5 Tips For Better Sleep
Sleeping will directly affect your physical and mental health. If you are not sleeping well, it can take a serious toll on your daytime energy, productivity, emotional balance, and even your weight. Here are some tips on how to improve your sleep and wake up fresh and energized.
1. Include physical activity in your daily routine
Regular physical activity can promote can help you sleep better at night.
Moderate exercise will increase the amount of slow wave sleep you get. Slow wave sleep is the term for deep sleep, where the brain and body have a chance to rejuvenate. Regularly exercising can also help to stabilize your mood and decompress the mind, a cognitive process that is important for transitioning to sleep naturally.
However, you should avoid being active too close to bedtime, because it will spike your energy levels.
2. Meditation
The deep relaxation technique has been known to increase sleep time, improve sleep quality, and make it easier to fall asleep, stay asleep and sleep well. These are some key facts about the practice that may help you get over any hesitation about trying it.
If you want to try meditation, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Then, close your eyes. Breathe in slowly and deeply, while directing your attention to your breath as you inhale and exhale. If you start thinking about different things (and you will, mind wanders), just bring your attention back to your breath. You might try doing it for, say, five minutes at a time at first and gradually increasing the amount of time as you get more comfortable with the practice.
3. Limiting Blue Light
Nowadays, we spend an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media. Doesn’t that sound crazy? This includes our iPads, TVs, phones, etc. All of these minutes of screen time add up very easily, we consume it without even noticing it.
In many studies, people who watched TV or played video games at bedtime were recorded to get 30 minutes less of sleep than those who steered clear of screens for at least an hour before bed.
So, put all the screens down an hour before bed. Read a book, drink some tea and enjoy the quiet end of the day.
4. Cutting Caffeine
Caffeine is called the most popular drug in the world. People consume caffeine on a daily basis, all over the world in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and some drugs.
In humans, caffeine can affect your sleep. There is an association among reduced sleep quality, a daily intake of caffeine and increased daytime sleepiness.
The effects of caffeine on sleep depend on the amount of caffeine ingested before bedtime, but they also depend on the amount of caffeine ingested over the whole day.
Sources:
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2110998