Getting a good night’s sleep is critical for maintaining good health and a positive attitude; it is directly related to productivity, clear thinking, and energy level. The quality and duration of your sleep can mean the difference between just completing a project and completing a project that is both excellent in quality and performed with minimal time and effort. It could mean remembering what you went by the store to pick up. Or getting a good night’s sleep could mean making a good grade on a test. Simply getting a good night’s sleep can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight.
In these busy times, getting a good night sleep can be a real challenge. Sleep is often one of the most neglected aspects of our daily life. Many people believe that they can accomplish more by sleeping less. In theory, that sounds very plausible. But, in actuality, unless you are sleeping over 10 hours a day, the very opposite holds true. The more tired you are, the less you get done, and the more stressed you become.
As technology improves and the world moves faster, a few things remain unchanged. There are still only 24 hours in one day. Those 24 hours are split into day and night. The length of each night varies from the spring equinox (when daylight hours equal the nighttime hours) to the fall equinox (also when daylight hours equal nighttime hours) and back to the spring equinox. In the summer, when the nighttime hours are the shortest, most places have approximately 8 – 9 hours of darkness, depending on where you live. In extreme regions of the hemisphere, the nighttime hours will be more or less, depending on how close to the equator or north or south pole you are. Interestingly, studies have proved that the average person needs roughly 8 hours of sleep for the body to rest and repair itself, and to maintain good health. No matter how busy our daytime hours may be, our body cannot speed up its normal processes; it still needs around 8 hours to detoxify, rest and repair itself.
Unfortunately, with all the demands on people physically, mentally and emotionally, when nighttime comes, we can feel too wound up to fall asleep. But there are some simple steps that will help you unwind so that you can fall asleep faster and stay asleep.
It can take 30 minutes to an hour for most people to unwind from a busy and stressful day. The key is to bring about relaxation and quiet the mind before you get in bed. Here’s how to begin. Set a bed time that will allow you to get approximately 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Be committed to honoring that bed time. Follow these 9 steps to help you be ready to sleep when you get into bed:
1. Shoot for lights out by 10:00pm. After 10 o’clock, the odds of falling asleep quickly, decrease.
2. Have a bedtime routine. This will signal your mind and body that it is time to unwind.
3. Turn off television, computer, and other electronics 1 hour before your set bedtime. These things are stimulating to your brain, and will make falling asleep harder.
4. Find a comfortable place to sit and read a book. Choose one that you can put down anytime!
5. Drink a cup of hot herbal tea. Chamomile is known as a relaxing herb.
6. Avoid caffeine after 2:00pm. If you are particularly sensitive to caffeine, stop all intake before noon.
7. Dim the lights. Your body naturally releases melatonin (a relaxation hormone for sleeping) as the daylight begins to fade. Choose small lamps for lighting over bright lights, or install a dimmer switch on the bedroom or bathroom light.
8. Play soothing music with the volume turned down low to encourage you to slow down and be still.
9. Make the room as dark as possible for sleeping. Avoid any flashing lights and blue light as these are stimulating to your brain. Turn off or cover up those cell phones that have blinking or flashing lights.
So if you want to wake up with more energy, have more energy throughout the day, have clearer thoughts, be more motivated and productive, have a brighter mood, be more creative, and have energy for doing fun things, make an effort to get 8 hours of good quality sleep every night. You will feel better, look better, and you may even have more friends!
