If you have not been feeling your best in the past few days, or even months, it might be because you aren’t getting the right amount of sleep or, more importantly, the right quality of sleep. Getting enough shut-eye is more necessary for the human body as well as mental health than most people assume. Especially if you are already doing strenuous work during the day or you have a job that is mentally taxing. The only way to recuperate from such a lifestyle is through a good night’s sleep.
During sleep, our body goes through a lot of repair and recovery work affecting everything from the way our body heals from wounds and ailments, to how we are able to remember things from our previous day. Moreover, sleep plays a role in managing different internal processes such as hormonal balance,, the release of certain chemicals, and also many other functions related to the nervous system. All these things combined mean that sleep can influence your health in a number of ways. It’s also relatively easy to get into bad sleeping habits, and consequently you suffer from a lot of problems that can impact the quality of your life. Here are a few things you should watch out for if you are looking to improve your sleep.
1. Bad Habits
There are a few bad habits that can really disturb your sleep patterns, most of these are things that we do directly before going to bed, or even in bed while we try to fall asleep. All our smart devices and mobile devices emit blue light, which can be great for productivity, but not that helpful when it comes to sleep. Even things like TV screens and computer screens emit this light and it negatively impacts our ability to fall asleep. It drives the brain into overdrive and makes it harder for our body to create the chemicals that induce sleep and help us achieve deep sleep. If you spend a lot of time on your phone before you sleep, not only are you going to spend more time trying to fall asleep, you also won’t enjoy the same quality of sleep. Ideally, you should avoid all kinds of screens at least three hours before you go to bed. This gives your body enough time to induce sleep naturally.
2. Alcohol
Alcohol is a great way to relax but it can disturb your quality of sleep. While alcohol in small amounts won’t be too bad, if you are having a heavy session right before bed, it won’t be the best night’s sleep. If you drink alcohol you might have noticed that when you fall asleep after one too many drinks, you often wake up unrested and still feeling tired. This is partly due to dehydration and partly because you were able to achieve a deep sleep state. For people who drink, you can get healthy sleep with Resthouse Sleep Solutions by managing how much you drink and when you drink. Ideally, you should not be drinking right before bed. If you have to, then pair it with some kind of snack or a meal that is high in protein that will help dampen the effects of the alcohol. Also, if you have to drink before bed, consider something that has a lower alcohol percentage. Limiting your volume of liquid intake in general, before bedtime, reduces the chances of you having to get up to go to the bathroom. This interruption also affects sleep quality very negatively.
3. Environment
If you are away from home and sleeping in an unfamiliar, and uncomfortable bed or sleeping in an environment you aren’t completely relaxed in, the quality of your slumber will be affected. You want to make your environment as comfortable as possible to induce deep sleep and to get that cycle going for as long as possible. Just simple things like turning the phone to silent can help a lot. A small noise that doesn’t wake you up is still a distraction. Even something as small as a message beep is enough to pull a person out of deep sleep, while still not waking them up entirely.
While it’s great to work out and take care of your body, you actually should limit exercise before you sleep. Doing some light cardio, maybe just going for a casual stroll is great, but doing something that really stresses out the cardiovascular system is not that helpful. Heavy workouts leave an impact on the body for several hours after the session and when you are trying to relax to get down to some good sleep, this can be counterproductive. Instead, consider doing the heavy work first thing in the morning and the light cardio last thing at night.
