To lead a healthy life you have to eat well, exercise or socialize, but there is another fundamental pillar; sleep well. Today there are many people with sleep disturbances, and even though they sometimes try to improve it sometimes they don’t know how.
Although sleep can be a real pleasure, poor quality sleep or insufficient hours of sleep can take its toll on your health, as well as being a real torture.. That is why in this article we are going to see what are our tips to sleep well.
The 6 best tips for better sleep and falling asleep
Many people have so many difficulties sleeping that they end up taking drugs. These can help us a lot despite being able to have some side effects, because in the end not sleeping is surely worse.
In any case, usually the reason why our sleep is not of good quality is because we have some habit that is not suitable for sleeping.. For this reason, we recommend you to review our list of 6 tips to get a good night’s sleep before you start taking any sleeping pills.
1. Do not expose yourself too much to the light when it is late in the evening.
Throughout our evolutionary history, the sun clearly marked our circadian rhythm. When it was daytime our ancestors were exposed to a lot of light, while when it was nighttime the little light that entered their retinas was of very low intensity.
Today this is very different. Almost everybody lives most of the time indoors, and we use artificial lights both when it is use artificial lights both during the day and at night.. In addition, the use of screens is commonplace and occupies more and more of our time.
It is common for many people to watch TV before going to sleep, but also tablets and cell phones, which is counterproductive because our brain sees light. And our brain is programmed in the same way as our ancestors; it thinks it is daytime and, what does it do? stay awake when we have to go to sleep.
2. Don’t eat dinner too late
In Spanish-speaking countries in general, people eat dinner a little later than the world average. But Spain is an outstanding case, because the late dinner is simply exaggerated. While in Europe people have dinner at 18h or 19h in the evening, in Spain people have dinner quietly at 21h or even 22h.
This is a problem that is not always obvious to everyone, but which science has helped us to understand; sleeping less than 2 hours after dinner is neither easy to fall asleep nor actually healthy for the metabolism.. That is why we highlight this advice to sleep well and avoid insomnia, because we are not always aware of it.
In addition, in countries like Spain many people eat a lot of dinner, almost as if it were a meal. While in other countries at 10 am they are already in bed having digested a light dinner, many Spaniards have not yet begun to eat the second course.
3. Do not have the bedroom at too high a temperature.
It has been scientifically proven that sleeping in a room with a high temperature also affects our quality of sleep..
We can think of all those summer nights when it is very difficult to sleep. In addition, once we fall asleep, it also becomes more superficial, and the next day we are more tired.
On the other hand, we don’t have to be cold either. For our body to rest and our brain to be able to disconnect and enter the REM sleep phase, the bedroom has to be at a temperature that is simply not too hot, and if it is a little cold we can cover ourselves with something.
4. Do not drink coffee in the afternoon/evening
It is the most consumed substance in the world after water and tea. In all western countries its consumption is very common, and we are no exception.
Coffee is characterized by its stimulating properties, as it helps us to feel less sleepy and fatigued in the morningsThey help us to feel less sleepy and fatigued in the morning and, therefore, to feel more awake.
But surely this is going to be the best known of the tips to sleep well and avoid insomnia. Unfortunately, there are many people who, if they drink coffee in the afternoon, are unable to fall asleep, so they sleep less hours.so they sleep less hours. And the next day they feel they need a coffee.
As we see, it is a fish that bites its own tail and we should be able to break this vicious circle if we perceive that this substance, rather than helping us, is ruining our health.
5. Do not drink alcohol to sleep
There are many people who have found that by drinking alcohol at night they are better able to fall asleep.
This is true because alcohol is a substance that inhibits the central nervous system.. The problem is that, although it helps us to fall asleep earlier, afterwards the sleep is not as good as it should be.
When we use alcohol as a method of falling asleep, we may fall asleep earlier, but the quality of sleep is worse.. In short, it is a more superficial sleep, so the person does not rest as well and may wake up more during the night.
6. Do not do much exercise in the afternoon/evening.
There are people who do medium or high intensity exercise, which in principle is very good for our body, but they do it in the afternoon or evening.
It may be because they have thought that the time they feel like doing it is when they leave work. Other people who are involved in a team sport simply cannot choose the time of day. Sometimes it is because of the schedule of a member of the group, sometimes it is because the court is only free at certain times late in the evening.
What we would advise these people to do is, if they can, to change their exercise time to the morning or midday. It has been shown that, although the body may be tired after physical activity in the evening, the brain is often activated and it is not easy to fall asleep..