise releases stress and improve our mood. Even the timing is important and can affect to our sleep. For example in Finland public health authorities advise to go to the woods for a minimum of five hours every month because it greatly affects in reducing stress and depression, problems so common in Nordic countries nowadays.
2. Don’t use mobile devices before going to sleep
Studies show that being exposed to the blue-and-white light given off by phones, laptops, and other electronic gadgets at night prevents our brains from releasing melatonin, a hormone that tells our bodies it’s nighttime. So, shut off your phones or put them in sleep mode and forget about them till the next day!
3. Read a book
What to do instead of scrolling your Instagram feed in the evenings? Read a book!
We usually never start to sleep as soon as we go to bed, so reading is a perfect way to avoid the temptation to use our phones. Books have this marvelous power to bring one to other worlds, so isn’t it perfect to start wandering into other beautiful realities and continue that journey in our dreams? Reading also lowers stress levels quicker and more effectively than other common stress reducers, like walking or listening to music. And we definitely need to be relaxed in order to start to sleep, right?
4. Have a comfortable bed + linings
Even if you would follow all these steps listed above, but would have an uncomfortable bed, your sleep would definitely be affected in a negative way. The mattress and pillow choices are really personal. For us, the medium hard mattress with no springs works perfectly, same for the pillows. Our latest discovery has been linen bedding. The first night we slept in them was amazing and we definitely noticed the difference. It felt more like floating than laying down. Among their many virtues, linen bedding have anti-allergic and antiseptic properties (they basically kill bacterias), they are permeable and good conductors, which means they’ll keep you warm in wintertime and cool in summertime.
I have admired LinenTales’ bedding for a long time, both for the quality and for the beautiful hues of their products. Linen Tales is a brand from Lithuania that produces home linen products for bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. For the bedding, I chose forest green + ashes of roses a combination because I thought it would look really harmonious with the view we have from our window, that is forest-y, it would bring it inside and have a calming effect. They ship worldwide and have a big variety of sizes, so I’m sure you’ll find exactly what you need from their website 🙂 By the way, stay tuned to see some more of this dreamy brand and something from their table collection.
So, dear readers, this was the first part of my sleeping survival guide. I hope you enjoyed and didn’t get sleepy reading it 😉 Friday will share with you the second part of the guide, that will take into account also our sense of smell. If you’d like to receive an email notification when the post will be published, do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter and select your preferred language!
Alexander Jacques Sabucido
This survival guide to have a good night sleep is actually helpful for us. Thanks for sharing this great article.