Do you wake up exhausted before work or school every morning? Do you feel compelled to sleep in late on your day off just to catch up on some much-needed rest? Or perhaps you never feel well-rested during the day, resorting to drinking multiple cups of coffee or energy drinks just to stay alert? The majority of sleep experts agree that there are many factors that could be contributing to your sleeplessness or general tiredness.
While most people now know about the potential sleep-deterrent nature of using a brightly lit tablet or phone in bed, there are plenty of other surprising pre-bedtime activities that could be keeping you awake at night and ruining your quality of sleep. For those who want to wake up feeling refreshed each day, here are a few bad habits or unexpected activities that could be impeding your journey to restfulness:
Tune out to tune-in to good sleep
Most people know that if you want to sleep better, you need to turn off those late-night talk shows or stay away from nighttime Netflix binging. However, Pennsylvanian researchers found that watching television before bed represented around half of the two pre-sleep hours for the majority of study participants. Meanwhile, the researchers found a link between watching late-night shows and suffering from chronic sleep problems.
Those who have already tuned out from television watching many have turned to pre-bedtime reading. However, other studies show that any intellectual, emotional or thrilling activities you do before bed can also contribute to your sleeplessness. Maybe trade in that Nabokov novel for an entertaining magazine or an easy-to-read book.
Turn off the lights, Especially blue ones
Many Americans know that you shouldn't be on your phone late at night or check your emails in bed. But many still charge their phones near their bedside, which may emit a small light. If this light is blue, research shows that this color negatively impacts and disrupts your sleep cycle more than any other color on the spectrum. Instead, try charging your phone in another room or in the morning before you leave your home.
While you may now know what to avoid before you sleep, you may be wondering about tips and expert advice on how to sleep better each night. Here are a few pre-bedtime strategies to help you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply:
- Create a bedtime routine: Young children need a bedtime routine to sleep, and so do you. In the hour or two before you go to bed, spend time doing calming or not intellectually stimulating activities, such as listening to soft music or doing yoga.
- Stick to a schedule: Like we mentioned previously, don't sleep in late on your weekends just to catch up on lost sleep during the week. Try to stick to a semi-regular sleeping schedule, as this helps your body adjust to a specific sleep routine, so that you can fall asleep faster and wake more rested. If you continue to feel tired throughout the day, it's ok to nap …. sacrifice a part of your lunch hour or find some time right after you leave work to get an extra 10 to 30 minutes of sleep to help re-charge your batteries – but don't nap too long. If you sleep longer than an hour you run the risk of falling into deeper sleep cycles which makes waking up much harder and could actually make you more tired.
- Invest in a quality mattress: What you sleep on is just as important as what you do before you go to bed. Make sure you invest in a mattress that simultaneously offers the right type of comfort for your body type and sleep style, which helps you fall asleep more quickly, and adequate support , which will keep you body in proper alignment and allow you to sleep for longer periods of time, helping you sleep better each night.
Stop by Arwood's Furniture & Mattress, Missouri's LARGEST Furniture Store, today! We are a proud, family-owned business that wants to see you find the best of today's top sleep products and most comfortable mattresses so that you can start begin to get the highest quality sleep you deserve each night.
