A lot of people across the country find it very difficult to get the quality and restorative sleep they need. Unfortunately, not getting quality sleep can be detrimental to your health. It can completely wreck how you feel and the energy levels you have daily. This can negatively impact everything in your life including your mental focus and more. It can even cause a lot of problems with your health including increasing your blood pressure and negatively impacting your heart health. For the average adult, it’s recommended to get as much as 8 hours of sleep every night. However, the quality of the sleep you get is also important. Keeping this in mind, here are some of the top tips for getting quality sleep.
Tips For Getting Quality Sleep:
- Start Exercising
One of the things you need to start doing is exercising. Exercising is very important when you are looking to improve your ability to sleep and the quality of sleep you get. Incorporating a good 30 minutes of exercise into your daily life can do wonders for your sleep efforts. However, you also want to take note of when you are exercising. Doing it too close to bed can be counterproductive to your sleep efforts. It can make it increasingly difficult to fall asleep. Because of this, you want to try to incorporate more exercise in the daytime when it won’t negatively impact your sleep.
- Stay Consistent
When you are looking to improve your sleep, consistency is key. You want to be as consistent as possible with your sleep schedule. Any changes made to your sleep schedule can throw your body off balance. You want to try to be as consistent as possible with your sleep and wake times. Your body has an internal clock. Any time you sleep longer than usual, it’s likely going to keep you from being able to fall asleep at night. Don’t try to “make up” for a lack of sleep. Always go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time, even on weekends.
- Regulate Light Exposure
Your body is meant to wake up and go to sleep in sync with the sunrise and sunset. You want to try to expose yourself to daylight as early as possible in the day. This can help you sync up your internal clock properly. When it gets dark, your body starts to produce the “sleep” hormone. This is known as melatonin. This is the hormone that signals it’s time to go to sleep. If you are constantly being exposed to light at night, your body won’t produce enough of it. This can make it increasingly difficult to fall asleep.
- Avoid Coffee At Night
A lot of people are addicted to coffee. While coffee can be a good stimulant to take in the morning, you don’t want to use it too late at night. Caffeine can have an impact on your body up to 6 hours after consuming it. Because of this, you want to try to stick to drinking coffee in the morning or early on in the afternoon.
- Avoid Drinking Alcohol
While you may be able to fall asleep easier after you drink a lot, it doesn’t mean you get quality sleep. Alcohol is known to disrupt your body’s sleep cycles. It can keep you from getting deep sleep which is the restorative sleep your body and mind need. This means that you can get a lot of sleep, but still not wake up feeling rested the following day. Avoiding alcohol is a good way to keep yourself from disrupting your natural sleep cycles at night.
- Get Comfortable
Your bedroom should be a place to relax. When you go to bed you should be as comfortable as possible. This means taking into account your sleeping position and the right support that you need in order to get a great night’s sleep. The most common is side sleeping, find out how to spot a good side sleeper mattress with this helpful guide.
