Just like eating and dieting, sleep counts in making you function at an optimum health. Sleep contributes greatly to your emotional, physical and mental well-being. Neglecting sleep is not only unhealthy but makes you unproductive with low energy levels. On the contrary, enough sleep keeps your body system healthy by giving it rest. A relaxed body is well balanced emotionally, mentally sharp and alert in carrying out day to day activities.
To get enough sleep for the health and fitness of your body, you want to make sure you watch and adjust your daily routine. Your daily routine could be contributing to unhealthy sleep patterns. Like if you find yourself waking up intermittently in the course of your sleep or tossing about, chances are high your daytime habits could be jeopardizing your sleep. Here are tips that will go a long way in giving you the comfortable sleep you desire.
#1. Adjust your sleep environment
Your sleep environment counts a great deal in ensuring long hours of comfortable sleep. A serene environment is the most ideal for sleeping soundly. First up, you want to make sure that all kinds of noises in or within your sleep area are controlled. Whether coming from a nearby road with vehicles speeding past, a sound system at your neighbor’s or people talking loudly, mask noise with earplugs or pink noise from a sleep app. This way, your body gets trained to sleep with the modified sounds its used to even in excessive noise
Your sleep environment is not at its best if you have not checked the comfortability of your beddings. Waking up feeling stiff, having joint pains, aching necks are telling signs that your mattress could not be firm and cosy enough to support your body weight. Pay attention to the type of mattresses you buy. Not all are guaranteed to give you the comfort you are looking for even if they look promising. I would recommend you go for the Casper mattress. It is proven to give you quality sleep and rest. To find out more about this type of mattresses, have a look at Casper mattress reviews. If the surface area of your bed is also not giving you enough room to stretch, consider finding one that allows you to stretch without feeling trapped on your bed.
A cool room with adequate ventilation is a do without. You do your body a great disservice by sleeping in a stale sleep environment. High temperatures are not conducive to your sleep. They could make you sweat, making uncomfortable your sleep environment. Sleep fits well in a room with temperatures that are in a range of 18°C -23°C.
#2. your sleep pattern should rhyme with your circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythm is a sleep-wake cycle that is dictated by the sun’s light. At dusk, the sun is setting, your brain gets the message it’s night time; it should get time to rest. At dawn, the sun is rising, the appearance of sunlight sends a signal to your brain its daytime. This initiates a wake cycle.
To keep your body in sync with this sleep-wake cycle, make sure to have a regular wake-time and sleep- time pattern.Sleeping and waking up at the same time daily put to function your natural body clock, saving you the trouble of forcing a sleep feeling or using an alarm in the morning.
If you feel sleepy before bed-time, it’s not advisable to give in and sleep early. This could make you wake up earlier than your regular waking time disrupting your sleep routine. Avoid drowsing after dinner by engaging in a house chore to postpone your sleep.
Having optimum sleep at night is important for your general wellbeing. You may still find it difficult to maintain your night sleep time for one reason or the other. Late night meetings, work pressures, unattended house chores could all deny you the quality time you need for sleep. All is not lost. You could compensate for lost sleep time with a 20-minute nap during the day.
#3. Pay attention to what you snack and eat
Not all foods and drinks you consume during the day are sleep-friendly. Some foods will interfere with your sleep patterns if you consume them just before bedtime. Watch out and cut back on your caffeine and nicotine content. They are both stimulants and have the potential of disrupting your sleep for long hours.
3-5 meals a day work well for achieving peak health. The amount of food you eat and the time also contributes to your sleeping patterns. Eating heavy meals before sleep time is not advisable. You also want to avoid foods that are spicy or acidic as they have the potential of causing you heartburns.
Drinking lots of fluids before bedtime is also not the best of ideas. You are likely to get more urges to visit the washroom. This interrupts your sleep pattern.
#4. Have regular exercises during daytime
Exercises have been known to increase sleep and make someone sleep comfortably during the night. Most people who have a daily exercise routine rarely suffer from apnea and sleep related disorders. While vigorous exercises could give you more sleep, even a 10-minute brisk walk is enough to make you court sleep. Don’t get disappointed after a few weeks into exercising and you still see no tangible results. Your body needs time to adjust to the new routine you are trying to introduce it to.
Avoid exercising some few hours before bedtime as you do not want your exercise interrupting your sleep. Time your exercises to mornings or afternoons for positive results.
Final thoughts
Though not exhaustive, these tips go a long way in giving you that perfect sleep for long hours. It’s not about seeing a doctor or taking sleeping pills. A few tweaks into your daily routine can make a great difference. A balanced, sound sleep makes you mentally alert during the day. It also improves your physical and emotional wellbeing.
