Sleep hygiene is a complex of practices that help a person find healthy and restful sleep. People with sleep disorders have used them for decades to improve night-time rest and prevent sleepiness during the day. Their goal was to combat insomnia, which reduces the quality of human life. You will get to know some of these tips that will help you sleep better at night.
Bad Habits That Spoil Your Sleep
For healthy sleep to become a nightly reality and not a pipe dream, you need to learn to say “No” to some things. Here are some of them:
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Eating Dense Food
If you eat hearty food before bed, such as fried pork chops, cheese, and sausage sandwiches, and dumplings, overload the gastrointestinal tract. The body begins to work at full strength to digest heavy food. Spicy foods eaten even the day before can also interfere with healthy sleep.
Excessive amounts of them in food can cause stomach discomfort, due to which a person is not able to sleep normally. Before a night’s rest, do not get carried away with coffee, black and green tea, as well as chocolate. All of these foods and drinks contain caffeine, which is known to stimulate central nervous system arousal.
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Drinking Alcohol
Many people believe that drinking alcohol at night will help them fall asleep faster; however, this is partially true. Though alcohol can help healthy people fall asleep quickly due to its sedative property, this effect is temporary.
Alcohol can lead to frequent night awakenings. Thus, the heavier the drinker, the more sleeping problems he/she will encounter. Experts recommend giving up alcohol addiction to restore a good night’s sleep and health.
Thus, those suffering from addiction can contact experts on toll-free numbers for help. The rehab hotline acts as a gateway to get proper addiction treatment. Besides, these are available 24/7, so get help today!
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Intense Physical Activity
Running and another vigorous exercise after dinner stimulate the release of the excitatory hormone adrenaline. As a result, the person gets tired and cannot sleep normally. Therefore, it is not recommended to play sports three hours before bedtime. Also, hard physical work can be added to the list of habits and actions that interfere with normal sleep.
For example, you should not rearrange furniture late at night, do general cleaning, or glue wallpaper. The only permissible stress is intimacy. During lovemaking, the body produces the pleasure hormones endorphins, which tune a person to relaxation.
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Various Things In Bed
The bed is a place of relaxation and intimacy. For any person, it should only be associated with relaxation. Thus, you should not read for a long time, watch TV, sit at a laptop, eat, or write in bed. All these actions are harmful to both the eyes and the spine. You can read a good book for half an hour.
Then you should get out of bed, turn off the light, and go to sleep. A heated bed makes it difficult to fall asleep quickly. Some sleep doctors even recommend putting the pillow wrapped in cellophane in the freezer for a few seconds. They believe that the sweetest dreams will be on cool bedding.
- Heavy Carpets And Curtains
Heavy curtains and carpets are dust collectors that make it difficult for a person to breathe. It is not advisable to hang shelves with books and put a wardrobe in the bedroom. If living space allows, move this furniture to other rooms.
To immerse yourself in a healthy night’s rest, open the window to ventilate before bedtime. Fresh air will help you fall asleep quickly. The ideal temperature for sleeping is about 18 ° C.
Good Sleep Habits
To properly organize a person’s sleep, one must be able to say “No” to bad habits and say “Yes” to good ones.
- Proper Supper
Avoid a heavy dinner that includes fatty, smoked, spicy, and salty foods. One of the recommended meals before bed is rice. Thanks to its starch content, it aids digestion and the production of serotonin, which improves mood. For relaxation, you can also eat a magnesium-rich leafy salad. Or, in an old-fashioned way, drink a glass of warm milk or fermented baked milk.
- Avoid Quarrels
Forget about everything bad before going to bed and try not to scream or quarrel. Especially do not do it with a loved one with whom you sleep in the same bed. No wonder there is a saying: “The morning is wiser than the evening.” So go to bed calmly, postpone all the showdown until morning. Who knows, maybe in the morning there will be no reason for a quarrel?
- Relaxing Practices
Yoga, relaxation, meditation – all these relaxation techniques will help you fall asleep peacefully. If a person has never meditated and does not know how to do yoga, you can try a simple and easy way to relax quickly. To do this, you need to choose a comfortable position, for example, sitting in a chair.
After that, you should concentrate your attention on breathing and mentally trace how you inhale and exhale. You should also imagine how all the muscles slowly relax, starting with the toes and ending with the crown. The last step is to drink soothing tea, alternatively – with lemon balm or valerian.
- Pleasant Aromas
Pleasant scents set you up for sweet and comfortable sleep. The scent of tangerine or orange will always help you relax before bed. Therefore, you can put an aroma lamp in the bedroom with drops of citrus oil, lemon balm, or chamomile. Alternatively, put a few drops of essential oil on a napkin and place them at the head of the bed.
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Right Mattress
The bed for sleeping should be free of defects – knots, pits, lumps of batting, etc. It is better to sleep on a wooden bed and an orthopaedic mattress. It is on such a bed that a person can take a comfortable position and fall asleep easily. And you shouldn’t choose high pillows for sleeping. The head should be about ten centimetres above shoulder level.
We are hopeful that now you know what things you should do and avoid before bedtime. By following these simple rules, the quality of your night’s sleep will definitely improve.