Sleep is something that comes naturally right? Not always. Sometimes a good night’s sleep doesn’t come so easily. Improving sleep means taking charge of your nights and making sleep a priority.
Wake up to better health.
Getting enough sleep is important not only because it helps you feel better during the day, but because it plays a critical role in maintaining your good health.
- Bad sleep is chronic. Poor sleep results in an increased risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
- Hormones wreak havoc. Missing out on adequate sleep can interfere with your body’s hormones, leading to irritability, mood swings, cognitive impairment, and slowed motor coordination.
- You don’t have immunity for the next challenge. Lack of sleep can also affect your immune system, making you more likely to get sick with colds, flu, and other illnesses.
Power down your brain.
While a big part of your ability to sleep well has to do with your sleep environment, your own mind may be part of what’s disturbing your rest. Here’s what people say is keeping them up at night:
Tired Of Tossing and turning? Upgrade your slumber with these simple tweaks and make it blissfully easy to snag your seven to nine hours a night. As I find out different ways to
Improve Your Pre-Bed Ritual.
You can’t just jump straight into sleep. You’ve got to set the mood. Warmer suggests building a bedtime routine at the end of the day in order to “help prepare your body and mind for sleep.” A few simple sleeps are chronic. Poor sleep results in an increased risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Hormones wreak havoc. Missing out on adequate sleep can interfere with your body’s hormones, leading to irritability, mood swings, cognitive impairment, and slowed motor coordination.
You don’t have immunity for the next challenge. Lack of sleep can also affect your immune system, making you more likely to get sick with colds, cases of flu, and other illnesses.
Power down your brain
While a big part of your ability to sleep well has to do with your sleep environment, your own mind may be part of what’s disturbing your rest. Here’s what people say is keeping them up at night: you can add to your routine are to turn off your devices, submerge yourself in darkness with black-out curtains, or enjoy a nice, relaxing drink like chamomile tea.
Ease up on Alcohol
It can certainly be tempting to relax be and unwind with a little wine after dinner. But while a few drinks make full asleep at first, alcohol gets metabolized quickly. When the effect wears off, your quality of sleep is more fragmented. That means you’ll have frequent, often unnoticeable wakeups that can leave you feeling zonked in the morning.
Stash the blue Light
Using a smartphone or another device that emits blue light before bedtime interferes with melatonin, a hormone that tells your body it’s time to sleep. Lower the brightness on your devices, shut down well before you hit the sack, or try a blue light-reducing screen protector.
Close Your Eyes & Replay Your Day
Think of the first thing you did today-say, turning off the alarm. Then recall the next thing, and so on, shifting into this unstimulated zone lets your brain feel safe powering down.
Put in Some Earplugs
Less than 60 decibels even a muffled chat in the next room is all it takes to disrupt sleep for some people says Rebecca Robbins Ph.D. The co-author of Sleep for Success. If you can’t get rid of the source of the noise, earplugs or a white noise machine can block the sound.
Feed Your Gut Bacteria
Emerging science suggests that having too few good bacteria can affect sleep. The reason is not known, but a high-fiber diet rich in probiotics can help boost the diversity of your belly bugs.
Be Smart About Hues
When painting the bedroom, choose a calm color (like blue or light green) Skip reds and oranges, which stimulate the brain and can trigger alertness.
Indulge Before Bed
One study found that a bath helped increase slow-wave (deep restorative) sleep “When you get out of warm water, the contrast with cooler air simulates how your body cools down at night an environmental scholar for the National Sleep Foundation. Your temperature drops 1 or 2 during sleep, so cooling down signals that it’s bedtime.
Keep A Journal
Since I am a creative person and systematic and very structured my mind at nighttime it’s always creating. Use a journal to download the to-do list that’s making you anxious. Be sure to include the next step for each item. Our brains are wired to remember tasks that are incomplete. Writing down one thing you can do takes those sleep-interrupting thoughts off repeat.
Limit Sugary Foods
If you have a sweet tooth, it could be disrupting your sleep even if you don’t realize it. One small Columbia University study found that participants with diets high in sugar experienced more nightmare arousals -shifting from deep sleep to light sleep or waking up completely than those who downed fewer sweets. Keep an eye on your sugar intake during the day (Woman should have no more than 25 g of added sugar daily), and if you’re faced with a snack attack before bed opts for a low-sugar treat like lightly salted popcorn.
Eat Magnesium
The mineral that helps calm nerves and relaxes muscles may give you a deeper sleep through the night, according to some early research. Make sure you’re getting enough magnesium in your diet nearly half of Americans don’t meet their daily needs by filling your plate with foods like green leafy vegetables, nuts, whole grains, legumes, tofu, and seeds.
Sidestep Night Sweats
Silk Pj’s which are a natural thermoregulator, keep you cool when you’re hot and warm when you’re cool. But if you don’t like the slippery feeling or don’t want to dish out the extra dough, look for sleepwear labeled moisture-wicking That means it’s made with materials that draw water a.k.a night seat away from the skin to regulate body temperature.
Don’t Think Too Much
This is my big challenge since I am a thinker. Instead of living too much in your own head, subscribe to a podcast designed to tell you bedtime stories I am subscribed to “CALM” the stories are designed to distract you from intruding thoughts.
Open The Window
Or at least turn the thermostat down You’ll sleep best in a room that’s 60f to 67f. The caveat: You’ll want to keep your feet cozy. Doing so dilates blood vessels, which one study linked to the ability to fall asleep faster.
Build a better bedroom. YES, you can wake up feeling refreshed. Knowing how to handle your shut-eye habits will set you up to sleep deeply TONIGHT!!
ENJOY YOUR DEEPLY SLEEP TONIGHT!
Do you find it difficult finding beauty sleep at night? Are you always tossing and turning in bed late at night even when you’re supposed to be in far away dreamland? You can share your sleep troubles with us in the comments section below and let’s talk through some of them.
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