7 Sleeping Habits That Can Help You Live a Healthy Life

develop good sleeping habits

 

Men over 40 should learn to develop these 7 sleeping habits. An adequate amount of sleep as you age, improves your overall quality of your life. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the population suffers from sleep deprivation. You can tell if you fall into this category if you feel tired during the day. For example, you might sense that you do not have the energy to think clearly. You may also experience fuzzy-headedness.

 

Lack of enough sleep can result from several factors including:

 

  • family responsibilities.
  • work-related stress, and sickness.
  • Although it might be hard to control the factors that affect sleep quality, you can practice some good sleeping habits.

 

7 Sleeping Habits You Should Follow

 

 

#1. Develop a Schedule and Stick to It

get 7 hours of sleep per night

 

Eight or seven hours of sleep are critical to living a healthy life. To achieve this goal, you need to train your body to develop good sleeping habits by setting a sleeping schedule where you sleep at a particular time every day. Similarly, you should wake up at a specific time each day.

If you sleep late over the weekends, try to limit the difference with weeknights with no more than an hour. You can also fall asleep within twenty minutes if you do something that relaxes you such as listening to soothing music.

 

 

#2. Avoid Siestas

Sometimes you may feel the need to have a power nap or a short snooze – especially on hot days. However, if it is going to interfere with your sleep at night, you should avoid power napping at all cost. It is better you struggle through the day avoiding even the short catnaps than staying awake through the better part of the night.

 

 

#3. Watch Your Diet

how food impacts sleep

Remember, what you drink and eat has a significant impact on quality of your sleep. Ensure you take a light supper, because overeating can make you uncomfortable thus interfering with your sleep habits. When you are sleeping, your brain requires a lot of energy. Consequently, you should never miss a meal. Eat well.

Taking a tad of raw honey before bed helps your mind function better as the brain uses the liver glycogen as a source of energy. Additionally, avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Remember, the effects of the last two substances take hours before they wear off.

Instead of consuming these beverages, consider increasing your water intake. You will be wake up every day feeling rested and relaxed if you do that. Taking a glass of water before going to sleep helps your body relax and hence improving the sleep quality.

In case you have a problem with taking enough water on daily basis, consider making use of a fruit infuser water bottle. It is full of sweet flavors, and it helps your body detox among other health benefits.

 

 

#4. Evaluate Your Bedroom and Make It Sleep Conducive

Make sure you have a comfortable mattress and pillows on your bed. The ideal kind should be soft to the touch, but firm and not saggy. Keeping your posture in-check even as you doze off can help you avoid sudden interruptions in your sleep – helps keep away the stiff necks too!

Good sleeping habits include keeping the room temperature cold at night. Well, at least cooler than your body’s temperature, and that is somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooler environments promote deeper sleep. According to the findings of Dr. Cameron Van den Heuvel’s research on sleep, the core body temperature of the human body needs to drop in order to initiate deep, uninterrupted slumber. So facilitating this “temperature drop” by sleeping in a colder room should enhance the quality you’re your sleep significantly.

Like heat, sound and light also emit energy. The interference of these energies may also cause your sleep to feel less comfortable. If possible, the room should be free of any noise or light that is too distracting. If you have a partner that snores, better buy yourself some earplugs.

 

 

#5. Exercise Daily

exercise can improve sleep

Doing daily exercises is very useful in improving the sleep quality. However, you must ensure you do it hours before your sleeping time. Exercising stimulates your body to produce a stress hormone known as cortisol that activates alertness in your brain. Even though physical exercises are a good thing, they can deprive you of sleep if you do so before you sleep.

According to experts from CleanFlash, manufacturer of top-quality CPAP and BiPAP Machine Cleaners, regular exercise is among the medical recommendations for those who suffer from sleep apnea. Exercise doesn’t only improve your sleep quality, it also helps reduce anxiety and improve your general mood.

 

#6. Avoid Staring at the Clock When Sleeping

Having a clock in your bedroom is an excellent idea. However, the problem begins when you start staring at it when you are about to fall asleep or after you wake up in the middle of the night. Doing so distracts you from sleeping. Turn the clock to make sure that it faces away from you. Doing so will help you fight the temptation of checking it at night.

 

#7. Avoid Using Smart Devices During Your Bedtime

why staring at a phone damages sleep

The light produced by light emitting e-readers such as smartphone and tablets slows down the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Avoid them if you love reading before you go to sleep. Using these devices before bedtime impedes your ability to sleep. It disrupts your circadian rhythms as well. Avoid them at such times if you can. Instead, use a hard-copy book.

 

 

Author Bio:

Amelia Johnson is a writer/editor with an endless passion for bringing a lot of useful and trustworthy information to the community.

She founded stayhealthyways.com, a blog dedicated to sharing quality articles related to health, nutrition, fitness, and beauty. As a typical introvert, Amelia is a perfectionist in work. At times of leisure, she reads, listens to music, chats with some close friends and walks with her pet.

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One Response

  1. John 03/18/2018
Men's Health Cures
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