Sleep Science: Overcoming Insomnia and Improving Sleep Quality

Is your night is like this; where you come back from work or your outing looking very tired, and it looks like you will sleep off in the next minute so in other to get set, you decided to get into your pajamas, brush your teeth, jump into the bed, switch off the light, only to see that you are not finding sleep easy.

You decided to turn 360 degrees at different times, and facing different directions so you can find that missing sleep that you really thought you were going to have a few minute ago, only to not find it. You try to close your eyes but still the sleep didn't come and you begin to become increasingly aware of every tick from the alarm clock even when your alarm is yet to ring. You think of your inability to sleep at work the next day even though it would have been convenient for you at that time but it is not acceptable.

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While you were deep in this thoughts, you check the time only to see that it is 4:AM already and you think of it that that you had a wasted night already. If this is you, then I will be discussing how to help you get better sleep easily. Let's start with what to do so we can increase our chances of sleeping fast.

The first thing is to sleep in a colder environment. You see, heat and sleep aren't friends and the temperature of the environment around the head and the body is a factor that determines the ease of sleeping as well as the quality of the sleep. In case you do not understand the importance of a cool temperature, you should know that the body has to drop a 2-3 degree Fahrenheit in temperature to be able to sleep. Leaving your room at 18 degree Celsius is a recommended temperature for a good sleep. Sleeping in an extremely cold environment isn't good but it won't lead to sleep disruption like a heated environment.

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Taking a hot bath or shower before going to bed will help get a good sleep as well. When you are in the hot water, the body sends blood to the body blood vessels as a result of the increase in temperature but when the bath is over, the body begins to cool giving it the thought that it is sleep time. You see another thing that affects sleep is that alarm clock you have beside you because looking at the time can be very stressful and increase arousal.

If you need to get a good sleep, one advise you should take from me is not to take caffeinated drink or anything that has nicotine within 8 to 6 hours before bed time. With this, coffee, energy drinks, cola, chocolate and certain types of tea should be avoided but as you avoid these, it is also good that you are not too full or hungry to bed. If you are going to eat any thing, then it should be complex carbs. High Fat Protein Meals are to be avoided at all cost as it takes longer to digest and they can trigger Orexin which would keep the body alert.

While exercise can make you feel tired and sleepy, it is important to not exercise close to bedtime as it will become difficult to sleep but then you can read before going to bed as it will help to have a good sleep since the body will be relaxed. When talking about relaxation, reducing bright light is very important at night so as to fall as sleep and that is why you would hear words like do not use your phone before bedtime as it will affect the body schedule thereby preventing sleep as the body will still be active.

Reference

https://www.fastcompany.com/90253444
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22738673/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19060203
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1801013/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22932731/
https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727