Make the Most of Your Night's Sleep

There are times when getting a proper eight hours of sleep becomes an impossible task. For humans it is said that seven to eight hours of sleep is a must or ideal. A good night of sleep is very much important for the body just as carrying out a proper exercise regime or following a good diet. Researchers have shown that lack of sleep or poor sleep is known to have immediate negative kind of reaction on the hormones, performance of exercise as well as the functioning of the brain.

In terms of both adults as well as children, lack of sleep is also associated with increase in weight or increase in the risk or diabetes. However quite the opposite, a good sleep is associated with proper managing of what one eats wherein it can avoid over eating, helps in exercising better and would turn out to be healthy for the body as a whole.

Over the past few years with a shift of technology, new discoveries and ever changing life style has also bought along with itself decline in the quality as well as quantity of sleep. There have been a lot of cases wherein people regularly complain of poor sleep. Hence if you are looking out for optimising your health or looking out to lose weight then it is a must to get a good night’s sleep.

No matter how many hours of sleep one can get but by following the below mentioned tips one can make the most of their night’s sleep.

• By encouraging the body’s natural rhythm would help in getting a good night’s sleep and by following that practice it would also keep you feel refreshed in the morning as well as throughout the day. Hence try to inculcate a habit wherein you sleep as well as wake up at the same time every day. Try and avoid sleeping in between unless very much necessary and if you have to do so then try to limit it to 20 minutes of nap in the afternoon. Short kind of power naps are anytime beneficial but long or irregular period of napping any time during the day has been proven to be negatively causing an impact on your sleep timetable. When you sleep during the day time the body clock can get confused wherein you may tend to struggle during night time for sleep. It has also been proven that a habit when inculcated has a positive impact on the body and the mind. The same goes for sleep as well. The body’s circadian rhythm functions on the set loop wherein it is known to align itself to the sunrise and the sunset. When an individual is very much consistent with their sleeping as well as waking time then it can prove to help in providing quality sleep in the long run. If you are one of those who are struggling with sleep then try to get into the habit of waking up and also going to sleep at the same time each day. After couple of weeks, you may not even need an alarm clock to wake up at the same time since your body itself would act as the alarm clock.

• Try and control your exposure to light. When it is dark in the environment the brain tends to create more of the melatonin which is known to regulate the body’s sleep cycle. Try to limit screen time during bed-time since it can make the brain feel confused that it is time to wake up instead of sleeping. When you are not exposed to light during bed time you would notice a change in your sleeping pattern wherein you would tend to sleep more at night. During day time exposure to light is beneficial but during the night time the exposure to light is known to have opposite effect. Again it is linked with the circadian rhythm which tricks the brain into thinking that it is still day yet and not time to sleep thereby reducing the hormone melatonin which is said to make you relaxed and go to sleep. In this regard, the blue light is considered to be the worst and this blue light is known to be emitted in huge amounts from most of the electronic items such as computers or smartphones. There are multiple ways in which one can look to reduce the exposure to any of the light, wear glasses which are known to block exposure to the blue light, there are multiple apps available which help in blocking the blue light emitting from your smartphone screen, at least two hours before going to sleep switch off TV or any other electronic items.

• Inculcate the habit of exercising. By carrying out high intensity or vigorous kind of exercises the better or sound sleep you would experience. If there is not time for a vigorous exercise, then a short walk would also help in the quality of your sleep. Exercising has been considered to be one of the best thing backed up science as well which helps in improving the quality of the sleep of the individual. Exercising has been used for reducing the symptoms related to insomnia and it is known to enhance all the various aspects of sleep. Daily exercising has been proven to be a key factor for a good night’s sleep but if you perform exercise too late in the day then it can lead to sleep issues for certain individuals. This is known to occur due to the stimulatory effect of exercising which is said to increase the mind alertness as well as hormones such as adrenaline or epinephrine. But there are certain studies which have not shown any detrimental effects but at the end it surely is based on the individual and can vary.

However even after following all the tips on sleep and the issue still persists then it is advisable to visit a certified sleep medicine doctor. By monitoring and examining your sleep routine they would be able to identify the cause and help you achieve a good night’s sleep.