If you feel tired and sleepy during the day, perhaps you need to improve the quality of sleep. Let’s look at what factors are bad for sleep.
Blue Glow Screens
Checking email, playing at an online casino, watching TV programs, or surfing social media before bedtime are becoming more and more common habits that have a negative impact on sleep.
Blue light from a computer, tablet, phone, or laptop screen, is useful during the day because it increases concentration. But it reduces the production of the sleep hormone melatonin at night more than any other color. That is, it promotes brain activation, which leads to an imbalance of the sleep-wake rhythm.
Analysis of a survey of patients complaining of sleep problems showed that people who read from an electronic device screen in the evening do not get enough sleep. They complain of inadequate sleep duration and poor quality of rest. People who were in the habit of reading printed publications had far fewer similar complaints.
Alcohol Consumption
Small doses of alcohol help to fall asleep faster because it suppresses the CNS. But, large doses, on the contrary, make sleep less deep. This fact puts alcohol on the list of foods to avoid before going to bed.
When we consume more than 1-2 servings of alcohol, where 1 serving is equivalent to 30 ml of vodka, sleep is interrupted in the first half of the night due to a metabolic switch to toxin elimination.
Other signs and symptoms that may occur depending on the amount of alcohol consumed are:
- Excessive sweating.
- Nightmares and insomnia.
- Worsening of sleep apnea.
Alcohol also has a diuretic effect, so it makes people go to the bathroom more often at night.
All this leads to a lack of rest and sleepiness the next day, so it’s recommended to drink alcohol no later than 4 hours before bedtime.
Sleep Disturbance on Weekends
The regularity of sleep affects health no less than its quality and quantity – it’s a guarantee of cardiovascular and other body systems health.
Uncomfortable Conditions for Rest
A warm room with bright lights, an uncomfortable mattress or pillow, and exposure to noises at night, such as your partner’s snoring, can affect the quality and duration of sleep.
Too much light at night changes the circadian rhythm, while noise, especially background noise, helps most people to relax and fall asleep. However, the noise should be moderate so as not to predispose to re-awakening and not to interfere with the transition to deep sleep phases.
The temperature in the room can compromise the quality of sleep. There is no one-size-fits-all recommendation in this matter because there is a different level of a comfortable temperature for each person. The main thing is to avoid extreme temperatures.
Last on the list, but not least, is a mattress that can make your back hurt and a restless partner that interrupts your rest.
Eating Before Bedtime
Excessive eating before bedtime prevents us from getting a good night’s sleep as the body expends resources to process food. Additionally, digesting food while you sleep can cause an upset stomach.
It’s recommended to eat 2-3 hours before sleep. If you feel hungry and uncomfortable going to bed, eat something light at least 45 minutes before bedtime.
It isn’t advisable to drink a lot of fluids before going to bed to avoid frequent awakenings.
Effects of Caffeine on Sleep
Caffeine-containing foods not only delay the moment you fall asleep. This stimulant:
- Leads to disturbed sleep.
- Shortens the overall duration of a night’s rest.
- Affects the structure of sleep cycles.
The effect of caffeine-containing products is proportional to the amount of coffee consumed and depends on the person’s caffeine tolerance and individual circadian rhythm.
Avoid coffee, tea, chocolate, and cola four to six hours before bedtime, and limit caffeine to 200 mg daily to protect yourself from negative effects.
Now you know what habits jeopardize your performance and the amount of night’s rest, keeping you awake or causing you to wake up often, and you can adjust them.
Also Read about: THE BENEFITS OF SPIRITUAL TRAINING FOR YOUR BODY
