Getting a reasonable amount of sleep is paramount to a healthy lifestyle. With inadequate sleep comes the risk of under exerting yourself at work and potentially devastating side-effects that can seriously damage your personal life and work relationships. Not having enough sleep is proven to be a catalyst for anxiety and depression, fatigue, and overeating. You will find when you go to sleep that other daily chores become almost in harmony with your life; it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet if you do not sleep properly, and vice versa.
Your body relies on you getting adequate rest to keep it pumping like a well-oiled machine. Here are some habits you should stop to get a good night’s rest.
Adjust Your Sleeping Position
Sometimes the easiest way to correct your sleeping pattern is to adjust your sleeping position! Yes, it is true, it can be that simple! Your sleeping position often predicates how much sleep you really get; the way you sleep can either be harmful or beneficial. For example, it has been proven that sleep positions and the side on which you sleep can either help your heart or be bad for your heart. Sleeping on your left side puts pressure on your lungs and heart and is not recommended for those who suffer from obesity, whereas sleeping on your right side can be very good for your heart and takes the pressure off of it. However, for every positive is a negative, sleeping on your right side can cause indigestion and put pressure on your intestines, whereas sleeping on your left side is brilliant for those who suffer from indigestion and takes the pressure off of your intestines, thus allowing gas to pass through easier and with less obstructions.
Eat a Healthier Diet
As mentioned in the introduction, eating a healthy diet is an integral part of getting a better quality of sleep. You should always endeavor to eat a healthy diet as much as you possibly can. A healthy diet can be the line between obesity and malnourishment, and an unhealthy diet can have far reaching consequences for the quality of your health, far surpassing just your weight. Eating an unhealthy diet can be a sure-fire way to guarantee a poor quality, or a lack of sleep.
Doing Exercise
Eating healthier and exercising are both ways to guarantee that you get the quality of sleep you need. As with a proper diet, a lack of exercise can also prove detrimental to your sleep. Not properly exercising is a guaranteed way to get a bad quality of sleep and to make yourself incredibly unhealthy. Exercise is often not the first thing everybody wants to know, and understandably so, it can be tough, but pushing yourself and exercising is the only way to improve your life and your sleep overall. Start with simple bodyweight exercises if you do not feel comfortable going to the gym, like push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups.
Read More Books
You should definitely try reading more books. It has been proven that reading more often can really improve the amount of sleep that you get and can drastically improve the quality of sleep. If you read a book before bed it can be a guaranteed way to fall asleep faster; you will find yourself drifting until you are ready to sleep. Reading before bed has been recommended for centuries by academics and physicians and that is why you will find many of the older generation reading before they go to sleep.
Drink Less Sugary Drinks
You should try to drink less sugary drinks in the daytime and especially leading up to when you go to sleep. Sugary drinks can be seriously harmful to your health and very harmful to your quality of sleep. Bringing down the amount of sugar you consume can guarantee a good quality of sleep when combined with other suggestions made by this guide. Most times, these kinds of drinks are very addictive and often inundated with caffeine and artificial sweeteners that are terrible for you. Try to not drink any, but if you must, definitely do not drink them before bed.
Don’t Use Your Phone Before Bed
Years of research has proven that using smartphones before bed is another way to seriously damage the quality of your sleep. Try to limit your smartphone usage; by staring at a screen, your brain will not know whether it needs to shut down or keep going when you finally do decide to rest. For this reason, you should be sure to limit your smartphone use and make sure you give yourself at least an hour break before bed.
Getting a good quality of sleep is imperative to having a good quality of life. Without proper sleep you will find yourself a virtual zombie. For this reason, and this reason alone, be sure to try to get as much sleep as you can.