How and Why You Should Improve Your Sleep
When it comes to health and wellbeing there is little more important than a good night’s sleep. In fact, with poor sleep or poor sleep hygiene, there comes the risk of increased illness and even a higher chance of death at an earlier age.
As humans, our bodies go through a lot each day, and our sleep is an imperative action in which our body works to repair and ready itself for a new day ahead. On top of this, our brains are also hard at work harmonising chemicals and ensuring we’re able to tackle the next day as productively and as happily as possible.
With all of this in mind, we have a few points on why you should improve your sleep and how to do it – take a look.
Invest in Combatting Sleep Apnea
When it comes to a good night’s sleep, sufferers from sleep apnea are often seen as out of luck.
Due to the body’s inability to open airways correctly and allow a flow of oxygen to the body, sleep apnea sufferers simply wake routinely during the night, for essentially their entire lives.
However, with something as simple as a CPAP machine, you’re able to greatly enhance your sleep and ensure routine wakes become a thing of the past, and this will allow for those with sleep apnea to fall into REM sleep much easier.
Poor Sleep Can Increase Weight
One other pivotal point we’d like to go over is the fact that poor sleep can have a major impact on the body’s metabolic processes and cause weight gain over a period of time.
A number of far-reaching studies have revealed that those who sleep less are almost certainly going to weigh a little or a lot more than those who sleep a lot or maintain their ideal seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
With this in mind, poor sleep and subsequent weight gain can also result in a myriad of weight-related problems such as poor joint function.
Productivity is Slashed
Another key factor when it comes to not getting enough sleep is the resulting productivity falls that are seen in those who are sleep deprived.
As you might have already experienced, when we pull an all-nighter or simply have a bad night’s sleep, we feel slow, tired and relatively unable to do just about anything during the day at home or work, which can be a major problem for those running businesses or who need to keep a close eye on the household processes.
Heart Disease and Stroke Risk Increase
A rather stark fact coming from sleep studies has shown that those of us who sleep poorly on a routine basis or are unable to get a good night’s rest due to issues such as sleep apnea are at a far higher risk of both stroke and heart disease than those who have good night’s of sleep on routine.
With more than 15 sleep studies pointing at poor sleep when it comes to causing both heart disease and stroke, it’s vitally important to do your best to get a good night’s rest whenever you can.
Glucose Issues Can Arise
In line with weight gain and metabolic issues, poor sleep can also have a significant and detrimental effect on our body’s ability to handle glucose and produce insulin, among a number of other things.
With this in mind, sleep studies have also pointed the finger at poor sleep when it comes to an increased risk of type-2 diabetes.
Given that our bodies aren’t able to properly and effectively deal with blood sugars, we’re at risk of insulin insensitivity and much more.
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
With the rather grim points above out of the way, we have a few simple tips and tricks for those looking to make getting to bed a little earlier each night a breeze.
Attempt the Military Method
Another tip when it comes to improving your sleep is tackling the lull before you fall asleep, and stopping those god-awful toss and turn moments that can last for hours on end.
Do your best to try out the military method in which you will work to relax the entire body and simply fall asleep that way.
Exercise Outside, During the Day
Our bodies love to exercise and with the simple act of going on a jog enabling a reset of the mind of sorts, you’re able to give your body the push it needs to stay on track and fall asleep much easier during the evening.
However, be sure that you’re not exercising too close to bedtime as you may find that this works in the opposite direction, making it a lot harder to fall asleep.
Shut Out Your Devices
One final point to keep in mind when it comes to a good night’s sleep is getting away from your devices toward bedtime.
With a single hour or so before bed focused on mindfulness and a warm drink, you’ll be far better able to fall asleep and stop those long periods of time in bed unable to fall asleep.
