In this blog series, I will write about sleep cycles, patterns and the ways to promote your sleep. I do not know how many people in this world are suffering from insomnia but I know they are a lot. I am sure there are many who suffer from not getting enough sleep, others who do sleep but wake up in the morning feeling more tired than before, and some who try to get some sleep to be refreshed so they can continue their overwhelming tasks. I hope this series of blogs adds some beneficial information in which we become able to control the way and time we sleep and feel better when we wake up.
Here are some advices to help you have better sleep:
Our minds have the ability to associate our activities with the environment we practice these activities on. This plays a major rule in being able to go to sleep. Our minds should associate our beds with sleeping. If we do other activities on the bed such as watching TV, eating or using our laptops, this will confuse our minds making it more difficult to feel asleep.
I know it may be difficult for some of us but your bed should only be for your sleep and nothing else.
2. Light up your days and darken your nights..
The amount of light that enters the pupil of the eye tells our bodies if it is night or day time. When It is dark, melatonin is produced by our bodies. It is a hormone that helps us to relax and feel sleepy. When it is light, melatonin secretion is suppressed.
At night, try to expose yourself to as little light as possible. If you use your computer before you go to bed, decrease the brightness of the screen. When you wake up, try to expose yourself to as much light as possible. This will help your body to feel alert and refreshed. Staying in the darkness after you wake up will make your body feel it is still night time so you will have trouble waking up. The best way to do this is by opening up the curtains as soon as you wake up.
If you need to wake up before sun rise, think of investing in a light box. Spending few minutes in front of the light box will have the same effect of the day light.
3. Avoid stimulants before bed time..
Sugar, heavy exercise, Caffeine and smoking should be avoided before bed time. After the natural peak in the day, our bodies start to wind down so we feel sleepy. these stimulants will mess up our system and make us feel alert in the time we need to be relaxed.
4. Make daily exercise..
A little exercise daily will make a difference you will notice on your sleep. First, it will help your muscles to relax especially when you go to bed. Second, exercise will help you to reduce your daily stresses.
We do not mean heavy exercises but just a daily commitment to do more effort than what we usually used to in our luxurious life. For example, you can take a walk to your local shops or to the supermarket instead of driving. Using the stairs instead of the elevators. Going for an evening walk to consume the last part of energy you have for the day.
5. Unplanned naps should no longer be than 30 mins..
We will talk later about sleep cycles and sleep patterns. However, I want to mention for the moment that if you have a certain sleeping pattern, an unplanned nap for more than 30 mins will mess up your sleep cycle and develop insomnia.
If you nap for more than 30 mins, you will start to enter the deeper stages of sleep. When you wake up you will feel more tired than before you had your nap, unless you sleep for about an hour and a half. But this will affect your sleeping timing.
6. Do not watch TV in bed..
TVs in bedrooms are becoming a must. The larger the TV the better. However, these devices in bedrooms can really mess your sleeping system in two ways. First, this large light box can alert your body by the amount of light enters your eyes. So your body thinks it is day time at the time you need to go to sleep leading to less melatonin excretion. Second, our brains will associate our sleeping environment (especially the bed) with fun and entertainment instead of relaxation and sleep which will result in insomnia.
At the end, it is worth mentioning that if you have a sleeping system than helps you sleep well at night, you should stick to it. Otherwise, any little change in your sleeping system will cause huge changes because your sleeping will be very delicate. I hope these advices were useful to you.
With all my wishes to you of sweet dreams..
Warm regards...
Refrences:
http://sleepforall.com/sleep-tips.htm
