Research showed that good sleep can help you to keep your mind clear, focus better and reduce your chances of gaining weight. In addition, good sleep quality can also strengthen the resistance to heart disease, diabetes, and so on.
What does “good sleep” mean?
According to the National Sleep Foundation’s “Sleep Health” report, there are 4 things you need to get a good night’s Sleep.
- Fall asleep < 30 minutes — Stay in bed and get ready for sleep for no more than 30 minutes.
- Get up in the middle of the night ≤ 1 – Get up no more than once, and get up for more than 5 minutes or more
- Sleep again after waking up < 20 minutes – Sleep less than 20 minutes after waking up at midnight
- Sleep efficiency ≥ 85% – The length of sleep divided by the time spent in bed
So, how do we develop good sleep quality?
- Eating habits
Body health is related to diet and sleep, and in fact, eating habits are one of the keys to how well we sleep.
Avoid coffee, tea, energy drinks, carbohydrate drinks, and chocolate before bed, which are high in caffeine and make us hard to fall asleep. It’s also good to note that alcohol can also interfere with sleep! Drinking alcohol can increase the number of trips to the bathroom at night, increase breathing problems during sleep, and even cause insomnia in excess!
If you want a good sleep, you can eat some bananas, oats, and warm milk before bed, these are helpful to calm down and relax to fall asleep.
2. Deep sleep
Sleep quality is the guarantee of health, and the key to sleep quality is deep sleep. Deep sleep helps eliminate fatigue, rejuvenate energy, and boost immunity. On average, deep sleep makes up only 25 percent of total sleep, and the optimal time for deep sleep is around 3 a.m. It takes at least one to one and a half hours for the brain to enter deep sleep, so between 10 and 11 p.m. is the best time to fall asleep so that you can prepare for deep sleep.
3. Exercise
After we know about the importance of deep sleep, you might ask, how do you achieve deep sleep?
A study has also shown that proper exercise before bed, such as yoga, stretching, and breathing exercises, will improve the quality of deep sleep. Proper exercise can help relieve stress and boost the brain’s production of happy endorphins, which help the body regulate sleep. Exercise helps with the production of adenosine and melanin, which promote drowsiness and help control the sleep cycle, respectively.
4. Nap time
Taking a nap is good for your body and can make you feel refreshed quickly. However, if you take a nap for too long, you will not sleep at night and might get up frequently. It will affect your sleep quality. The best nap lasts only 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Emotions
Mood swings can also interfere with sleep! Avoid dwelling on your thoughts right before bed. Excitement, sadness, anger, and anxiety all contribute to poor sleep. Finding ways to calm your emotions, such as listening to light music, reading, meditation, etc., are of great help to relax your mood and relieve pressure.
6. Life work and rest
Regular work and rest can improve mental health, which in turn promotes quality sleep. Regular work and rest include going to bed early and getting up early, getting up at the designated time every day for activities; Eating three meals on time, and avoiding eating too much before bed. Take time to do exercise every day, so that the body has good blood circulation, physical and mental relaxation, and naturally easy to fall asleep at night.
7. Blue Light
Using your phone before bed is a habit for many of us, and one of the biggest culprits of poor sleep quality. When the light fades at night, the pineal gland in the brain secretes melatonin, which promotes sleepiness. When blue light from screens enters the retina, it is converted into a nerve signal that travels to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the brain, where it travels via sympathetic nerves to the pineal gland. The pineal gland thus receives the wrong message that it is daytime, which suppresses and delays the secretion of melatonin and reduces sleepiness. In general, staying away from 3c products can help you sleep.
8. Body Temperature
Do you know what? Body temperature can also affect sleep quality. Experts suggest that 1-2 hours before going to bed, take a 10 minutes bath or shower, and the water temperature remains between 40℃ and 42.8℃, which will help us to fall asleep easily, and achieve deep sleep.
However, if the bath water temperature is too hot, it will cause the body hyperactivity, and it will cause the opposite effect.
9. Bedding
Choose comfortable bedding to be able to let a person enjoy sleep. Studies have shown that new bedding can reduce back and shoulder pain and improve sleep quality. The goal of this study is not to persuade you to buy new bedding, but to prove that comfortable bedding, such as bedding and sheets, can help you sleep well.
10. Environment
The environment of the bedroom, like lamp, space, and air circulation is the key to sleep quality. A Northwestern University study from America found that when you sleep with a light on at night, your brain perceives light even when you are asleep, and nerve conduction continues to be stimulated, leading to an increase in blood sugar and heart rate. If you have to turn on the light, suggest you dim the light, choose a yellow light, or avoid letting the light directly to your face and eyes.
When your bedroom is compressed and narrow, it is easy to cause a psychological burden. Once we have stress, it can affect our sleep. If your bedroom is full of clutter, it will not only bring stress but also affect air circulation, and leads to dust. Therefore, cleanliness and hygiene of the room are the key places of sleep quality.
Improving the quality of sleep requires coordination between the body and the environment. Create a relaxed and spacious space, so that our mind and body are comfortable, and sleep quality will gradually become better!
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