Wide Awake When You Should Be Sleeping?

[LoShiNi]

Here Are 10 Tips To Help You Sleep Well Again!

Circadian clock is your body’s built-in mechanism that controls your biological rhythms, including sleep cycle. But it can be thrown off balance if you travel between time zones, burn midnight oil to finish work, or wake up every few hours to comfort your screaming infant. Once you break your normal schedule, it can be hard to get back to your usual sleeping hours.

1. Follow a schedule

“Go to bed at the same time and do the same activities every night before bed,” says Heidi Connolly, MD, chief of pediatric sleep medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “Your body is getting a cue that it’s time to fall asleep.”

Before going to sleep, listen to relaxing music or take a warm bath.


2. Let the sunlight brighten your day

Your body clock uses light as a cue to wake up. You can do more: in the morning, switch on the lights, open your curtains or go sunbathing if the sun is shining!


3. Darkness facilitates sleep

If you want to feel fully rested in the morning, sleep in the dark. And don’t let you gadgets disturb you; blue light keeps your brain awake and alert.


4. Exercise

Keeping your body in good shape isn’t the only benefit of exercising. If you exercise at least 150 minutes a week, you will sleep better and be more energetic throughout the day. The timing of your workouts matters a lot. Don’t do heavy cardio exercises before going to bed, it’s better to do them in the morning. Something more relaxing, e. g. stretching, is more conducive to sleep.


5. Control your diet and the timing of your meals

Organs of your digestive system have their own clocks. Large meals before bedtime are not a very good idea because they can cause a disruption of these mechanisms. Another downside: you start gaining more weight when you eat late. You should consume more calories at breakfast to give your body the energy for the day, and have a light dinner in the evening.


6. Don’t nap for too long

A short nap can give you some additional energy to get you through the day. But if your nap is too long, your body perceives it as your main sleep time. Twenty minutes is the ideal duration of a nap.


7. Reduce caffeine intake

Coffee helps you wake up in the morning, and it prevents you from falling asleep at night. Don’t consume any foods or drinks that contain caffeine for at least 6 hours before going to bed.


8. Choose sleep aid carefully

It’s OK to take sleeping pills in some cases, such as relieving stress before important meetings, but don’t abuse them! Try melatonin supplements instead; melatonin is a hormone produced by your body and it helps regulate your biological rhythms.


9. Change your sleep hours to prevent jet lag

If you don’t want to suffer from jet lag, you should adjust to the new time zone before you get to the place. Move your bedtime an hour or two each day; if it’s six hours later in your destination than in your current time zone, start going to bed one or two hours later and wake up one or two hours earlier.


10. Choose only night shifts or only day shifts

Working late isn’t so great for your sleep. But if you have to have to work late into the night, at least try not to deviate from an established schedule. Working graveyard shifts? Wear sunglasses on the way from work and don’t take them off until you are home — to limit exposure to sunlight. From 7 to 9 hours of sleep is enough for you to restore energy levels, so sleep well!