4 Fool Proof Steps To Improve Your Sleep
A lack of sleep can directly affect our mental and physical health, leading to a lack of energy during the day time, disturbed emotions as well as weight-loss at times.
As a result, we may end up tossing and turning in an effort towards getting a good night’s sleep. However, following are four steps which we recommend in order to avoid facing this problem.
1. Get into a bedtime routine
Developing a sleep routine is essential to maintaining your sleep-awake cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm. Being awake until late hours at night, especially on the weekends may sound exciting, but it only disrupts your circadian rhythm. Sticking to a sleep schedule even on the weekends and holidays is extremely important for maintaining physical and mental health.
2. Quit a sedentary lifestyle
A research study held by Northwestern University found that a sedentary lifestyle has a negative impact on your sleep quality. Those who were not involved in any significant exercise, experienced a significant improvement in their sleep quality as soon as they started doing aerobic exercises at least four times a week. Also improvements in depressive symptoms and less day-time sleepiness were observed. This shows that it is vital to include more aerobic workouts in our routines in order to achieve a healthy sleep.
3. Limit your screen time
It is a fact that our daily life activities are increasingly restricted to electrical devices such as laptops and mobiles. Staying away from gadgets at least an hour or two prior to getting to bed is of great importance in order to fall asleep more easily. This has been proven by a PubMed research where almost all the participants were using a cellphone or watching a television before going to bed, which resulted in them having a bad sleep. The reason behind this phenomenon are the specific light rays emitted from such devices, making it difficult for the brain to relax.
4. Modify your eating and drinking habits
Your eating habit during the daytime have a great effect on your sleeping patterns. It is interesting to know that caffeine and nicotine have long lasting effects on your ability to wind down. This means that you need to limit smoking and avoid taking caffeinated drinks at least 10-12 hours before your bedtime. Similarly, it is worth mentioning that taking heavy meals just before bedtime causes heartburn and indigestion, disrupting a good night’s sleep, as well as increasing the risk of obesity.
In a nutshell, good sleep is vital in order to avoid numerous health problems such as obesity, depression, diabetes or hypertension. With the choices that we make during the daytime we have the ability to significantly improve the quality of our sleep and our overall health.
