10 Quick Tips For Healthy and Restful Sleep

Good sleep should have a few key characteristics: undisturbed, a feeling of refreshment upon waking, alertness during the day, a lack of snoring/ fitfulness/ disturbed breathing, and the sleep should come on roughly twenty minutes after lying down with the intention to sleep. If you aren’t getting your seven to nine hours or feel beaten down and tired during the day, there are probably some very good reasons for this.

The common tips to ensure a good sleep include:

Avoid Late-night Screen Time: In our tech-heavy world, it seems impossible to tear ourselves away from our gadgets and gizmos even long enough to grab some shut-eye. However, playing on this gadgets or watching television late at night gets our brain stimulated and active, making it harder for us to go to sleep.

Stop Down on Alcohol and Cigarettes: Alcohol may help you “pass out”, but that isn’t restful sleep. Similarly, cigarettes and nicotine are stimulants, technically making it harder for your pulse to slow and your mind to prepare for sleep.

Eat Wisely: Eating large meals late at night is unwise. Foods high in magnesium & other important nutrients (like trytophan) can cause the release of neurotransmitters that send you right into slumber. Try adding cottage cheese, fruit, yogurt, milk, or crackers to your late-night menu.

Avoid Eating/Reading when in Bed: If you make it a habit of doing other things in bed, such as eating, studying, reading, or hanging out with your partner, then your body won’t associate the bedroom with sleeping.
Be Consistent in your Choices: Although some people function normally with non-regular sleep schedules, it has been shown that establishing a firm routine in your sleep patterns is key. Try to go to bed and rise at the same time of day, when possible, if you are suffering from sleep deficiency or a sleep disorder.

Avoid Stimulating Chemicals: Most people rely on coffee to wake up in the morning, and maybe push us through the day. Energy drinks and supplements have also become very popular to squeeze out every drop of energy from the day. Cut back on that third cup of coffee in the afternoon and eliminate energy drinks to see if your sleep patterns return to normal.

Exercise Regularly: Regularly exercise in the morning or afternoon, your body will be ready for and need a restful sleep at night. Late-night exercising, however, can have a similar effect as late-night screen time – keeping your mind and body active well into your intended bed time.

Throw Away your Alarm Clock: It’s noise can be very disruptive for sleep patterns and start the day in an uncomfortable way. Progressively louder alarms on a particular time pattern can help ease one out of slumber and start the day in a positive way. Eventually, your body may even train itself to wake up a few minutes before the set alarm time, which is the most peaceful and natural way to wake up.

Meditation and Visualization: It helps soothe the mind and clear out distracting thoughts, while visualization can be a powerful tool in bed when your mind is going a million miles an hour.

Take a Nap when you need it: Short catnaps can energize us for the day, eliminating the need for chemical stimulants, and also ensure that the final sleep of the day we get is restful and invigorating.