Bedtime, What Habits Are Healthy?
Sleep influences both physical and emotional well-being. Having good bedtime habits, such as avoiding television or the phone, will improve the quality of your sleep. Discover other keys.
Although we give it less importance than it deserves, sleep is the basis of all our functioning. It plays a fundamental role in our health. Therefore, getting between seven or eight hours of quality rest should be a main objective in our routine. What should bedtime be?
Lack of sleep can affect both our health and our mood or temperament, not to mention our performance at work or in school. This is why taking care of certain habits at bedtime can be very beneficial in our life.
Not resting well can cause our immune system to be weaker and, therefore, that we are more sensitive to any disease. Interestingly, it also influences our diet. Lack of sleep can lead to an increase in appetite and, therefore, could influence weight gain, according to this study conducted by the University of Washington (United States). This is because it alters the hormones that control appetite and satiety.
For all this, in this article we explain healthy habits at bedtime, which will improve the quality of your sleep. You will notice that with better rest, your memory, performance and even mood will improve.
Bedtime: calculate your sleep
It is always recommended that an adult person should sleep about 7 or 8 hours a day. However, this is up to the individual. There are people who sleeping 6 hours a day feel just as rested as others who need at least 10 hours.
The truth is that there is no study that states exactly how much we should sleep. But this study by Dr. Chiara Cirelli affirms that it is not our body that needs to recharge energy, but our brain. While we sleep, the brain takes the opportunity to “clean” all the waste accumulated during the day. Therefore, we need enough sleep for it to work properly.
In addition, sleeping less than 7 hours is associated with weight gain, diabetes and hypertension. In fact, when you don’t get enough sleep, you can experience body discomfort and constant fatigue.
You have to be regular at bedtime
Setting a time to go to bed can help you achieve better sleep. Your body gets used to that routine. You will notice that, if you meet the same schedule every day, you will start to feel sleepy shortly before that time arrives. Thus, when you go to bed you will reach sleep faster.
Relax before going to sleep
At bedtime the ideal is to be calm and relaxed. It is very frequent that, when we go to sleep, all worries assail us. However, we must try to get rid of all the accumulated stress and anxiety of the day.
So a good bedtime habit is to try some relaxation techniques. First, you can take a series of deep breaths. Similarly, try relaxing your muscles or doing gentle stretches.
To ward off those thoughts that are weighing you down, you can write them down in a journal or on a paper by the bed. Then try to avoid them. Focus your mind on the moment or imagine pleasant situations.
Other healthy bedtime habits
- Avoid television or cell phones in bed. Believe it or not, they can make you nervous or reduce your sleep.
- Take a warm bath.
- Go to bed only when you are tired. Even if you’ve been in it for a long time trying to sleep and you can’t, go to another room. Come back when you feel like sleeping again.
- Use the bed only to sleep or to have relationships. Doing other things on it such as studying, watching television, using the computer, makes us associate the bed with other activities that are not sleeping. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid it.
- Avoid naps that are too long, as they can disturb your sleep rhythm.
- Reduce your intake of caffeine, soda, or any other excitement.
- Stop smoking, as the nicotine in cigarettes is exciting too.
- In the same way, make sure that your room is a quiet and pleasant place. If there is too much noise, you can use earplugs. If the problem is light, try wearing an eye mask or put up dark blinds. You can try to make your bed more comfortable with sheets of good touch or a good pillow.
In conclusion
Maintaining good bedtime habits can help us get the quality sleep we need. In fact, other activities such as regular exercise or taking care of our diet can help us get a better rest. Do not forget that sleep can influence almost all areas of your life, try to take care of it.
