6 Best Tips for a Good Night Sleep

144

Sleep is not an area of compromise, it is as important as eating and drinking. A quality sleep determines your daily performance. And a good quality sleep is governed by your daily activity, habits and schedule. To help you perform at your 100% here are a few tips for a good night sleep.

1.Respect the Circadian Cycle

Circadian cycle is your body’s natural wake-sleep rhythm. It plays a major role in controlling the quality and duration of sleep as well as the time you feel sleepy and feel alert. It is possible to reset your disturbed circadian cycle by sleeping and waking up at the same time for at least a month. Once you are able to achieve this, you will fall asleep and wake up at the same time automatically.

Try going to bed 30 minutes earlier than your bed time, do a relaxing activity so your body gets ready for bed.

If the sleep is disturbed mid night, do not stress or indulge in brainstorm, instead stay in the relaxed position, try deep breaths and concentrate on going back to sleep.

2.Game of Hormones

Our body is a slave of hormones. The hormone that makes you feel sleepy, melatonin is controlled by circadian cycle. But its secretion and inhibition can be controlled by one simple trick.

Melatonin is secreted in response to darkness making you feel sleepy, while its secretion is inhibited by exposure to bright light. The trick is to expose yourself to light during the day; spend time outdoors, work in a well-lit place and make sure to roll up the curtains to allow sunlight to enter as much as possible.

At night, simply dim the lights, expose yourself less to light; say no to bed time TV, avoid use of cell-phones and tablets, even if it is e-reading.

Follow this for few days and your melatonin will help you sleep in no time

3.Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise has numerous benefits for your body. One of those is a good night sleep. Exercise exerts your body making you fall sleep easily for recovery. Furthermore, insomnia is often caused by anxiety and stress. Exercise has proved to get rid of those hence making sleep better.

More vigorous the exercise, better the effect on sleep (do not exert your body more than its potential). However light exercise can do wonders as well. Timing is important, workout too close to bed time will leave you alert and finding it hard to sleep.

4.Avoid Stimulants

Tea, coffee and cigarettes all act as a stimulant for the body, keeping it alert for longer time. Caffeine can have effects lasting for as long as 12 hours. Too much drink before bed may also disturb the sleep cycle due to the visits to the washroom. Over eating may also cause discomfort so it is better to avoid that for a better sleep and a healthier weight.

5.Avoid Naps and Sedentary Lifestyle

If you feel like you don’t feel sleepy by the time you should be in bed resulting in you sleeping late and wake up exhausted, your schedule and lifestyle might be at fault. Avoid mid-day naps. It might help you feel fresh in the evening, but it also affects your night sleep. Sedentary life style may also make it difficult to initiate sleep, you might need to rethink your daily activities.

6.Be Smart

Using smart phone, tablets, laptops or watching TV is not really a smart thing to do before sleep. These devices emit ‘blue rays’ that stimulates the brain making it harder to sleep. Avoid e reading as these cause more harm than good.

If you are still unable to sleep or have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, don’t hesitate to refer to a professional for an expert advice. You may be suffering from insomnia which a few medications can help with.

 

You might also like
Comments
Loading...