6 Ways To Get Better Sleep By Improving Your Lifestyle

01/16/2024

Being a night owl occasionally is fine, but compromising sleep daily due to work or anything else harms our health greatly. Lack of sleep can impair your overall health, increasing daytime sleepiness, affecting decision-making ability, and impacting productivity. If you find problems falling asleep on time, you may need to alter your lifestyle. Your daily habits can affect your sleeping pattern. 

Let's look into the ways that will help you get to sleep by improving your lifestyle:

Prioritize sleep: 

Sleep is often pushed to the bottom of our priority list in our busy lives. However, it's high time to change this unhealthy mindset towards sleep. Making it a non-negotiable part of your daily routine will help you get the necessary sleep daily. Sleep is like fuel to your body; when you are full on it, you are ready to drive through the next day effectively. Hence, prioritize your sleep as your important calls and meetings. 

 Set a consistent bedtime and wake-up time to regulate the body's internal clock. When you get a good sleep, you feel motivated, energetic, and refreshed to accomplish day-to-day tasks. However, when you are low on it, your sleep navigates your day, not you. 

Suppose you continue a lifestyle where finishing a Netflix show is more important than getting sleep. In that case, you will end up facing problems like daytime sleepiness, lack of energy, and decreased productivity. 

Create a sleep-friendly environment; 

If you are sleeping in a room full of noise and other distractions, you need to change it. Sleeping in such an environment hampers your sleeping pattern. You go through a lot of struggles to fall asleep. Your room should be a sanctuary for your sleep. Invest in good-quality mattresses and pillows that support your body.

While sleeping, you should keep devices that release blue light away from you as they can disrupt your sleeping pattern. In addition to this, you should create a peaceful atmosphere by using blackout curtains, setting the right temperature, and making it as dark as possible. 

Limit alcohol and coffee:  

You very well know that excess of anything is harmful to your health. Wine and coffee in limited amounts is fine, but when you take these things in excess quantity, they hamper your sleeping pattern. Coffee is a stimulant that promotes wakefulness and attention by blocking sleep-promoting receptors. On the other hand, alcohol may make you drowsy initially, but it affects sleep by interfering with your REM cycle. Therefore, you should avoid taking alcohol and coffee near bedtime to protect your sleep. 

You should also avoid taking large meals in the evening and near bedtime, as your stomach takes time to digest large meals. When your stomach is working actively, you may find falling asleep challenging. Large meals also cause heartburn and indigestion, making you feel uncomfortable to fall asleep.

Note: Certain foods affect sleep, such as alcohol, spicy meals, caffeine, and acidic foods. A diet for better sleep includes eating less spicy foods, avoiding large meals, having complex carbs, etc.

Keep yourself free from stress and worries: 

Stress is one of the common conditions that everyone goes through daily. However, its long-term performance can affect the overall body, especially sleep. When you are packed with intrusive thoughts, you find falling asleep difficult. Therefore, either try to fix what is occupying your mind or leave it for the next day to keep your sleep protected. 

We also know that it is not that easy to keep your tension and stress away. However, fix it if it is due to something that can be addressed. Not getting enough sleep can worsen your stress by releasing stress hormones in excess amounts. Having stable mental health doesn't only offer good sleep but also keeps you productive and fresh all day long.  

Keep your devices away: 

Sleeping next to your devices is way common these days. However, do you even know how your devices affect your sleep? Whenever you are on your phone, you either binge-watch your favorite show or keep scrolling through your Instagram feed. The blue light coming out of your device disrupts your sleeping by decreasing the production of melatonin hormone. Therefore, kindly avoid using your phone near bedtime to keep your sleep intact. To keep yourself away from the phone, follow the below-listed steps:  

• Your phone shouldn’t be in your reach.

• Turn off your internet. 

• Put a time limit on apps you use frequently. 

Promote exercising:  

No wonder exercising daily is the key to a healthy lifestyle. Exercise not only promotes good health but also improves your sleep cycle. Several studies prove exercise reduces the symptoms of insomnia in adults. A study proves that exercise reduces the time to fall asleep and improves the sleeping duration in people who participate in daily physical activities. 

Exercise offers more benefits than many drugs for people suffering from severe insomnia. According to studies, exercise reduces time to fall asleep by 55%, anxiety by 15%, and increases total sleep time by 18%. 

However, you need to make sure you don’t exercise too late in the day or near bedtime. Doing exercise near bedtime can promote alertness and sleeping problems.

Conclusion:

Undoubtedly, getting good sleep is super important for our overall well-being and daily functioning. Compromising sleep can lead to serious health issues in the long run, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. When you are short on sleep, you can see its negative effects the next day, such as lack of focus, daytime sleepiness, inability to make decisions, etc. To get better sleep, you should incorporate the following lifestyle changes: keeping electronic devices away, avoiding large meals, limiting caffeine, promoting exercise, etc. These lifestyle changes will lead to positive outcomes in your sleeping routine.

FAQs: 

1. How can lifestyle changes improve sleep quality?

If you are someone who struggles to sleep every day, then you need to incorporate some new habits into your lifestyle. Lifestyle changes can contribute to positive outcomes in your sleeping schedule: 

• Opt for exercising 

• Lower your stress level 

• Lower your screen time 

• Make a sleep-friendly environment 

• Limit the consumption of alcohol and caffeine 

2. What is the impact of diet on sleep?

Diet plays an influential role in regulating your sleep pattern. Therefore, you should keep an eye on what you are eating. For example, you may feel difficulty falling asleep if you follow high-protein items like Chicken and Steak. These food items take time to break down. Therefore, you should avoid eating large meals and a protein-rich diet near bedtime. 

3. Are there any natural remedies that can aid in getting better sleep? 

Certainly, there are several natural remedies that can help you in getting better sleep. If you stick to these natural remedies, you will see an improved sleeping pattern. The following are the natural ways that help you get better sleep: 

• Avoid consuming caffeine and alcohol excessively. 

• Meditation and exercise. 

• Try a warm bath before bed. 

• Create a sleeping-friendly environment. 

• Gentle body massage. 

4. Can stress management techniques impact sleep? 

High-stress levels can affect your overall well-being, including your sleeping pattern. Therefore, you should aim to manage your stress. There are plenty of ways that can help you address stress naturally, such as yoga, meditation, exercise, healthy eating habits, etc. Stress management techniques increase the hormone known as endorphins, which assist in muscle relaxation and promote sleep.