Introduction
People nowadays seem to neglect their sleeping habits. There are various reasons for this, all different for everyone. Whatever the case is for you, the day to finally improve your sleeping habits has come. In this article you are going to find out why sleep is so important and what the magic techniques for getting good quality sleep are!
Importance of Sleep
Sleeping is equally as important as eating nourishing foods and exercising regularly. Without it, your body can’t perform accurately during the day. Here are 4 main reasons why you should always try catching some z’s!
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Sleeping Enough Means Eating Less
Your sleep affects your weight way more than you probably think. When you don’t rest enough during the night the chances to overeat with junk food during the day are significantly higher!
Ghrelin and leptin are the hormones that control hunger. Your sleeping habits can have a serious impact on them. When you are lacking sleep the levels of ghrelin rise whereas the levels of leptin fall. This increases hunger. Sleep deprivation also results in a slower metabolism.
Therefore, if you want to maintain a healthy body weight it’s important to not only spend tons of hours at the gym but to make sure you sleep enough.
Good Sleep Improves Concentration and Memory
Sleep plays a serious role in the way your brain functions. A lot of the information you learn during the day is being absorbed when you sleep. Therefore, if you don’t sleep enough you may experience memory loss.
You can get tired for various reasons but let’s be honest here – the main one is probably the fact that you are sleep-deprived. With that being said, tiredness lowers your productivity levels. When you feel sluggish and exhausted all the time you may not be able to finish your entire to-do list, neither you will stay concentrated for long periods.
Sleeping Habits Affect the Immune System
Sleeping, as we said, it’s crucial for your overall health due to the fact it affects your immunity. When you sleep your body produces a protein, called a cytokine, which creates immune response against infections and inflammation. Cytokine is being produced when you are sleeping. For this reason, when you don’t get enough night rest your body can’t generate it properly.
People who disregard their sleep are more likely to experience heart disease, stroke, and diabetes type 2. Prediabetes can be observed in adults in a really short time if they lack sleep. It is this way because sleep can have a very negative effect on blood sugar.
Sleep Affects Mental Health
The way sleep affects your state of mind is а very complex thing. I, for example, always feel extremely irritated, moody and angry after a poor night’s sleep. But I am not the only one. Sleeplessness makes most people apathetic, sad, and pessimistic. This can cut down social skills and worsen your relationships with other people.
People who suffer from depression and anxiety tend to think that they can’t sleep due to their condition. However, things can be the other way around. It has been scientifically proven that lack of sleep can lead to depression and anxiety. Of course, this is not the case for everyone! But it’s still worth thinking about could that be the reason.
How to Improve Sleep Quality
There is no need to worry if you have been experiencing sleeplessness lately. The tips below can help you improve your sleep quality, especially after you have learned why good sleep is crucial for your health.
Stick to a Consistent Sleeping Schedule
It is essential to go to bed and wake up at the same time every night and every day, preferably as early as possible. This way your body will get used to a specific routine. You won’t be tossing all night because you have slept until noon. Who knows, maybe one day you will start waking up without an alarm!
If you want to make it work, you should try doing it on the weekends too. This is where most people go wrong. Everyone prefers to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday. But you may have to sacrifice those sweet mornings when you stay in bed until noon. Bear in mind that the beginning will be hard especially if you are inconsistent with your sleep. But that doesn’t mean to give up!
Also, try to avoid napping as much as you can. If you feel like you won’t be able to make it through the day without it, then limit yourself to 15 minutes in the afternoon.
Be Mindful about your Diet
It’s no secret that a nutritious diet and exercising daily is essential for your health. However, you should be mindful of both what you eat and when. The same goes for your workouts.
Eating foods that are hard to digest right before you go to sleep, will most likely keep you awake. Try to cook a light dinner as early as possible, preferably at least 2-3 hours before hitting the pillow. This way your body won’t be busy digesting your food and you will have a good rest.
Get in your Workout during the Day
When you exercise your body promotes hormones that give you energy.
If you want to move your body before going to sleep, try doing some light yoga.
There are other things related to your diet you should reconsider doing. For example, drinking alcohol, coffee and smoking cigarettes before you go to sleep. They are all stimulants that will keep you wide awake. Don’t drink too much water too or you will get up every hour to go to the bathroom.
Relax
One of the reasons most people can’t fall asleep is the stress they experience daily.
Thoughts like what you have done wrong today, what you are going to do tomorrow, etc. are not going to make your night easier. Therefore, one of the best things you can do to make sure you will get a good night’s rest is to relax before bed. These three ways do wonders:
Meditate
Meditation is one of the best tools for stress relief. If you are a beginner, try some guided meditations. There are plenty of them on different apps and YouTube!
Read
It is scientifically proven that reading before bed reduces stress. Thanks to the stories in the books you will be able to stop thinking and worrying about your daily problems.
Journal
Writing down your thoughts, just like meditation and reading, is going to take the worries away from you. When everything is on the paper, you won’t be thinking and stressing about it anymore. You will fall asleep quickly due to your clear head.
Prepare the Bedroom
Sleeping environment plays a huge role in one’s sleep quality. The bedroom should be a peaceful and calming place, where you can rest properly. Therefore, you have to order it in a way that puts you in the right state of mind.
Make sure that the temperature in the room is right. If it’s too hot, it will be hard for you to sleep properly. Cool it down enough but don’t make it like Antarctica!
Keep the room as dark as possible. This way you won’t confuse your internal clock. If for some reason you can’t shut down the lights, invest in a sleep mask!
Another thing you can try is making it as noiseless as possible. That means to turn off the TV or the radio and to switch off all of your electronic devices. If you are not living alone, ask the other people in the house to respect your needs and be quiet.
Reduce the Blue Light
As we already said, it is important to turn off your phone, laptop, etc. But do you know the reason why? Screens emit blue light that prevents your body from falling asleep and keeps it awake for a long time. If you work long shifts in front of the computer or you love scrolling through social media, it can be hard to avoid it. Iris software is one of the solutions!
Iris is a program designed to protect the eyes, boost productivity levels and improve sleep! It’s easy to work with. For this reason, even people who are not into technology can use it without a problem.
What it does is detecting automatically if it’s day or night. After that, it changes your screen color temperature and brightness. It sounds simple but works miracles!
You also have the freedom to customize Iris the way you want by choosing from the various modes and types that the program offers. If this still sounds hard to you, download Iris mini – the smaller version of Iris. There is no room for excuses because the software has a free version that you can try!
Conclusion
A crucial part of one’s health is his sleeping habits.
If you have been neglecting them or you have been experiencing insomnia and other sleeping disorders, the solution is the list of tips above. Try to incorporate them into your life. They may sound hard and unachievable at the moment, but that’s not true. The only thing that you need is to be determined.
However, if you feel like the problems with your sleep are more serious and nothing works for you, it will be best to search for help. Tell your doctor how you have been feeling; what you think may be wrong, etc. It’s important to take care of yourself sooner than later!
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