Most Common Habits That Are Ruining Your Sleep
Sleep plays an important role in your health and wellbeing all throughout your life. Getting sufficient good quality sleep has various advantages. With proper good quality sleep, you can protect your physical and mental health, quality of life, personal security, as well as even develop better leadership skills.
Sleep plays an important role in the following processes:
- It controls your body temperature and metabolism.
- It keeps your immune system working.
- It controls brain functioning and helps restore your memory.
- It keeps your heart and blood vessels in a healthy condition.
If you don’t experience good quality sleep on a daily basis, then these procedures are interrupted and your possibility of developing lasting health problems increases.
The average adult requires between 7-9 hours of sleep per night, in order to be at peak performance the next day. However, nowadays, the truth is that many adults are dedicating only 4, 5 or even fewer hours of sleep per night. It not only leads to sleepiness during the day, but can be the reason for poor productivity levels and even severe health problems.
Getting a great night’s rest isn’t as hard as you may think. A normal healthy person can sleep in 15 to 20 minutes. If it takes 30 minutes, an hour or more than that, then the following most common habits have to be blamed.
Eating Too Close to Bedtime
Eating too close to bedtime can disturb sleep. Eating too many fatty foods, late at night can have a negative impact on sleep. It can strongly disturb your sleep cycle. Late night eating can cause acidity, indigestion or other issues because your body is working to digest food as you sleep.
To get proper sleep, it is recommended to stop eating about 2 hours ahead of your sleeping time. If you binge on a heavy meal and then go straight to bed, you will definitely not get restorative sleep, as your digestive system is being kept occupied.
Drinking Alcohol
Generally, people think that having a drink is going to relax them, but in actuality, it is not true. It will not work as a sedative. Drinking alcohol before bedtime will decrease the amount of time you spend in a deep and restorative phase of sleep.
If you take a small amount of alcohol like a glass of red wine or cocktail, it may sometimes be the reason why you experience dehydration or a headache. Maybe alcohol helps you sleep quicker, but you will not get a restful nap after consuming it.
Alcohol is a sleep-inducing chemical and it will mess with the adenosine hormone. Because of it, you will fall asleep very rapidly, but you will not get a good quality sleep. You should avoid taking alcohol more than 2 hours prior to sleep, if you’re planning a high-intensity day afterwards.
Using Electronics
The use of electronics like mobile phones, tablets or laptops prevents the production of melatonin. It’s a hormone which controls your body clock. The level of melatonin increases in the evening. If you are too busy on your phone or email, then this level of melatonin won’t rise and you won’t feel like sleeping.
Nowadays, mobile phones are becoming one of the most well-known sleep disturbers. The information which your brain processes will not allow you to get a good rest. The intense light emitted from your smartphone can also disorder your sleep cycle. It will prevent the production of melanin, which is vital for getting good quality deep slumber.
Thus, keep in mind that electronic gadgets can actually distract you from the business of sleeping. They keep you awake. Try to put down your phone at least one hour before you want to go to bed. You can read a good book, put into practice meditation or adopt a relaxing yoga routine.
Excessive Smoking
Smoking cigarettes or use of cigars or a pipe can have an effect on your sleep, in many significant ways. In tobacco products, there is an active ingredient called nicotine. It may not allow you to sleep or might even lead to insomnia.
Smoking mostly disturbs the basic structure of sleep, which is commonly known as sleep architecture. If you smoke and your sleep gets disturbed, then it is the reason why you should quit smoking for your overall well-being. You can adopt some other alternative to quit smoking.
Drinking Coffee in the Afternoon or Evening
It may be enticing to drink another cup of coffee as your energy gets down at work, but it may make you more tired in the long run. Caffeine can take around five to six hours to lose its effectiveness, which will definitely disturb our sleep.
Generally, people become less competent at processing caffeine with age, so even if they drank it without an issue when they were younger, it might be more problematic for them now.
Ignoring How You Really Feel About Your Job
It may seem unreasonable, but if you are not satisfied with your job, then it will definitely become a reason for poor sleep. If you are over-stressed at work, you will definitely not get quality sleep.
Being Inconsistent
For a good night’s rest, it is always necessary to stick to a routine. When you are facing so much stress during the day then it will become much harder for you to fall asleep at night. Because of stress, it’s not easy to quiet our brains. So always try to create a bedtime routine.
Try some good habits like praying before sleeping or taking a hot bath. It will help you to get restful sleep. This regular bedtime schedule is not only important for children. It’s important for everyone to increase the quantity and quality of sleep.
Skipping Workouts
Studies have revealed that morning and afternoon workouts can boost a person’s quality and amount of sleep at night. Of course, if you stay active then it will not heal your sleep complaints, but it will decrease the likelihood of them.
But you should always do physical activity at the right time. Don’t have an intense workout session late in the evening; it will ultimately stop you getting to sleep easily.
Final thoughts
To acquire an enhanced night’s sleep and give your brain time to unwind, try one or more of the following tactics in addition to the above tips.
Try to solve any emotional problems before bedtime – stress only adds to a poor night’s rest, stick to a regular schedule or read a book before bedtime. You can set up your bedroom for optimum sleep intake or to intentionally block gadget disruption.
If something doesn’t work, try and test with other techniques until you observe your sleep improving. You can also get help from a physician, which may help you resolve your sleep issues.
Image sources:
