Contributed by: Healthians Team
A sound night’s sleep is vital for your wellbeing as it greatly contributes to robust health. Just as you need food and water to function, similarly, adequate sleep is also very important to keep you going. Everyone spends at least eight hours of the day sleeping.
When you are asleep, although a majority of your physical functions are at rest, yet many neural activities keep working in the background. The brain receives new information and discharges toxic waste while nerve cells interact and reorganize which fosters healthy brain function.
The body revitalizes cells, restores energy, and delivers essential elements like hormones and proteins. Such processes are critical, as without them the body won’t be able to function correctly. Although the exact reason behind the need for sound sleep varies from study to study, yet one thing remains constant that it’s a vital cog in your daily lifestyle. There are various reasons for the need of proper sleep. These include,
- Energy conservation
- Cellular restoration
- Brain function
- Emotional well-being
- Weight maintenance
- Proper insulin function
- Boosts immunity
- Heart health
You need at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep at night so that you don’t feel tired or fatigued during the day. Today, we share with you various effective tips on how you can get enough sleep.
- Keep regular sleep hours
Sync with the natural sleep cycle as it is one of the most significant strategies you can try in your daily activities. It will also keep you refreshed and energized throughout the day. Try to sleep and get up every day at the same time to optimize the quality of sleep. Make a regular sleep-wake schedule so it will help you get-up on time without an alarm.
- Limit caffeine in your diet
Caffeine is a substance that is extracted from coffee beans, cocoa beans, and tea leaves. Although caffeine encourages attentiveness, yet it is resistant to adenosine, a substance that promotes sleep. This leads to sleep reduction and prevents you from even feeling like sleeping. Caffeine makes your sleep disruptive and makes it hard for you to fall asleep.
- Avoid going to bed just after eating
Do not go to bed immediately after having dinner as it can cause acidity and disrupt your sleeping pattern. It’s advisable to take a short walk post-dinner for proper digestion that can reduce the chances of acid reflux.
- Sleeping empty stomach is a strict NO!
Some people avoid eating food just before sleep to reduce weight. This type of technique is called intermittent fasting although new research found that sleeping empty stomach can cause harmful effects on your body such as lose muscle mass, less energy, bad mood, low blood sugar, and lack of sleep. Starving causes low insulin levels which affect your sleep negatively. Also, an empty stomach causes grumbling and prevents you from a restful night.
- Reduce blue light exposure in the evening
Exposure to daylight is beneficial but exposure to blue light during the night affects your sleep. This exposure reduces the hormones like melatonin that help you to get relaxed and experience proper deep sleep. You can wear glasses and even install blue-light-blocking apps that block blue light in your phone or laptop to reduce the nighttime blue light exposure. You should also stop watching TV two hours before going to bed.
- Increase bright light exposure during the day
Just like blue light exposure affects your sleep, on the other hand, exposure to natural bright light during the day helps you to get better sleep. The circadian rhythm, a natural and internal process that regulates sleep, has a lot to do with your sleep. Daylight exposure gets that circadian rhythm on track and boosts the ability to get quality sleep.
- Take a relaxing bath or shower
Taking a bath before going to sleep is another way of relaxing and resting yourself. This lifestyle habit improves sleep quality and enables you to get deep and faster sleep. If you don’t want to take a bath, you can just simply put your feet in hot water and it will relax and refresh you.
