Insomnia or lack of sleep not only wears down your energy and change your mood, but it may also affect your health, work performance and standard of living in a vicious cycle. People who normally suffer from insomnia experience common symptoms like trouble falling asleep, waking up too early, frequently waking up during the night, tiredness during the daytime, irritability, depression, anxiety, and difficulty focusing.
If you’re suffering from sleep deprivation, go see your doctor as this may be linked with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. For you to be able to fight insomnia, there are several things that you may consider doing like changing up your sleeping habits, simple modifications in lifestyle and routine can help you have the quantity and quality of sleep you need.
1. Pick the best sleep schedule and consistently stick to it
If it’s possible, you may practice going to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Make sure you do this every day, even on weekends. This will help your body to get familiar with a routine that will make it easier for you to doze off at night and wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.
When you stick to a schedule, you’ll be more alert than if you rest for the same total amount of time at differing hours during the week. Also, if you sleep extra hours on the weekends, this will only make it harder for you to return again to your routine come Monday morning.
2. Turn your bedroom into a restful sleeping environment
Our bedrooms must be a serene place for rest and sleep. The noise, lighting, and temperature must be controlled so the environment of your bedroom will support you dozing off. Meanwhile, if you own a pet that sleeps beside you or in the room with you, try moving it somewhere else if it usually disturbs you resting in the night.
Aside from that, you want to make sure that your bed is comfortable because it’s not pleasant to rest on a mattress that’s too hard or soft or a bed that’s too old or halkalı escort small.
3. Lessen the caffeine or avoid it after 2 pm
Although drinking coffee during mid-afternoon may help boost your energy, having an extra cup of coffee or an energy drink to help you get through the post-lunch slump can interfere with your peaceful sleep later in the night. You need to remember that caffeine contains a half-life of six hours, it’s quite long which means that six hours after your last sip of tea, coffee, or soda, half of the caffeine remains in your body.
And if you take caffeine religiously, it can lead to a downward spiral—relying on more coffee to boost your energy throughout the day. Afterwards, when it’s time to head to bed, all the caffeine makes it complicated for you to sleep again.
Ditch the caffeine and consume more protein and whole grains, drink plenty of water, or go for a brisk walk.
4. Perform moderate exercise on a daily basis
Sounds overrated already, but exercising regularly really helps so get that gym equipment and use them. If you hate exercise in general, there are moderate exercises you can consider like walking or swimming that can help relieve some stress built up over the day.
However, you need to make sure you avoid strong or heavy exercise like running or going to the gym that’s too close to bedtime, as it may help you to be awake. This is why it’s better to get active during the day to lessen those stress hormones that normally keep us awake at night.
5. Say NO to alcohol three hours before going to sleep
Some people who want to sleep at night usually choose to drink alcohol since it makes them feel drowsy and help them fall asleep faster. However, if you’re one of them, you need to avoid this as alcohol only blocks REM sleep which is considered the most invigorating type of sleep.
If you are low in REM sleep, you would most likely wake up feeling unfocused and tired. Moreover, it’s a diuretic too, which only increases your necessity to go to the bathroom and make you wake up earlier in the morning.
6. Check your medications
Sometimes, a lot of common prescriptions and over-the-counter medications can disrupt your sleep. So, check your medicine cabinet. For instance, there are medications including those that are utilized to treat high blood pressure and asthma that can lead to insomnia.
Pain relievers and cold medication can also make falling asleep more challenging as they normally contain caffeine and other ingredients that are stimulating.
You may want to consult with your primary care provider if you think that any of these may be causing insomnia. Your doctor knows if it’s right to adjust a certain dosage or do some changes when it comes to treatment.
