When people talk about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, what often comes to mind would be exercise and our diet. However, these two aren’t the only things that make up a healthy lifestyle.
One vital part of remaining healthy is the state of your sleep. If you don’t sleep well or often enough, it’s going to make your physical and mental health deteriorate.
Now that you know how your sleep affects your physical and mental health, you need to take more proactive ways to address your sleep environment. To help get you a good night’s sleep regularly, here are seven simple ideas that will help you maintain a healthier sleeping environment:
GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS
A lot of people are working from home, which means that they need to dedicate a space in their house for work.
However, plenty of people make the rookie mistake of doing their work while lying on their bed. What people don’t know is that it can make your brain associate your bed with doing your job, which interferes with your ability to sleep.
Hence, it would be helpful to not do your work on your bed, as well as get rid of anything that will distract you from your sleep.
You should make sure that you only dedicate your bedroom as a space for relaxing and settling down for the night. That way, your brain won’t associate the bedroom with another activity that distracts you from falling asleep.
AVOID CAFFEINE AND ALCOHOL
The things that you put in your body also affect your sleep. Even the food that you consume hours before you go to sleep will have a significant effect on whether you’re able to fall asleep. Ideally, it would be best if you didn’t consume anything caffeinated four to six hours before you go to sleep.
A lot of people even tend to rely on drinking alcohol before or during dinner to fall asleep faster. However, alcohol won’t help you get the quality sleep that can energize you the following morning.
If you are a smoker, then you should also stop using any tobacco products when you are about to go to sleep.
MAKE YOUR BED COMFORTABLE
It should be evident that the bed’s quality will affect how comfortable you are with your sleep. Knowing what type of mattress is best for you is going to improve your sleep quality.
What you should look for in a bed is comfortability and the ability to support your back while you sleep and move around.
If your mattress has been with you for more than ten years, then it’s time to let it go. Don’t look for a bed that is too soft that you’re sinking into it. However, it would help if you didn’t get a mattress that is rock solid either.
KEEP YOUR ROOM DARK AND COZY
Your mind associates light with the morning, which means that it thinks you should be awake if there’s too much light in your room.
If you’re easily distracted when you are trying to sleep, you need to make sure you keep your bedroom dark and cozy. You can either invest in heavy curtains that effectively block out light from your windows or get a sleeping mask.
An hour or so before you fall asleep, you should try and avoid using your phone because it generates light that might affect your sleep. The darkness makes it a lot easier to focus on sleeping and to let your mind slowly dissipate into unconsciousness.
HAVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AT DAYTIME
If you can, try and dedicate your physical activities in the day time instead of during the night.
Instead of doing your daily exercise before you sleep, it’s much better to do it in the morning. That way, you can use that energy for everything you’re supposed to be doing in the day.
If you do any physical activity during the evenings, your mind and body might be feeling too active to settle down.
Delegating your physical activity during the daytime and going outside sometimes also helps your body wind down as the day continues.
CLEAN YOUR BEDROOM DAILY
No matter what environment you surround yourself in, it can affect you negatively in one way or another if you don’t properly maintain it.
According to Cleaning Exec Home Cleaning Services NYC, not developing the habit of cleaning your bedroom daily can have an adverse effect on your sleep quality.
There’s a reason why people say that how your house looks can reflect your mental state. If you have a cluttered bedroom, then it can lead to more cluttered thoughts. And if your mind is too cluttered, it’s going to make it difficult for you to fall asleep.
All you need to do is to clean your sheets often, keep clutter out of your bedroom, and tidy up the bed every time you wake up.
HAVE CONSISTENT SLEEP TIMES
Having consistent sleep times will make it easier for your body to fall into the rhythm of falling asleep when you need it.
You first need to figure out how much sleep is best for you. Once you figure that out, you can shape your schedule around that and create a sleep schedule.
The key here is to be consistent with when you fall asleep. That way, once the clock hits the time you want to sleep, your body is already sleepy.
A healthy sleep environment is something that people either neglect or take for granted. We’ve heard friends and colleagues too often talk about how little sleep they get. If you want to improve your health, then you should start with your rest. With these seven tips above, you’re going to have a better quality sleep for a more consistent period.
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