Staying healthy requires monitoring your different activities and bodily functions. One thing that can have a huge impact on your overall health and well-being is your sleep. Unfortunately, many people have serious problems getting enough quality sleep. Experts report that 40 million people have serious long term sleeping disorders and that another 20 million have occasional sleeping problems.
Lack of quality sleep can have big negative impacts for your health and your daily life. It can negatively affect your brain’s cognitive function and your work performance. If you drive or handle heavy machinery, lack of sleep can even be extremely dangerous. Overall, it’s good to learn ways to overcome your sleeping problems. Below are a few strategies you can use to improve your sleep.
Avoid Stimulants
Stimulants are substances that increase a person’s alertness, energy and attention. Stimulants also temporarily raise your blood pressure. As such, they can do the job of keeping a person awake. If you have stimulants in your system, you may sit in bed without the ability to drift off to sleep. Instead, your mind will keep racing and thinking. This can be the case even for stimulants taken four to six hours before sleep.
If you want to improve your sleep, one easy thing to do so is to avoid drinking coffee, soda or energy drinks several hours before you go to bed. Caffeine is a stimulant and 54 percent of people consume caffeine found in coffee, soda, or another source every single day. Nicotine found in cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and other sources also acts as a stimulant and should be similarly avoided.
Properly Get Ready
The way that you prepare for bed is extremely important. The activities you choose to do the few hours before you sleep have an effect on your rest. Make sure to take an hour or two to slow down and relax in order to prepare your body.
When you are getting ready for bed, be sure to do ally hygiene preparation (like brushing your teeth) 20-30 minutes before, rather than a few minutes. Contacts, like ContactLensesPlus’ Colored Lenses, are great and convenient to wear during the day, but important to remove at night before sleep.
Make Sure Your Home Is a Sleep Conductive Environment
Another way to improve the quality of your sleep is to make sure that your bedroom is a sleep conductive environment. First of all, you need to have as little light in the room as possible. If you need to sleep during the daylight hours due to your work schedule, make sure you have adequate curtains to prevent all light from seeping in. Light affects your biological clock and causes alertness.
If you enjoy taking a nice, relaxing bath or a pampering skincare routine before heading to bed, make sure your bathroom is updated. For instance, if you are in the Southern California area, check out a water heater company in Toluca Lake to make sure your water heater is updated and your baths will be enjoyable.
You should also limit the light emitted by electronics in your room. Unplug all appliances save for your alarm clock. If it’s a digital clock, choose one that does not use bright colors for the numbers. You also need to eliminate all sound. If you live near a busy street that doesn’t seem to quiet during night time hours, use ear plugs or consider playing ambient white noise to drown out the street sounds. Lastly, your room should be between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal sleep conditions.
Try Essential Oils
What you may find surprising is that essential oils can help induce healthy sleep. This includes both essential oils for topical use that are rubbed into the skin as well as essential oils for aromatic use, which are added to the air in a room through the use of a diffuser. Essential oils for sleep include choices like lavender, vetiver, Roman Chamomile, ylang ylang, bergamot, and sandalwood.
Stick to a Consistent Sleep Schedule
Something that can absolutely wreck the quality of your sleep is an inconsistent sleep schedule. If you go to sleep at different times each night, you are likely to not get the correct amount of sleep and wake up feeling groggy every single day. Your biological clock wants consistency. If you make sure to go to sleep at the same time every night for the same amount, your body will develop a rhythm it will stick to. Most people sleep for seven to nine hours a night.
Sleep is extremely important to your health. During deep sleep, your body does a lot to renew and heal itself. If you are getting poor sleep, try the methods listed above. They are likely to improve both the amount and quality of sleep you receive each night.