How To Get A Better Nights Sleep – More than 50 million Americans are not getting the recommended amount of sleep that they need each night. Most people can expect a few restless or sleepless nights, but its gotten to a point where many people are experiencing severe sleep disorders because of their inability to relax and get proper rest. how to get a good night sleep
Sometimes the problem is a hectic or constantly changing schedule. Our internal body clocks are supposed to regulate our sleep cycles, but if we are constantly changing the times when we go to sleep, your body wont know when its time to wind down, and thus it wont release the chemicals and hormones that help you get to sleep.
A more regular schedule can help with this, but we dont often have much of a say when it comes to odd work hours or double shifts just to keep up. So the next best thing that we can do is to trick our bodies into winding down when we want to sleep. Some things can help you do this, and well list a few here.
Light
Light plays a major role in your sleep cycle. There is a reason that sleep traditional happens at night, and part of that reason is that darkness contributes to deep sleep. While we sleep, our bodies deliver a chemical called melatonin that helps rejuvenate the body and make us feel well rested when we wake up. However, melatonin can only be released if the room where youre sleeping is dark.
Our eyes naturally seek the light, even when they are closed. So if you even have a tiny light on in the background, you wont get much rest because you will always be slightly aware of that light.So if you want to get a good rest, pull the curtains, shut off all the little lights in your room and cover the LED lights from any electronic devices in your room.
Food
Food can also have an influence on your sleep. Probably everyone has heard the myth about the food you ate for dinner coming back to give you bad dreams. Well, there is some truth to this. If you own unprocessed food in your stomach while you sleep, this could cause sleep disturbances because when you sleep, most of your bodys other functions slow down. This could mean that the food you just ate could sit there for a good long while and start to give you gas pains or an upset stomach.
Because of this, it is best to plan meals so that you dont eat anything for an hour or two earlier you go to sleep. This way your food has a chance to digest, but you also wont go to sleep hungry and be woken later by your growling stomach. You might also want to avoid liquids before sleep because it is nearly impossible to sleep if you have even a slightly full bladder.
Breakfast may also help to regulate your schedule. While you eat breakfast in the morning, it signals your body that you are up for the day. Eating marks the start of your circadian rhythm so the earlier you eat your breakfast to your wake up time the better.
Noise
One reason you might be restless at night is that you are constantly being disturbed by unexpected noises. These little annoyances can keep you alert even when you are sleeping, and this prevents you from going into a state of deep sleep.
Sometimes the noises can be avoided, but other times they are just part of your environment. If you live near a busy road, for example, you may get a barrage of traffic related noises that keep you up at night. So the best thing you can do, short of soundproofing your room, is to drown out those noises with other, more acceptable noise. Running a fan in your room or having a small waterfall on your bedside table can help create enough white noise to cover the other noises. – how to get a good night sleep
There are many more tricks to getting a better nights sleep. Trying these can help you prevent more serious sleep problems, but if you feel the situation has already gone on too long or is too serious, dont hesitate to seek medical attention.