Sleeping is the main part of a healthy lifestyle so here we explaining how to improve your sleep, it also helps you to reduce your stress level if you have good sleep during the night.
During the day
The purpose of sleep is to make us effective during daylight hours. Whether you consider yourself to be a good sleeper, or you struggle to get a good night’s rest – it’s important to realize the full potential of your nightly sleep. Here are several ways of changing your daytime habits to improve your sleep at night …
- Take physical exercise
- Eat a balanced diet
- Curb your caffeine intake
- Restrict tobacco after dark
- Avoid alcohol
During the evening
The very fact that it’s the norm to have dedicated bedrooms in our homes indicates just what a priority sleep is to us. Whereas the other rooms in our homes are where we enjoy relaxed wakefulness, the bedroom is where we should anticipate having the good quality sleep.
As such, we should do what we can to make it a sleep-friendly environment. It’s important to consider the following arrangements that are likely to support good quality sleep …
- Turn out the light
- Let the room breathe
- Optimum temperature
- Banish noise
During the night
How often have you found yourself lying in bed thinking: “If only I could relax, I’d be able to sleep”? Well, there has to be truth in that.
The following excerpts will give you an idea of what each technique involves …
1 Progressive muscle relaxation
Turn your attention to your arms and hands. Create some tension in your hands and arms by pressing your fingers into the palms of your hands and making fists. Do that with both hands now. Feel the tension in your hands, feel the tension in your fingers and your wrists, feel the tension in your forearms.
Notice what it is like. Keep it going … and now relax. Let those hands flop. Let them do whatever they want to do; just let them relax.
It’s almost as if you couldn’t be bothered to move them. Let go of the energy and tension that was in the muscles there, breathing slowly and deeply.
2 Imagery training
Keeping your eyes gently closed, concentrate on picturing a pleasant scene. Picture yourself standing on a grassy slope. Look down at your feet – there is green grass all around you, the kind that grows well in the summer months. It looks thick and strong – it looks healthy.
Just ahead of you, you will see there is the beginning of a path, and as you look down that path, you can see it winds down through some bushes, to a beautiful sandy beach, and beyond to the sea, a deep, clear blue.
And as you stand on that grassy slope, as you look around you, you feel the breeze, warm and gentle on your cheek, and you feel the sun on your head, warming the back of your neck. It is a beautiful morning.