Getting a good night’s sleep is very important for your well-being. It is a necessity and not a luxury. It is in sleep that the brain and body repair themselves because sleep has restorative powers. So, sleep acts as a “reset” button to keep the mind and body fresh and ready for the next day.
Getting enough sleep every day is as crucial as a good diet and exercise. Despite the stress of work and family life, you should make quality sleep your priority.
What is Quality Sleep?
Adults should get anywhere between seven to nine hours of quality sleep every night. However, quality sleep is not only characterized by the total hours of sleep you get each night, but by how rested and refreshed you feel after you wake up in the morning. If your sleep is usually disturbed by tossing and turning between bouts of snoozes, that might be a huge problem.
Poor sleep can cause serious health problems if you don’t address it. Diseases like heart problems, weight gain, and sleep apnea are some of the issues one might face. Insufficient sleep might also affect one’s brain function, hormones, and productivity.
On the other hand, daily sufficient quality sleep has great benefits to your mind and body. Below are some of the benefits of great sleep.
Benefits of Daily Quality Sleep
- Good, quality sleep helps reduce your risk of getting heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Since it helps control your hormones that regulate metabolism and stress, a lack of it would cause a swing in your blood pressure.
- It lowers your chances of falling sick often. When you get enough rest during sleep, stress is reduced and your whole body is relaxed and awake the next day. Lack of it keeps your body on high alert and then your blood pressure increases. This will make you susceptible to diseases that can affect you.
- Sleep helps you eat less, thereby maintaining your weight. It can even help you lose weight. Lack of sleep disrupts the two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, responsible for regulating the appetite. This, in turn, causes weight gain.
- Quality sleep can help improve your memory. Your brain function benefits from getting quality sleep because it relaxes your mind. During this time, the brain does memory consolidation which is when it creates links and memories. Good sleep is crucial for this to happen.
- Sleep keeps you alert. Getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night will give your mind and body an opportunity to rest properly. This will then keep you sharp and alert the next day. You would be active and make the most of your day which , in turn, would increase your chances of getting a good night’s sleep.
There are several ways one can wind down to get quality sleep at night. Below are some of them:
8 Ways to Sleep Better
1. Have a Warm Bath in a Freestanding Tub
There’s almost nothing better than immersing yourself in a freestanding tub full of warm, scented water amidst relaxing candles and a glass of your favorite wine. A warm bath cools the body’s core temperature, thereby helping to promote good sleep. You can easily change the temperature of the water with the easy use freestanding tub faucet.
A soothing soak in a modern, freestanding tub is a plus, and it is guaranteed to relax your body and mind, preparing you for restful sleep. Freestanding bathtubs are classic, modern, and quite flexible. You can easily switch up its position if you want to. Indulge in a stand alone tub and shower to increase your choices in your preference. Take a relaxing bath with organic body scrub an hour or two before bedtime to help you sleep for hours and wake up well-rested the next day.
2. Control Your Light Exposure
Increase your exposure to bright light during the day and turn your lights down at night. The body secretes a hormone called Melatonin, which handles your wake-sleep cycle. It does this according to how much light exposure you get.
The body produces less melatonin when you are exposed to light, and more in darker places. Increasing your light exposure would keep you alert and less sleepy during the day, so you should turn down your lights two hours before bed to prepare you for a good night’s rest.
3. Exercise
Getting up to 20 minutes of exercise daily can help you get quality sleep at night. Exercise has many benefits for the body, like helping your body clock know when to call it a night. Knowing when to exercise is crucial here.
For best results, it is better to exercise early in the morning. This is because exercise keeps your body awake, less sleepy, and energized during the day. You want to wind down and sleep at night, so it’s best to stick to morning exercise.
Moderate to vigorous exercise is best, but getting at least 10 minutes of light exercise is better than getting none. If you can’t vigorously exercise, try a 10-minute walk, and over time, it would improve your sleep cycle and quality.
4. Monitor Your Food and Drink
Many of us are coffee-lovers, and that’s okay as long as it’s not drunk at the wrong time. When you drink coffee in the morning, it can help you keep energized, focused, and ready for the day. However, you should avoid drinking coffee at night or close to bedtime so that it does not interfere with your sleep.
Try to eat meals that include vegetables, fruits, and lots of water. Try not to have nicotine and carb-heavy food close to night-time because it can take hours before the effects leave your system.
Do not go to bed hungry because hunger pangs might keep you awake. Also, avoid going to bed too full either, because it might make you too uncomfortable to fall asleep. The best thing to do is go to bed neither hungry nor full for optimal, quality sleep.
If you skip dinner and start to feel hungry at night, have something light to eat. It’s a good idea to eat or drink something that would be easily digested. Try drinking a healthy ginger green smoothie or a glass of milk to help get rid of hunger pangs and promote great sleep.
5. Limit Daytime Naps
This one is a no-brainer. Brief power naps have benefits, but only if they are short. If you extend your daytime snooze to an hour or more, chances are, it will affect your sleep at night. It happens because longer naps can confuse your internal body clock.
A nap that lasts for 30 minutes or less will refresh your body and mind by improving your brain function. Studies show that even daily 30-minute power naps do not disrupt your night-time sleep because the body becomes used to it.
However, some people can take long naps in the day and still sleep well at night. It affects people differently.
6. Create an Ideal Sleeping Environment
To enjoy sufficient, quality sleep, you should improve your bedroom environment. It would be difficult to get restful and refreshing sleep in a bedroom that is too bright, too noisy, or is at the wrong temperature.
Consider using blackout blinds for your windows to prevent bright light outside from reflecting into your room. Turn off your television and try not to use your phone an hour or two before bed because the blue light from your screen could affect your eyes and prevent sleep.
Also, these tend to stimulate your brain when you should be winding down before bed instead. Many people fall asleep with the TV on and use their phones until they sleep, but these aren’t advisable habits.
You can also get a fan or an air conditioner to regulate the temperature in your room. A bedroom that is too hot or stuffy might prevent sleep or cause you to wake at night.
7. Maintain a Sleep Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every morning and night has great benefits. If you train yourself to slumber at a good hour that allows you to get enough sleep every night, your body will find it easier to fall asleep at night.
A regular sleep-wake cycle can improve long-term sleep quality because the body would align itself to sunrise and sunset. It is important to note that your sleep schedule is not limited to the work week only. To train your body, you should follow a regular sleep-wake cycle every day of the week.
8. Limit Bed Use
If you enjoy reading a book, working on your laptop, or watching TV while in bed, it might be hurting your sleep at night. You should save your bed for sleep only, so that your body knows to allow sleep to kick in when you lie in it.
If you constantly lie in bed while you work or eat and drink while watching the television, for example, it could confuse your body. Instead of preparing for sleep, your body might go into work mode and remain alert for various activities.
Conclusion
To maintain good health, sleep is a critical factor. Despite the trials and stress faced daily, it is crucial to put all that aside at night and try to get quality sleep. You need a sharp and focused mind to deal with the days as they come.
Lack of sufficient and restful sleep is linked to obesity, high blood pressure, and heart problems. So, for you to improve and enjoy a significant quality of life, you should make sleep a top priority today.