Improve Your Sleep Quality with these Healthy Bedtime Habits
Sleeping is crucial to the proper functioning of the human body. As you’ll see in this article, healthy bedtime habits are fundamental to our well-being. Thus, getting between seven or eight hours of quality rest should be the main objective in everyone’s routine. Do you know what time you should go to bed every night?
Lack of sleep can affect both our health and mood, not to mention our efficient performance at work or school. This is why maintaining certain healthy bedtime habits can positively impact our lives.
For one, the lack of rest can weaken our immune system and make us more prone to illness. Interestingly, it also influences our diet. Not enough sleep can also lead to an increase in our appetite and subsequent weight gain. This is because it alters the hormones that control appetite and satiety.
In today’s article, we’ll tell you all about healthy bedtime habits that’ll help to improve your sleep quality. You’ll also notice how your memory, performance, and mood all improve.
Healthy bedtime habits – calculate your sleep
There’s no scientific evidence to say how long human beings should sleep. However, there is evidence of several negative consequences of a lack of sleep.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Sleep Foundation agree that an adult should sleep about 7 or 8 hours a day. However, it depends on each individual. For instance, there are people who sleep 6 hours a day and feel as rested as another who might require at least 10 hours.
That said, no study states exactly how much a person should sleep. Interestingly, scientists say it’s not our body that needs to recharge energy, it’s our brain. This is because the brain “cleans” all the accumulated waste during the day while we sleep. As you can see, we need enough sleep to properly function.
Also, sleeping less than 7 hours is associated with weight gain, diabetes, and hypertension. In fact, we’ll feel discomfort and be constantly fatigued when we don’t get enough sleep.
You have to be regular at bedtime
Going to bed on a schedule can help us sleep better. This is because our body will get used to a routine. If you go to bed at the same time every day you’ll start getting sleepy shortly before that time. Thus, when you go to bed you’ll fall asleep faster.
You may be interested in: 5 Simple Tips to Lose Weight Before Bedtime
Relax before going to sleep
It’s best to be calm and relaxed when you go to bed. Unfortunately, the opposite is quite common and we often go to bed anxious and full of worries. So, we must try to let go of all the accumulated stress and concerns of the day.
Try some relaxation techniques before going to bed. For example, you can do a series of deep breaths, try to relax your muscles or do some gentle stretches.
Also, write down any negative thoughts to put them away for the night. Then do your best to avoid them. Focus your mind on the moment and envision pleasant scenarios.
You might like: Four Reasons Why Late Bedtimes are Bad for Kids
Other healthy bedtime habits
It’s important to put some nocturnal habits into practice to promote good sleep quality.
- Don’t watch TV or play with your cellphone in bed. Believe it or not, these devices make you nervous and thus reduce your sleep.
- Take a warm bath.
- Go to bed only if you are tired and ready to sleep. Go to another room even if you’ve been trying to sleep for a long time and you can’t do it. Come back to bed only when you’re ready to fall asleep.
- Use your bed only for sleeping or for having sex. Avoid using it for other things such as studying, watching TV, using the computer, and basically any activities not pertaining to sleep.
- Avoid long naps as these can disturb your sleeping rhythm.
- Reduce your intake of caffeine, soda, and any other stimulants.
- Stop smoking, because the nicotine in cigarettes is also a stimulant.
- Finally, make your room a pleasant and quiet place. Use earplugs if there’s too much noise. If light is a problem then try using a mask or darken your room with curtains or blinds. In addition, you can try making your bed cozier by using pretty sheets and a comfortable pillow.
Conclusion
Maintaining healthy bedtime habits can help you attain the quality of sleep you desire. Also, other activities such as regular exercise and maintaining a proper diet can contribute to your better rest. Keep in mind that sleeping impacts most areas of your life, so be mindful of it.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Cirelli C, Tononi G. The Sleeping Brain. Cerebrum. 2017;2017:cer-07-17. Published 2017 May 1.
- Krause AJ, Simon EB, Mander BA, et al. The sleep-deprived human brain. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017;18(7):404–418. doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.55
- Fattinger S, de Beukelaar TT, Ruddy KL, et al. Deep sleep maintains learning efficiency of the human brain [published correction appears in Nat Commun. 2018 May 25;9:16182]. Nat Commun. 2017;8:15405. Published 2017 May 22. doi:10.1038/ncomms15405
- Kang JH, Chen SC. Effects of an irregular bedtime schedule on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue among university students in Taiwan. BMC Public Health. 2009;9:248. Published 2009 Jul 19. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-248
- Nisar M, Mohammad RM, Arshad A, Hashmi I, Yousuf SM, Baig S. Influence of Dietary Intake on Sleeping Patterns of Medical Students. Cureus. 2019;11(2):e4106. Published 2019 Feb 20. doi:10.7759/cureus.4106
