6 Ways To Sleep Better For A Healthy Life

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A good night’s sleep is as crucial as a healthy diet and exercise. Pieces of research show that poor sleep negatively affects your brain function, hormones, and exercise performance. It also increases disease risk and triggers weight gain in children and adults. In this post, WhichChoose will share 6 ways to sleep better. Keep reading to know which they are!

Why Is Sleeping So Vital?

The answer is very simple; when we don’t sleep enough, we can’t effectively manage our circadian rhythms, the body’s natural mechanism for regenerating our brain and body cells and maintaining stable hormonal output.

Lack of sleep leads to altered fundamental mechanisms, like hormonal control, body temperature, blood pressure, and cellular repair. Chronic sleep deprivation can impact blood sugar regulation, thyroid output, stress hormone production (like cortisol), sex hormone production, digestion, absorption of nutrients, decrease cognitive function, and delay the body’s ability to recover from exercise.

Regardless of how hard you exercise in the gym or how healthy you eat, your efforts will be wasted if you don’t sleep enough.

6 Ways To Sleep Better

Here are 6 tips to help you sleep tight.

2.1. Consume Foods That Help You Sleep Better

There is a strong connection between the types of foods you eat on your daily meals and your sleep. You can consider applying the suggestions below for your daily meals:

Try putting protein in your morning meal, snacks, and lunch, such as fish, eggs, poultry, and beans.
Shift your carbohydrates from early to late in the day while reducing protein, particularly after 4 PM. Instead, you should consume whole, sprouted grains and fibrous food sources of carbohydrates from potatoes, rice, oats, cereals, starchy vegetables, and fruit.

You can apply these recommendations for a few weeks and observe if any changes occur in your sleep or other aspects of your health. Another time, try making the last meal contains high in protein and low in carbohydrates you have before bed for a few weeks; for instance, a non-starchy vegetable and meat/fish dish. After that, you compare the effect of large and small meals in a day and may notice a connection between different meals and your sleep.

2.2. Choose Healthy Carbohydrates And Avoid Alcohol Before Bed

As mentioned above, consuming lower carbohydrates later in the day may help you sleep well. Moreover, you need to stay away from alcohol as well as refined and processed foods, like cookies, pastries, bread, and other sugary snack foods. Because these can increase the blood sugar in the middle of the night, making you sleep less.

If you wake up consistently around 2-4 hours after falling asleep, maybe you consume drinks or foods before bed.

2.3. Avoid Caffeine Late In The Day

Stimulants like caffeine can affect our natural circadian rhythms and prevent sleeping well. Therefore, you need to avoid consuming caffeine after 1 to 2 PM.

2.4. Use Magnesium To Sleep Better

Magnesium is a mineral that can calm your nervous system, fight inflammation, and contributes to sleep better. You can intake this substance from dark leafy greens, fish, nuts and seeds, rice, chocolate, etc. Besides, you can use supplements containing magnesium to improve your sleep quality.

2.5. Drink Herbal Tea Or Use Aromatherapy

Chamomile and valerian are the most popular herbs that may help induce relaxation and calming before sleep. Besides, you can drink a warm cup of tea to sleep well.

You can use aromatherapy from essential oils, use a diffuser in your bedroom at night or spray aroma sleep for your pillows and sheets.

2.6. Create A Quiet Environment

Keep your room quiet, cool, and dark because exposure to light in the evening makes it more difficult to sleep. Moreover, you need to avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens before bed. Consider using a fan, room-darkening shades, earplugs, or other devices to make you sleep tight.

Besides, you can do calming activities before bedtime, like relaxation techniques or baths, to promote better sleep.

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to a happy, healthy life. That’s why WhichChoose has written a blog about 6 ways to sleep better. Hope you enjoy our tips, and leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns!