Hi, lovelies! You already know it’s important to be as stress-free before your wedding as possible; but did you know that better sleep goes hand-in-hand with less stress? It’s true! Today we’re sharing a wonderful guest author, Sarah of The Sleep Advisor, on the importance of sleep the night before your wedding. She’s sharing the top tips you can follow to ensure better, restful sleep and a happier (and less stressed) tomorrow — your big day! Take it away, Sarah!

Tips to Get Sleep The Night Before Your Wedding

by Sarah Cummings of Sleep Advisor

Beyond leaving your family behind and eloping to Vegas there is no way to around it – weddings equal stress.

Stress equals missed sleep. Which is bad news for brides because the last thing any newly wed wants to do is flick through their wedding pics to find big bags under their eyes staring back at them. Yikes!

Losing a few hours sleep in the days and weeks before a wedding is pretty much impossible to avoid. What’s important to ensure however is that sleep-deprivation doesn’t kick in because that will just lead to complete burnout.

You especially don’t want to spend the night before the wedding tossing and turning, the result being that you are too tired to enjoy the day and will be asleep before the band even plays the first tune.

Below are some tried and tested tips on how to get to sleep the night before your wedding.

Coffee mornings only

This is an obvious one but it bears repeating and repeating.

In the days and weeks before your big day it may seems as if there are more appointments than hours in a day. The temptation to turn to coffee to get through your busy schedule is often overwhelming. Don’t worry I’m not about to say you should ban the black stuff entirely. Just keep coffee where it belongs – to the mornings.

Caffeine stays in our system far longer than we like to believe, well over six hours in fact. So if you are still knocking back the cups in the mid afternoon it’s going to have an impact on your sleep.

The day before your big day can often be the most hectic, all those last minute things can lead to raised levels of stress. Guess what else can increase stress levels in your system, yep you guessed it – caffeine.

Stress is the enemy of sleep. Raised cortisol levels are the thing that keeps us lying in bed at night worrying. You are going to have enough to worry about the day before you get hitched, so don’t add to that with an unnecessary poorly timed cup of joe.

Keep the bubbly on ice

Just like caffeine, alcohol is no friend of sleep. While a nightcap can help us drop off initially the bodily processes it triggers more often than not lead to poor, broken sleep. I know the temptation will be strong, especially when the unexpected bills start to come in. But stay strong and do your sleep a favor – ban the bottle until after the ring is firmly on your finger.

Put your trust in others

The day before your wedding should be spend doing as little as possible other than relaxing and sorting out those eyebrows. There are always going to be last minute hiccups, deliveries missed, cancellations etc, etc. Taking care of these things is exactly why bridesmaids and groomsmen were invented. Let them do the heavy lifting in the weeks, days and especially hours before the big day.

For the night before the wedding my top tip is select one individual, be it your mom, an aunt, a particular bridesmaid – basically somebody whose opinion you trust fully – and deputize them chief problem solver. That is, give them full authority to take care of any last minute problems that might arise and explicit instructions not to bother you unless the church has caught fire.

While they are out putting out last minute fires you can sit at home with you feet up making a list of all the things you can spend your partner’s money on once this wedding is out of the way!

Do some light exercise

Nothing helps us sleep than being tired. Sounds obvious but it’s so easily forgotten. With this in mind a great way to both de-stress and get your mind in a better position to sleep the night before your wedding is to do some light exercise. I stress light exercise because going rock climbing is just asking for trouble.

Go for a jog, take the dog for a long walk or maybe do a bit of yoga. Get the heartbeat going, get a little sweaty but please don’t injure yourself. Exercise reduces the level of cortisol in our system, that nasty little stress hormone we mentioned earlier. With cortisol reduced sleep should come far quicker.

Have a bath

Soap your cares away and sink deep into the tub. Nothing makes us feel more relaxed that a lovely long bath. Why not make it a luxury soak, it is after all your last as a single person. Make a nice hot drink (remember no coffee) stick your favorite film onto your laptop and take it in with you.

Shut the bathroom door and shut out all the worries and cares you may have. Lie back in the bubbles and just think – once tomorrow is out of the way you have your honeymoon to enjoy!

Sweet dreams and congratulations for tomorrow!

This is a post in collaboration with The Sleep Advisor.