Sleep is an essential body process, and it’s one of the major ingredients for a healthy life. I believe that lifestyle factors such as the quality of sleep we are getting each night affect how we look, how we feel in general, and how long we will live. Therefore, getting good sleep should definitely be at the center of our efforts to improve health.
The number of sleeping hours you ought to have each night is largely dependent on your age. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults ages 18-64 should get seven to nine hours of sleep per day. How much sleep is enough for you? Try this scientifically-proven method (called “sleep hygiene”) to see.
Step 1: Make a list of everything that disrupts your ability to fall asleep and go back to bed when awakened during the night. This includes things like caffeine, alcohol, watching television, or doing work in bed—anything that makes it harder for you to fall asleep or wake up again later at night because you are too alert. List them all on paper and rank them by severity from 1-10 with 10 being the most disruptive.
Step 2: For each item on your list, come up with a solution. This is not as easy as it sounds because you have to come up with solutions that will reduce the severity of the problem, but not eliminate it entirely. You can’t give up caffeine or alcohol entirely and sometimes watching television in bed helps you relax—but only after your eyes are closed for at least 30 minutes! So you may decide to switch from coffee to green tea which has less caffeine; substitute decaffeinated brandy for regular brandy; restrict yourself to one alcoholic beverage per day; watch television only when it’s very late (after 10 pm) so you won’t be bothered by show endings or other late-night activities; and go to bed at the same time every night.
Step 3: Choose your most important sleep hygiene suggestions and begin implementing them this week. Work your way down your list, choosing one each day until you have implemented all of them over a period of two weeks to two months. You can always add more suggestions later if necessary.
Step 4: Relaxation exercises can decrease thoughts racing through your head when trying to fall asleep and also improve how well you actually do fall asleep. A few examples are deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualization. It is said that a healthy lifestyle should include 30 minutes of exercise a day, how about including some relaxation exercises at the same time?
Step 5: Meditate or pray if that works for you. Five minutes can make a difference in how well you sleep just by creating a positive state of mind and relaxing your body physically and mentally.
Step 6: Your mattress might be a contributing factor to how well you sleep especially how old it is. If your mattress has been there for more than 7-8 years and doesn’t give adequate support try replacing it, at least with a memory foam mattress pad or gel mattress topper that will provide some extra comfort without cost so much (something similar has worked for me).
Sleep is directly affected by how comfortable we feel while lying in bed. Many people have a tendency of using their beds for other activities like watching TV, reading, or using laptop/mobile phones etc. Doing so can cause unnecessary stress which keeps you awake. Hence, avoid doing such things when you go to bed and make your bedroom a place exclusively for sleep. The room temperature should be around 18-20 degree Celsius as that helps in falling asleep faster. Improving the quality of air in your bedroom can also do wonders for how well you sleep.
Step 7: Avoid bright indoor lights in the bedroom or dim them significantly. The darkness of the bedroom should be optimal for sleeping.
Step 8: Take natural sleep supplements. So why bother taking natural sleep supplements? The answer is simple: natural sleep supplements are an easy way to fall asleep fast and stay in the deep-sleep state for as long as you need during the night. Natural sleep supplements have a natural sedative effect that relieves stress and tension while calming your nerves and reducing anxiety that may keep you awake at night. Recent scientific research has shown that natural sleep supplements also affect other parts of the brain, which is why they are so effective in dealing with insomnia.
Many adults suffer from insomnia due to the natural aging process, but natural sleep supplements can help get you to sleep faster and stay asleep longer. Natural sleep supplements can also help prevent diseases and promotes optimum health, vitality, immunity, and boosted energy levels throughout your life. Not all sleep supplements work the same way for everyone. So speak with your physician if you have trouble falling asleep normally or staying asleep through the entire night. Sleep supplements can also help reduce stress, which can make going to sleep much easier and get a good night’s rest every night.
The key to an effective change in sleep hygiene is noticing patterns or habits that are getting in the way of quality sleep on a consistent basis and then making changes based on what works for you personally. For example, swapping decaffeinated brandy for regular brandy only helps if it prevents you from waking up during the night but not if it makes you pee too much during the night! If you start making sleeping changes and don’t notice any change in your ability to fall asleep or stay asleep, then something on the list is not a problem for you—just cross it off.
If sleep hygiene doesn’t work after trying it consistently for two weeks to two months, schedule an appointment with your doctor if you haven’t already. There could be other causes of sleeplessness.
Amazon founder secret: uninterrupted DEEP SLEEP!
Deep Sleep allows our body to basically heal, restore itself, setup metabolic pathways, restore those metabolic pathways, so that way we restore energy so we are ready for the next day.
Photo credits to Seattle City Council. The use of this image does not suggest endorsement and is compliant to the terms under Creative Commons v.4 license. No changes or alterations were made.
The most important battle in life is fought when we are not awake, and this is how one of the richest businessmen in the world, founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos, has fought, and won. Jeff believes that the key to making high-quality decisions and boosting productivity is getting at least eight hours of sleep every night. Reward your body with a restful sleep and it will pay you back a hundredfold.
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