Getting a good night’s sleep is incredibly important to both your physical health and your mental health, sleep is what helps our bodies repair and prepare for the trials of a new day, so if you’re missing out on quality sleep your body and mind won’t be working as well as they can which can be a contributing factor in getting illnesses such as diabetes, heart attacks and strokes and lead to you having a lower mental function and not operating at your maximum potential.
So, knowing the dangers of not getting a solid 8 hours of sleep a night, how can you make sure you get not only enough sleep, but high quality sleep to help restore your energy, rejuvenate your mind and prepare you to go about your life every day.
Put Away the Tech
Most people are guilty of this, but watching television, playing video games or even just using our phones in bed. But the blue light emitted by screens trick your brain into thinking that you need to be awake, which means every time you check your phone in bed you’re keeping yourself awake for longer.
To avoid the blue light tricking your mind into thinking that it’s day time, it’s recommended that in the 2 hours before going to bed you turn off the TV, put down your phone and find something else to do before bedtime, like listening to a podcast or reading a book.
Block Out Light Pollution
This is something most people have struggled with, you’re trying to sleep, but light leaking in through your windows is keeping you up or maybe the lights from passing cars keep rousing you at night. Our bodies and brains like a dark environment to sleep in and as such a room that’s too bright will keep you up and reduce the quality of the sleep once you’re sleeping.
To stop light pollution from leaking into your bedroom, you should visit a blinds retailer like DotcomBlinds and get yourself a blackout blind for your bedroom, a blackout blind is like a normal blind, but made thicker to stop light from entering your room via your window, this will lead to you finding it easier to sleep and waking up more rested in the morning.
Keep Cool
We’ve just been through Summer, so I’m sure everyone has had a recent experience of being kept awake by the heat, that’s because humans cool down at night and the cool air helps kick start the process of getting to sleep, the ideal temperature to get to sleep is around 18°C-19°C so if you can try keep the ambient temperature of your room in that area.
If you’re warm at night and don’t want to open up your window for fear of being too cold, a quick and easy hack is to have a warm shower before bed, once you get out the shower your body will naturally begin to cool down and this will help you sync up to the cool at night to help you fall asleep.
