Believe it or not, 1/3 of American adults have trouble sleeping. Can you relate? Getting enough uninterrupted sleep can make a vast improvement to your mental and physical health. Adults need an average 7-9 hours each night and quantity isn’t all that is important, good quality sleep is also essential.
The cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine. Unhealthy daytime habits and lifestyle choices can leave you tossing and turning at night and adversely affect your mood, immune system, and weight. Research shows that not getting enough sleep, or getting poor-quality sleep is linked with many chronic diseases and conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
Below are some tips to help you enjoy better sleep at night and can even help improve how you think and feel during the day.
- Be consistent in your daily routine and go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
- Exercise daily and/or spend more time outside during daylight.
- Avoid drinking caffeine past noon.
- Drinking too many fluids, too close to bedtime.
- Set your room temperature somewhere between 65 to 68 degrees.
- Avoid bright screens or television within 1-2 hours of your bedtime.
Listen to your body, there are many signs that you might not be getting enough sleep including: difficulty making decisions or solving problems, feeling like you could doze-off during daily activities, making mistakes and taking longer than normal to complete tasks, having trouble controlling your emotions, or having a tough time remembering things.
We should all strive to keep a regular sleep schedule in order to reap the benefits for both our health and well being. If you don’t have one already, what are you waiting for?
References: