Sleeping is one of the essential activities we have to do to sustain the body and keep it healthy. However, not many Americans have been sleeping well. Research has shown that most Americans don’t get a good night’s rest, with a fraction of those people having insomnia. If you’re having problems sleeping, it’s time that you adopt these hacks into your life.
Have a Sleeping Schedule
A sleeping schedule is crucial for your body to know when to shut its systems down. This is one of the hardest things you’ll have to do if you want to get a decent sleep. But once you get it started, it makes it so much easier to sleep, and you can sleep more profound than before.
Setting a sleeping schedule takes a lot of time and practice. You also have to dedicate your mind and body to it. This is because you’re technically telling your body that it’s sleeping time and that it should stop its processes soon so you can get a good night’s rest.
In fact, human beings would function in a circadian sleeping rhythm. Unlike nocturnal animals, human beings rely on light to tell them that nighttime and time to sleep. Sure, some of us have adapted to the nightlife and have become night owls. However, these people are also more vulnerable to disease and obesity.
Human beings function best in the morning, and it’s the main reason you should have a sleeping schedule. There are various ways you can set this. The first step is to reduce lights at night. Don’t completely light up your home at night; instead, have dimmer lighting on. Keep your bedroom dark to tell your body that it’s time to sleep. The next step is for you to reduce your electronic use before bedtime.
Reduce Electronic Use Before Bedtime
Our phones, computers, TVs, and other electronics emit light and a lot of it. Even if you put your phone’s brightness down, it’s still enough to tell your brain to break your sleeping rhythm. It’s telling your brain that it’s still morning and you should work.
If you don’t reduce electronic use, it will not only lead to a much harder time sleeping, but it’ll also lead to a poor night’s rest. Essentially, your body hasn’t prepared itself, a process known as homeostasis. Since your body hasn’t regulated the necessary things needed for sleep due to your extensive electronic use, you’ll only end up napping and sleeping lightly at night. This can disrupt your sleep, and it’s one of the main reasons you sleep at night.
Keep Your Room Cool
One way to start the process of homeostasis is to keep your room cool at night. Remember, the human body follows specific cues to prepare us for certain activities, and this includes sleeping. The body’s temperature can dictate when you’re ready to sleep. For most people, a cool temperature indicates that we are ready to relax and wind down, and it’s one of the primary reasons people turn on the air conditioner at night.
A cool room will kick the process of homeostasis, and your body starts preparing for sleep. This can be disrupted if you use your electronics in the middle of the night or turn on the lights.
Relax
Relaxation is a crucial aspect of sleeping. The body needs to know that it has to rest, and through relaxation, we can tell it that it’s time.
There are various ways we can relax before we sleep. Meditation can certainly help even if you only do it for thirty minutes. Lightning up some of the best-scented candle brands you have can also help. The smell of lavender or maybe even mint can help signal our body that it’s time to relax and wind down. However, make sure that you don’t light a scented candle that you use in the morning because your body might still think it’s the morning.
Limit Eating at Night
Lastly, you should avoid eating at night. You should halt any processes you might have before you sleep, and this includes digestion. Sure, some people sleep well with a full stomach, but this can lead to indigestion and weight gain. If you want to have a good night’s sleep, reduce the amount you eat at night and don’t eat two hours before sleep. This should give your body ample time to digest whatever you’ve eaten, or at least minimize the digestion process enough for you to get some sleep.
Sleeping is one of the essential activities humans have. We practically spend one-third of our lives sleeping! That’s how essential it is, and by harnessing it properly, we can perform better the next day and be ready with the task ahead of us.