Sleep is a fundamental part of our health, both physical and emotional, it may seem that sleeping well is simple, but when you have episodes of tension during the day, when our routine prevents us from falling asleep and problems build up in our heads when it comes to resting, it’s time to learn to sleep well, move on to sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene can be defined as those habits that facilitate the transition from awakening to sleep and allow us to spend a few hours resting and disconnecting from our body and head, allowing us to regain strength and make our brain active during the day.
What are the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep? A quality sleep allows you to:
Here are some steps that will make this sleep exercise easier and allow you to rest and learn how to sleep well.
Prepare body and mind: announce that it is time to rest
Try not to exercise in the hours before bed, otherwise you will activate your body and then make it difficult to sleep, in addition avoid drinks that contain caffeine in the hours before bedtime.
Maintain a slightly more relaxed routine, with activities like reading, listening to music or doing a relaxation exercise.
Sleeping between 6 and 8 hours a day is best, according to a recent study published in the journal Sleep, reducing night rest increases the risk of premature death by 12%.
Try to lie down and wake up at the same time. Avoid taking naps during the day in close hours at night. Separate between 15 and 30 minutes so that a nap after lunch is enough to renew and to continue.
While this routine can be difficult to establish, it allows us to get more tired of bedtime, which will make it easier to fall asleep shortly after bedtime.
Avoid sleeping activities other than sleep (except sexual activity, of course). This allows you to associate bed and sleep.
If after a few minutes we can’t sleep, we can leave the room and spend time on a quiet activity, such as reading or shutting up somewhere else. When we notice the dream coming, we go back to the room to try to get back. Sleep.
If we use the bed to study, watch TV or eat, the dream will not be associated with this space, so after that sleep will be more difficult.
Eating hearty meals or consuming energy drinks (or caffeine) before bedtime also interferes with sleep quality, sleep hygiene is accompanied by healthy eating habits that allow us to establish routines in our body.
Another related recommendation is to try to have dinner at least two hours before bedtime, so that at bedtime there is no overwork of the organs.
The place where we sleep is also important. There should not be much light, the temperature should be pleasant, the bed should be comfortable and the colors of the room should promote rest and peace, all these factors will help not activate the body at bedtime.