If you’re like most people, you don’t get the kind of quality sleep that you deserve. It doesn’t seem like a big deal at first until you realize that most people have it wrong. You should never sacrifice a good night’s sleep for work or an exam. The drawbacks outweigh the short-term benefits by quite a bit. Sleep is something our body can’t go without and every system suffers from a lack of it. If you find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep even when you try, it might be time to make some changes. Here are a couple of handy tips to help you get some good shut-eye every night of the week.
Make sleep a priority
Sleep is a lot more important than people give it credit for. It’s a crucial activity which influences many of our body’s systems. Without sleep, our bodies slowly break down. Even when you’re getting the bare minimum of necessary sleep, you still suffer through it.
Despite this, many people treat sleep as a luxury instead of a necessity. This is especially prominent among young people. They work as hard as they can to reach their goals, disregarding things like sleep and proper nutrition. This kind of behaviour can be detrimental to an individual’s mental and physical health.
Instead of treating sleep like something you do when you have time, you should treat it as a priority. Try your best to get those healthy eight hours of sleep every night, even when you have other priorities. You’ll quickly adapt to the change. It’s going to help you get through your days without constantly being tired and worn out.
Ease into sleep properly
When those yawns start getting the best of you, you probably have your own pre-sleep ritual. For some people, it’s eating a quick snack before they brush their teeth. Others will watch a TV show on their laptop before they doze off. It’s not uncommon for people to message their friends late into the night while browsing the internet.
The problem is, all of these things will affect the quality of your sleep. Spending time in front of a screen will tire out your eyes, but it won’t tire out your brain. Sources of light tend to keep us awake even when we don’t feel like it. Even the tiniest source of light can affect your ability to rest properly. This is why it’s recommended that you turn off those small blue lights on electronics before you go to bed. Focusing on a screen has even worse effects. Your body needs some time to rest between using a screen and going to sleep.
Have your parents ever told you not to eat before bed? It’s not some form of bad manners, there are actual reasons why you shouldn’t have a hearty meal before going to sleep. For one, it can affect the meal itself. Your whole body goes into rest mode when you’re asleep. This includes your digestive system. The food won’t be digested well if you snooze right after eating. Food also stimulates hormones which can affect your sleep cycle. It might make you think twice before grabbing that last meal of the day.
Relax in comfort
Before looking at anything else, you need to evaluate your bed. People don’t look for comfy beds for nothing. The quality of your bed has an enormous impact on your shut eye. Nobody wants to sleep on a hard and uncomfortable bed. Most of all, it affects your sleep positions. When you’re uncomfortable, you twist and turn throughout the night, making it hard to get the right kind of sleep you need. Upgrading your bed to feel like a cloud of cotton candy would be the best decision you could make for your sleep quality.
What you put on the bed is just as important. The sheets you cover yourself with need to be comfortable no matter the temperature. A lot of synthetic sheets are uncomfortable to the touch and they cause you to sweat during the summer. When you’re browsing sheets online, make sure you get the right material. Cotton and silk are the most commonly recommended materials for bed sheets. They help cool you down during the summer while keeping you warm during colder months. The thread count is another important factor to consider. The higher it is, the better the quality of the sheets.
Deal with noises
Sound is a big influence on your quality of sleep. Nighttime noises can disrupt sleep patterns and cause you to have an unfulfilling night of sleep. How much noise affects an individual can vary from person to person. Some people can snooze through construction work being done right next door. Others might not be able to handle the snoring of their partner. Either way, blocking out noises would be your best bet to increase your sleep quality.
The first thing you have to address is your home’s sound insulation. The walls and windows need to be properly insulated to not let in noise from the outside and vice versa. Older homes often don’t have windows with good insulation. This is remedied by adding insulation layers or simply replacing the window outright. If this isn’t possible, you can always resort to more localized measures.
It might seem silly, but you can always get earplugs or muffs which will block out all noise. It’s a pretty effective solution against all sources of sound, considering that they won’t reach your ears. This can help you drown out the sounds of snoring and pets. Most people opt for this amenity as it’s pretty cheap and instantly effective.
Conclusion
Quality sleep can improve just about every aspect of your life. Making the leap from mediocre to high-quality sleep doesn’t take a lot of effort, either. As long as you put in the necessary dedication to work on the things affecting your sleep, you should be able to get your desired shut-eye. Apply a couple of these tips and you’ll wake up every morning feeling brand new.
