Sleep hygiene: 7 habits for a healthy rest

Disturbances in falling asleep, problems with deep sleep and other disorders of night rest are familiar to every fifth inhabitant of the planet. The cause of insomnia can be neurological and mental diseases, stress, fatigue, overeating shortly before going to bed. In addition to physiological and psychological problems, the cause of a long time to fall asleep can be poor sleep hygiene. How to deal with such a problem is described in the article.

Top 7 key secrets of a good night and good night

Fatigue, fatigue and bad mood in the morning are the result of the fact that the body did not rest well at night. You can detect problems with the quality and duration of sleep using special applications on smartphones: Pillow, Sleep As Android. There is a similar Health application in the Xiaomi gadget ecosystem. Algorithms analyze the owner’s sleep using sensors on the phone and the time when the display is turned off.

What to do if you can’t fall asleep, a swarm of thoughts is hovering in your head and the bed turns into a hot ball of fabric on which it is impossible to find a comfortable position for your body?

1. Lighting. 40-60 minutes before bedtime, you should dim the lights in the room. It is important that no light enters the room from the street or corridor.
2. Microclimate. Ventilate your bedroom before going to bed, and turn on a humidifier if necessary. Comfortable air temperature for falling asleep quickly is 18-20 degrees.
3. Rituals. By instilling a certain schedule and sequence of actions in your brain and body, you will establish a routine. Train yourself to drink a small cup of herbal tea before bed, take a warm bath by candlelight, and read a book with a simple plot. This will relax the body, calm the nerves and start the process of falling asleep. Go to bed and wake up at approximately the same time every day.
4. Food. It is advisable to have dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime. During this time, the food has time to be digested, because the heaviness in the stomach does not help you fall asleep comfortably. For dinner it is better to eat something light: baked chicken, vegetable salad, fruit soufflé. It is better to avoid caffeine-containing products: coffee, chocolate, energy drinks.
5. Planning. If before going to bed you begin to actively carry out the tasks accumulated during the day, and in bed you think about things for tomorrow – it’s time to start planning. Choose a notepad, planner, or phone app. Plan your tasks a few hours before bed. This will reduce the level of stress and help you find reasons to praise yourself for completed tasks over the past day.
6. Nap. If during the day you want to lie down and take a short nap, that’s normal. The main thing is to stop in time. 20 minutes of such sleep is enough.
7. Physical activity. It is important to maintain a steady level of activity throughout the day. A daily one-hour walk or 45 minutes of active exercise three times a week is enough. This will allow you to relieve accumulated stress, improve blood circulation, and simply get tired in the evening. And it’s easy to fall asleep.

Using these simple recommendations, you will be able to get a great night’s sleep and have a productive day.