5 Advice About Creating Healthy Sleep Habits
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Some research conducted on sleep habits indicated that quality sleep directly affects both your physical and mental health. Inadequate sleep takes a severe toll on your productivity, daytime energy, weight, and emotional balance. Yet, a lot of people struggle to initiate sleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
When you are wide awake at 3 a.m., getting a good night’s sleep seems impossible, but you have more control over your sleep quality than you probably know. How you feel in the hours after you wake up usually hinges on the quality of your sleep, and in turn, the solution to your sleep problems can usually be found in your daily routine.
Unhealthy lifestyle choices and daytime habits can cause sleeping difficulties which will adversely affect your brain and heart health, vitality, mood, creativity, weight, and immune system. However, by implementing healthy sleep habits, you can improve your daytime productivity, boost your overall health and enjoy quality sleep every night.
What Strategies Can Help You Develop Healthy Sleep Habits
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- Develop a Soothing Pre-Sleep Routine
Similar to children, adults often sleep better after establishing a bedtime routine. Ensuring that you do the same things every night before going to bed will condition your brain for sleep and prepare your body for rest. It would help if you did activities that promote relaxation, such as reading, writing in a journal, meditation, or gentle stretching.
2. Minimize Noise and Light Exposure
Sound and light are environmental factors that impact both the quantity and quality of your sleep. Darkness influences the release of melatonin which has a calming, sleepy effect. Therefore, it is essential to reduce your exposure to light before going to bed.
Light from your TV, smartphone, computer and other electronic devices makes it difficult for you to initiate sleep, so you should avoid using them in your bedroom. Noise is also another thing that can interfere with your ability to fall asleep. Consider using noise-canceling headphones if there are unwanted noises you need to block out.
3. Manage Your Stress Levels
Stress is one of the significant factors that can affect your ability to fall asleep. High stress levels result in anxiety which can disrupt your sleep. Try practicing stress management techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, aromatherapy, or keeping a gratitude journal before you go to bed if your busy mind keeps you up at night.
4. Contemplate What You Eat and Drink Before Bed
It is essential to avoid a heavy meal before going to bed since the discomfort of being stuffed will keep you up. It would also be best if you avoid going to bed on an empty stomach. Just have a light dinner and give yourself 1 to 2 hours before hitting the sack.
What you drink before bed can lead to disruptions such as frequent visits to the washroom. Stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine can, however, prevent you from initiating sleep and keep you up for hours instead. Although alcohol is known to act as a sedative in the fast few hours after consumption, it ends up disrupting your sleep later on.
5. Consider the Possibility of a Sleep Disorder
An unidentified, underlying sleep disorder such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and narcolepsy can cause prolonged sleep problems. Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders which causes interrupted and inconsistent breathing. People with sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly while sleeping which affects both their sleep and health.
Other medically diagnosed issues that are common among shift workers include circadian rhythm sleep/wake disorders and sleep movement disorders. It might be wise to consult your doctor or healthcare provider if you have always struggled with sleep.
Find a Solution That Promotes Better Sleep
As you know, quality sleep plays a vital role in your overall health. A study linked inadequate sleep to a variety of health-related problems, including heart disease, severe migraines, type 2 diabetes, obesity, among others. To acquire optimal health and well-being, it would be best to make sleep a top priority and implement some of the strategies outlined above.
