A healthy body and mind are essential for a happy being! Research shows that poor sleep has immediate negative effects on your hormones, exercise performance, and brain function. Therefore, it becomes important to understand what affects your sleep and what actions you need to take to ensure a comfortable sleep at night.
- Fix Your Wake-Up Time: It’s close to impossible for your body to get accustomed to a healthy sleep routine if you’re constantly waking up at different times. Pick a wake-up time and stick with it, even on weekends or other days when you would otherwise be tempted to sleep in.
- Reduce your coffee intake: Caffeine has a lot of benefits and is enjoyed by people almost round the clock. Caffeine can stay elevated in your blood for 6–8 hours. However, when consumed in the evening or at night, it can prevent your body from relaxing and stimulate your nervous system.
- Decrease your screen time:
Screen time pushes back bedtime and leads to less restful sleep. Ideally, the bedroom should be a screen-free zone. Reserving the bedroom for sleep helps the brain wind down but if that is not possible, refrain from using screens like TV, Tablets, and mobile phones 2 hours before sleep. - Reduce Your Nap Time: To sleep better at night, it’s important to use caution with naps. study noted that while napping for 30 minutes or less can enhance daytime brain function, longer naps can harm health and sleep quality. If you nap for too long or too late in the day, it can throw off your sleep schedule and make it harder to get to sleep when you want to.
- Don’t drink a lot of liquids before in Night: Nocturia is a medical term that defines the condition of excessive urination during the night. This affects sleep quality and daytime energy. It is also a good idea to use the bathroom right before going to bed to reduce your chances of waking up in the night.
- Create a Peaceful environment: Create a room that’s ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet. Exposure to light might make it more challenging to fall asleep. Avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens just before bedtime. Consider using room-darkening shades, earplugs, a fan or other devices to create an environment that suits your needs.
- Don’t drink alcohol: Alcohol is known to cause or increase the symptoms of sleep apnea, snoring, and disrupted sleep patterns. It also alters nighttime melatonin production, which plays a key role in your body’s circadian rhythm. Alcohol consumption at night decreased the natural nighttime elevations in human growth harmones, which plays a role in your circadian rhythm and has many other key functions.
- Include physical activity in your routine: Regular physical activity can promote better sleep. Avoid being active too close to bedtime, however. Spending time outside every day might be helpful, too. Daily exercise has across-the-board benefits for health, and the changes it initiates in energy use and body temperature can promote solid sleep.
