A good night’s sleep is important for your well-being. It is as critical as exercise and a healthy diet, if not more. Poor sleep quality can affect your brain function, cause weight gain, and lead to mental health issues. Read this if you don’t get enough sleep, and follow the tips to improve your sleep quality.
What Could Affect Your Sleep At Night?
How well you sleep can be affected by both external and internal factors. Common causes that could negatively impact your sleep quality include:
- Stress
- Physical pain
- Mental health issues
- Sleep disorders
- Snoring
- Jet lag
- Bright lights
- Uncomfortable sleep environment
- Medications
- Alcohol and caffeine
- Certain foods
- Irregular sleep schedule
Tips to Avoid a Bad Night’s Sleep
Several factors can affect your sleep quality. While you may not be able to completely eliminate all these factors from your life, following the tips below can help you control these factors and improve your sleep quality:
Stick to a Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at the same time daily, on most days, can help improve your sleep quality. If you don’t fall asleep within 20 minutes of lying on your bed, leave the room and do something relaxing. Then, you can return to bed when you are tired. Repeat this behaviour every night till you find a regular sleep and wake-up time. Once you find your sleep and wake time, ensure you don’t sleep more than eight hours every night. According to research, seven hours of sleep is ideal for a healthy adult. Anything more than eight hours will make you feel lethargic and can affect your sleep schedule the next day.
Be Mindful of What You Drink and Eat
Ensure you don’t stuff yourself with food and drinks before bed. Similarly, avoid going to bed hungry. Both these habits can cause discomfort when you go to sleep and affect your sleep quality.
Create a Restful and Comfortable Sleep Environment
How comfortable your room is also impacts your sleep quality. Ideally, your room should be dark, cool, and quiet. Avoid bright lights in your room when you go to sleep. You can use room darkening shades, a white noise app and earplugs to avoid distractions when sleeping. Apart from your environment, the quality of your bed, mattress, and pillow will also contribute to your sleep quality. Upgrade your mattress and pillow if you feel your current ones are uncomfortable. Change your sheets and pillow covers at least once a week or 15 days to ensure they are clean.
Include Physical Activity in Your Daily Routine
Regular physical activity can promote healthy sleep. Ensure you include some exercise in your daily routine. It can help improve your sleep quality. However, don’t exercise or indulge in too many physical activities late in the evenings or closer to bedtime. It can increase hormones like adrenaline or epinephrine in your body, causing alertness and delaying sleep.
Limit Daytime Naps
Taking long naps during the day can affect your sleep cycle at night. Therefore, avoid napping late in the day and limit your naps to one hour. The long naps will confuse your internal clock, making it difficult to sleep at night.
Increase Exposure to Sunlight During the Day
Your circadian rhythm is a natural time-keeping clock. It can affect your hormones, brain, and the rest of your body, telling you when to sleep and helping you stay awake. Exposure to natural sunlight during the day keeps your circadian rhythm healthy. It keeps you energetic and improves sleep quality and duration. It also reduces the time you take to fall asleep considerably. If you cannot get sunlight daily, buy artificial bright light devices or bulbs to increase your exposure to light.
Reduce Blue Light Exposure at Night
While exposure to bright light during the day can help your circadian rhythm, it can have the opposite effect at night. This is especially true of nighttime blue light exposure. Blue light is the light emitted by your digital devices like smartphones and computers. You can reduce nighttime blue light exposure in the following ways:
- Keep your digital devices away for at least two hours before sleep
- Wear glasses to block the blue light if you cannot avoid using digital devices before bedtime
- Install apps that block blue light on your devices
Take a Relaxing Shower or Bath
Enjoying a relaxing bath or shower can help improve your sleep quality. Various studies have shown that a warm bath or shower can help you relax and fall asleep faster. If you cannot bathe at night, then soak your feet in hot water. It will have the same relaxing effect and help you sleep better.
Manage Your Stress
Excessive stress can impact your sleep quality considerably. Try to resolve your problems and worries before going to bed. Keep a journal and note down everything on your mind before sleeping. Try to write about things you are grateful for as well. This will help lighten your mind and help you sleep well. Other stress management methods include getting organized, setting priorities, delegating work, and meditation.
While occasional sleepless nights are normal, not getting enough sleep regularly can impact your day-to-day life. If you are struggling with sleeping well at night, check out UK Sleep Tablets. They offer medications to help you overcome some factors affecting sleep and improve sleep quality.
Infographic provided by Bel Furniture, one of the top dining room furniture stores
