Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
While the experts recommend between seven and nine hours of sleep every night, the average North American gets about six hours and 40 minutes. A good night’s sleep can be a key to concentration, maintaining a healthy heart and improving memory. Research also shows that having and holding a regular sleep pattern is one of the best ways to mitigate stress and enhance your mood. If you’re struggling with achieving a good night’s sleep, try the following:
- SLEEP IN THE DARK, WAKE IN THE LIGHT. Your body is sensitive to ambient light. Consequently, bright computer screens, blinking cell phone lights or other sources of light during the night can reduce the restfulness of your sleep. How can you use this sensitivity to your advantage? Dim the lights a half hour before you turn in. Th en, when you go to bed, turn out all of the lights, close the blinds, shut off your computer, click off your power cord, cover up any remaining glows and make your room as dark as possible. If necessary, buy an extra set of drapes for your window.
- DON’T THROW OFF YOUR GROOVE. Besides your sensitivity to light, your sleep schedule is governed by your “circadian rhythm,” the internal clock that keeps your body’s natural processes running smoothly. Ideally, you want to keep your rhythm on schedule every night. If you’re sleeping from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Monday to Friday, avoid going to bed late or sleeping in until 11 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday. Keep to your regular sleep schedule as closely as possible all seven days of the week.
- AVOID CAFFEINATED FOODS AND BEVERAGES. Caffeine takes longer to break down than most people realize, and some of the substances that result from that breakdown (theobromine, for example) can keep you awake just as much as caffeine. If you absolutely have to have that daily cup of joe, make sure you stick to drinking it early in the day and not sipping it late into the afternoon. If you get sleepy later in the day, stand up from your desk and take a 10-minute walk instead of relying on stimulants to keep you awake.
- Wind down. Th e wrong stimulus can keep you awake when you should be sleeping. A bright computer screen can keep you awake for 20–30 minutes after you turn it off . Take a half hour before you turn out the light to read a book or simply rest. Avoid stimulating your mind with bright media like video games or your computer.
- TAKE A WARM BATH AN HOUR BEFORE BED. Seriously! Before you go to sleep, your hypothalamus causes your body temperature to rise and then dip. Your body typically reaches its low temperature for the day at about 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. .
- EXERCISE REGULARLY. Regular exercise and activity increases the amount of adenosine—one of the substances that make you sleepy—in your brain. Getting your workout in every day can help you sleep more restfully and feel more energetic throughout the day. But avoid exercise for two to four hours before going to bed.
- IF YOU CAN’T SLEEP, DON’T. You may have heard that the average person takes seven minutes to drift off . If, after 20 uninterrupted minutes of trying, you still can’t seem to get to sleep, don’t just stay in bed and let your mind wander. Get up, use only dim lights and read a book or do something else that won’t over-stimulate your mind. When you start to feel tired, lie down and try again.
- NAP CAREFULLY. Try as you may, sometimes you can’t help but have a miserable night’s sleep; you may have a new infant in your home or a noisy neighbor who make sleeping difficult. And sometimes the accumulation of adenosine simply leaves you sleepy in the middle of the afternoon. Taking a short—either 20-minute or 90-minute and not in between—nap shouldn’t hurt your nightly sleep schedule, but only if you finish it early enough in the day. Never let your nap go past 3 p.m.
- http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200806/sleeping-advice-1.htm
- http://pubs.ama-assn.org/media/2008j/1223.dtl#1
- http://fcs.tamu.edu/health/Health_Education_Rural_Outreach/Health_Hints/1997/August/Stress.php#section12
- http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/temp.html
Related posts:
