Scheduled and quality sleep is important for healthy living. You can prevent yourself from negative things like bad mood swings, fatigue and many other health related problems with proper sleep. Disturbed sleep disturbs all other aspects in your life.
To prevent things from affecting your personal and professional life, you might want to follow some or all of the tips given below.
Make a schedule
Fix the sleeping and waking time for a whole week. You can even make a routine for a longer duration of time. Or you can use the same routine for consecutive weeks. You must make a routine after understanding your sleep cycle. If you feel fully rested most of the days with 7 or 8 hours, you can follow the same number of hours. If you need more hours, design your schedule accordingly. Follow the schedule to have the same sleeping time and waking time even in weekends. The habit will be healthy and productive. It will also help to establish a sleep-wake cycle.
Eat and drink good
Think of your health before eating and drinking anything. You should also maintain a routine for food. You should never sleep empty stomach as it will disturb your sleep. The same happens when you eat too much. Drink too much just before going to sleep will trigger frequent urination which will disrupts your sleep. Coffee and other forms of caffeine are harmful to sleep even after several hours of intake.
Set a bedtime habit
Do the same thing every day before sleeping. This will make a habit so that the body will have the same thing before sleeping for the day. You can read or listen to music with dimmed lights so that it does not affect your eyes and soothes instead. You can even take a warm shower. You should not get exposed to a lot of light before sleeping by doing things like using your computers or phones. Don’t watch television. Find a good activity to follow as a ritual.
Wear comfortable clothes and make the room comfortable
You won’t get your sleep until you are comfortable enough. Choose a comfortable sleeping dress. Also, you should arrange the room and the temperature to help you sleep at night. The room can have darkening shades which will adjust your eyes for sleep. You can use earplugs for blocking any unwanted sound. The mattress in your bed also must be to your preference. Similar is the case of the pillows. If you share your bed, have enough space for both of you. You can also try to have separate blankets for each person. Painting your room to a warm and soothing color is a plus point.
Try not to take long naps during daytime
If you sleep long during daytime then you won’t be able to sleep for a long time at night. Do not let it interfere your night time sleep. Make day time naps shorter and less than 30 minutes. Don’t take a nap during the evening. Evening naps are not very good for sound night sleep.
Exercise
Lack of exercise or exercise just before sleep will disturb your sleep. But, regular exercise during the morning and afternoon will promote sleep and coordinate the body and brain’s sleep mechanism. You should try to exercise till your body is exhausted for some time. Thus, you will get deeper and better sleep. You should also manage physical pain like leg pain or back pain with hot packs or use of pillow or in other ways before sleeping.
Do not worry
Worrying is for the morning when your brain is refreshed and sharp. Night time is for the body to rest and let your brain do its work. Brain keeps working and thinking even after you sleep. That is when the brain gets to analyze the issue that is keeping you worried. So, get a peaceful sleep before solving the problems of the world and saving the world. You can also write down your problems and sadness in a journal before bedtime to make your brain relaxed. Be organized and reduce your stress.
Go out and enjoy the sun just after you wake up
The sleep cycle adjusts itself from the moment you wake up, more specifically the moment you see sunlight or other lights. Your biological clock will reset and set the sleeping time after 14 to 16 hours from the moment.
Reduce caffeine and nicotine
Even if you have to get a small amount of caffeine, have it before noon. Take it as less as possible as it is not very good for your health. It works for about 10 to 12 hours after intake. You will find it difficult to sleep while caffeine is still working in your body. So, avoid having it in the evening or nighttime. The best will be to quit it altogether. Nicotine is also a stimulant, so just try to stop smoking too for quality sleep.
For the people who work at night and sleep during the day, you should avoid sunlight with the help of darkening shades as sunlight controls the body’s internal clock.
We never realize the importance of sleep till we are deprived of it. Use the above tips or create some of your own to have better sleep and better health. Use an alarm if you find waking up difficult. Don’t forget your schedule on weekends. Don’t pressurize yourself to sleep, get up and do something if you cannot sleep after trying for more than 20 minutes. Don’t worry and have a peaceful sleep so you’ll be better prepared to survive the following day with ease. Consult a doctor if you are having serious sleep related problems.