It is recommended that you get between 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night. Getting too little or too much of this can have consequences on your health. The purpose of this article however, is to focus on sleep deprivation.
A lack of adequate sleep has been found to:
· Impair your immunity – your body's defence mechanism against infections
· It can lead to a pre-diabetic state that makes you feel hungry even though you have eaten.
· Adversely affects memory interfering with the ability to think clearly
· Promote the growth of tumors including cancers.
· Impairs problem solving ability and performance on mental and physical activities
If you find yourself unable to sleep at night consistently and you try so hard to find sleep with no avail, then you may be suffering from Insomnia.
There are some very effective steps that you can take in overcoming sleeplessness and they are easy steps that you can start taking today to optimize your sleep and health.
1. Put off the lights - Light usually send signals to your brain that it is time to wake. You must therefore constantly remind your brain that it’s time to sleep by putting off the lights.
2. Maintain an optimal temperature - Sleeping in a room too hot or too cold can adversely tell on your sleep. You can literarily know yourself that you are not too comfortable sleeping. You should therefore take steps to sleep in a right and comfortable room temperature.
3. Put the Clock off your site - Many people do different things while they are awake at night. One of the things is that many people keep staring at the clock. They could tell when it was 1 a.m, 2 a.m., 3 a.m….. and so on. Keeping the clock away from your sight can therefore help.
4. Use your bed only for sleeping - We may be often used to using our bed for so many things. We watch TV, write, and do some work on the bed. Our body gets used to this and it becomes difficult to drift into sleep when you are ready. Use your bed only for sleeping and then your body understands that it is time to sleep whenever you get in bed.
5. Maintain the timing - It is great if you can go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. With this, your body gets to understand when it is sleep time.
6. Avoid drinking within 2 hours of bed - When you drink too close to your bed time, your sleep easily gets interrupted by the urge to ease yourself. Limit your drinking to 2 hours before bed time.
7. Use the bathroom before bed - Some people will find themselves awake and unable to sleep immediately they wake up to use the bathroom. You can avoid this by using the bathroom shortly before you go to bed.
8. Avoid caffeine - If you find it difficult to sleep, then you can check your caffeine intake. Caffeine is not only found in coffee, it is also found in tea, some drugs and in some drinks like coke.
9. Exercise - Exercising regularly can help boost your sleep. You must however avoid exercising too close to bed time.
10. Avoid eating too close to bedtime - Eating too close to bedtime can affect your sleep. This is because it raises your blood sugar which can delay sleep.
11. Learn to shower before bed - Taking a shower can help give you a refreshing feeling great for sleep. It can help normalize your body temperature making it easier to fall asleep.
12. Don't work too late into the night - This will help you relax and remove the anxiety and tension associated with work.
13. Avoid Alcohol - Alcohol may make you feel drowsy, but the drowsiness is usually short-lived. You often wake up and remain awake for long after a short while.