You must have noticed that some days when you wake up, you feel very fresh, while some other days you feel very drowsy, tired, and fatigued. Why is that so? It is because of your bedtime routine. Most of the days are hectic and chaotic, but if you are able to cut down on bad sleeping habits and apply good habits, then your morning would be very refreshing and it would be very productive. Let us explore which habits are good and which habits are bad, and how you could improve your sleep quality.
Gap Between Dinner and Sleep
Dinner is our last meal of a day, and most of you should know that. One should have very light dinner to prevent quite a lot of other digestive problems. But one most important point that you should keep in mind is to finish your dinner at least 2 hours before you go to bed. The logic is very simple. The body gets enough time to digest the food which you ate.
By the night time, your body functioning is slow, and so to avoid any haze in the body, you keep 2 hours gap between dinner and sleep. Never sleep immediately after meals. The cause of not having enough gap is that your body will become home to many uninvited ailments, like acidity, gas, indigestion, bloating, weak lungs, and even a heart ailment.
Drinking Water before Bedtime
I have seen majority drink a glass full of water before sleep. This is a wrong practice. Actually, you don’t require to drink so much water if the body is well hydrated throughout the day. If you drink water, then your bladder would be full, and in the middle of the night, you will have to wake up many times to empty your bladder. This causes disturbance in the sleep.
For many, falling back to sleep takes time. You are then stuck in constant thoughts, leading to bad quality of sleep. What to do in such a scenario? One hour after your dinner, have half a glass of water, and right before going to bed, empty your bladder. This will reduce your chance of constant waking up at night.
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Drinking Milk
Since ages, we have been told to drink a glass of warm milk, especially with turmeric, before going to sleep. Yes, drinking milk at night promotes good sleep. Milk has tryptophan and amino acid, which induces sleep through the chemical reaction in the body. It has melatonin, which is sleep-promoting hormone. You are actually allowing yourself to sleep better if you drink milk.
At night, we also tend to burn calories. When you have sound sleep, you will be able to burn more calories. But what if you do not drink milk at night? You will be losing on quality of sleep. And when your sleep quality is compromised, you will be compromising on your productivity.
Mental Shield
When you are on your bed, it is important that you give your mental self a break. Your whole day might have been filled with stress, anxiety and overthinking. This would make your brain super active. And at night time, you have to shut everything down, so that you gain mental peace to get up fresh in the morning. For that, you have to make an imaginary fence around your bed, which reminds you to put away all your work thoughts, even social thoughts and household responsibilities.
You are just with yourself and focused on relaxation. Prepare yourself for good sleep, followed by bright morning. This simple practice will not just keep you with a sound sleep, but it will also keep you stress free. If you allow the whole day’s stress in your bed, you will be filled with lots of negative thoughts, and your sleep will get disturbed.
Bed Time Stretches
Lastly, before going to bed, you have to remove all the strain and stiffness of the body, with some good stretches. Sitting on the bed, raise both your hands up, and bring full stretch to your spine. Lie down and raise your legs up and down, one by one. And then lie down in Pranayama number 4 position, and focus on your breath. When you do so, you are giving a simple indication to your body, that now this is the time to sleep. So make sure that you don’t sleep with tension in your body.
Use of Electronic Devices
Our whole world is captured by devices, like phones, laptops, desktops, etc. And people have the habit of using that last thing before going to bed. Now, this is another unhealthy habit. At night, we have to shut it down, because these electronic devices stimulate the brain, and it makes the brain more active. This leaves difficulties in going back to sleep. It is better to leave the phone and all other devices away from you, at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. This simple habit will improve your sleep.
Dark Room
This is one of the best practices that each one should apply. You should darken the room before going to sleep. You don’t allow any kind of light to come into your room, to stimulate your brain. And throughout the night, you are not disturbed. Contrary to that, if you have a night lamp, or keep the curtains open, you do not only take time to sleep, but even at the middle of the night, if you wake up, the light will force you to stay wide awake. Then you will fall into a vicious hot cycle, or you might end up munching on food.
So keep your room dark, and enjoy the good night’s sleep. These are some good or bad habits, which make the quality of your sleep. Choose only what is the best for you. Sleep right, sleep sweetly, dream sweetly, and enjoy your good night’s sleep.