Most people struggle with getting a good night’s sleep due to illness, work-related stress, and family responsibility. Lack of quality sleep has often been associated with severe health problems, poor memory, and minimized productivity during the day.
Almost everyone struggles with some sleepless nights. But did you know that making simple and yet practical adjustments in your life can help you sleep like a baby?
Although some factors that interfere with your sleep are beyond your control, the good news is that most factors are within your control.
This outline intends to educate you on some lifestyle practices you can adopt to deal with insomnia and enjoy a good night’s rest.
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Table of Contents
Adopt a Consistent Sleep Schedule
Most people rarely pay attention to getting enough quality sleep. Some adults, especially as they age, think that sleep is only for children since they do not understand its benefits and the harmful effects lack of it can bring.
When you were young, you probably had a fixed sleep schedule that would automatically send you to dreamland. However, as you became an adult, life became pretty busy that your internal clock was disrupted, leading to sleepless nights.
Fortunately, you only need to sleep and wake up at the same time consistently to allow your body to adopt a sleep-wake pattern. A consistent sleeping schedule will help your body know what time to sleep and wake up, regardless of whether it’s a holiday or a weekend.
When you stick to this schedule, you will fall asleep within about 20 minutes of getting to bed and fortify your body’s sleep-wake cycle.
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Reduce Screen Time in the Evening
Most people, especially adults, do not enjoy quality sleep because they spend tons of hours scrolling through phones or tablets, working on their laptops, and watching movies on TV.
The current work from the home policy has made it more challenging to draw the line between work and home time, contributing to screen scrolling before bed.
Digital devices emit short-wavelength artificial blue light which reduces sleepiness and increases alertness by interfering with melatonin production. When melatonin is suppressed, it disrupts your internal clock, making it difficult to enjoy quality sleep.
Of course, you cannot ignore that the world has advanced to the digital era, and you have to stay up-to-date with the current trends. But if this comes at the expense of enjoying quality sleep, it can adversely affect your health.
You can protect your eyes from the harmful effects of blue light at night by wearing blue-blocking glasses, installing the blue-light reducing app on your phone and computer, and avoiding bright screens two to three hours before bedtime.
Don’t worry, this all isn’t to say that you have to give up your screen time completely. Just might be best to keep your epic casino jackpot session to the middle of the day instead of the evening.
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Take a Melatonin Supplement
Some people have insomnia- a sleep condition where it’s hard to fall or stay asleep at night. Low melatonin levels cause the condition, but supplementing might help you enjoy quality sleep. Studies suggest that consuming 2 mg of melatonin supplement right before bed can significantly improve your sleep quality.
Melatonin can also help you adjust to a different time zone, thus suitable for the body’s circadian rhythm. Nevertheless, the supplement has side effects- making you feel groggy in the morning, hence not suitable for everyday use.
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Exercise during the day
If you exercise regularly during the day, you will enjoy quality sleep at night, and you are less likely to sleep during the day. Individuals with sleep apnea and insomnia symptoms will significantly benefit from exercising. Exercise during the day can enhance deep sleep at night; however, remember that you will need to maintain regularity to reap its sleep-promoting benefits.
Since exercise promotes metabolism, stimulates hormones, and improves your body temperature, you want to do it at the right time. The best time you can exercise is in the morning or afternoon since exercising near bedtime could disrupt your sleep pattern.
Ensure you finish your workouts at least four hours before heading to bed. If you are having difficulty sleeping after workouts, you can push the timing even further so that your body has enough time to rest and balance exercise-induced hormones.
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Wisely choose what you eat and drink.
Your eating habits, especially right before bed, affect your sleep quality. Ensure the foods you eat are good for your heart health. The focus should not be on specific foods but on your general eating patterns. Many health experts advise consuming a Mediterranean-type diet full of fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and limited red meat to help you fall asleep faster and last longer.
Furthermore, you should reduce refined carbs and sugary foods like white bread, pasta, and white rice during the day since high blood glucose from these foods can trigger watchfulness or pull you out of sleep. You could also limit the amount of food you take at dinner. Having a big meal in the evenings, especially near sleep time, will interfere with your sleep quality.
Some drinks to limit at night include caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and lots of fluids that will keep sending you to the bathroom.
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Relax and clear your head
Lack of sleep can also result from stress, anxiety, and annoyance from your day’s encounters. You can improve the quality of your sleep if you take the necessary steps to manage stress and anxieties. You can spend between 30 minutes and one hour before sleep to unwind and reflect on good things that happened in your life throughout the day.
Focusing on positive things will calm your nerves and give you an appreciative spirit. You can also practice mindfulness, meditation, and relaxation techniques or have a warm, refreshing bath before bedtime.
Other techniques to help you clear your head could include listening to calming soft music with dimmed lights in your bedroom to send to slumberland. Daytime habits that overstimulate your brain can also contribute to a disturbed mind causing a lack of sleep. You can disrupt the stimulation cycle by taking a break from your schedule.
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Ready your sleep environment
If your bedroom and bedtime are chaotic and noisy, you will struggle to catch sleep. You can improve your sleep time by ensuring your bedtime is peaceful to help your brain unwind and eliminate stress.
Some practical things you can do to keep your sleeping environment conducive and encourage sleep include:
- Keeping the bedroom cool at around 18° C.
- Ensure the noise is down or use earplugs.
- Keep the bed comfortable with pillows for support.
- Ensure the bedroom is neat- it is hard to fall asleep when the bedroom is full of clutter.
Closing Thoughts
You can take your sleep pattern and quality into your hands by adopting healthy habits. Some of the sleep stealers are things you can control or eliminate from your life. Therefore, take positive steps and keep your mind free of chronic anxiety for better sleep.
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