How to achieve a decent night's sleep
By samaira - Aug 26, 2008
We all need to sleep in order to function adequately. Too much sleep can be bad for you where as not enough sleep can also effect our day to day performance and well being.
What should you do if you constantly lack a decent night’s sleep? Quite often this can be easily remedied by adjusting our lifestyle and sleeping environment.
The Sleep Council has the following recommendations for a better nights sleep.
Keep regular hours. Going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time, all the time, will programme your body to sleep better.
Create a restful sleeping environment. Your bedroom should be kept for rest and sleep and it should be neither too hot, nor too cold; and as quiet and dark as possible.
Make sure your bed is comfortable. It's difficult to get deep, restful sleep on one that's too soft, too hard, too small or too old.
Take more exercise. Regular, moderate exercise such as swimming or walking can help relieve the day's stresses and strains. But not too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake!
Cut down on stimulants such as caffeine in tea or coffee - especially in the evening. They interfere with falling asleep and prevent deep sleep. Have a hot milky drink or herbal tea instead.
Don't over-indulge. Too much food or alcohol, especially late at night, just before bedtime, can play havoc with sleep patterns. Alcohol may help you fall asleep initially, but will interrupt your sleep later on in the night.
Don't smoke. Yes, it's bad for sleep, too: smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake more often and often experience more sleep disruption.
Try to relax before going to bed. Have a warm bath, listen to some quiet music, and do some yoga all help to relax both the mind and body. Your doctor may be able to recommend a helpful relaxation tape, too.
Deal with worries or a heavy workload by making lists of things to be tackled the next day.
If you can't sleep, don't lie there worrying about it. Get up and do something you find relaxing until you feel sleepy again - then go back to bed.
If you persevere with these adjustments within a few weeks you should be benefiting from a better nights sleep.
The importance of sleeping on a mattress which provides comfort and support to your body cannot be underestimated. It is now widely accepted within the medical field that a traditional coiled mattress is not necessarily the ideal solution for providing the appropriate body support. Emphasis is now being placed on evenly distributing body weight in order to achieve the correct balanced body support. Memory foam has amazing moulding characteristics and a memory foam mattress will mould to your body shape, spreading your body weight evenly over the surface of your mattress, allowing you a deeper and more restful sleep.
The advantages of sleeping on Memory Foam
Memory foam is suitable for all. However you like to sleep, front, side, or back, memory foam moulds to the contours of your body enabling you to achieve your most comfortable position.
Memory foam is recommended by health professionals. Memory foam helps to alleviate pain associated with many ailments.
Memory foam provides support. The weight of the body is absorbed by the memory foam evenly and individually, reducing pressure on the spine and joints. Thus a memory foam mattress is beneficial for those with back problems, arthritis etc.
Hypoallergenic. Memory foam is hypoallergenic, great for allergy sufferers.
Memory foam offers comfort and Luxury. A Memory foam mattress will improve your sleep quality allowing you to achieve a comfortable and restful sleep. Tossing and turning will be greatly reduced.
Dust Mites. Unlike ordinary mattresses, memory foam mattresses are resistant to dust mites
No Turning. Memory foam mattresses do not sag like conventional mattresses so do not require turning.
No disturbing your partner. As memory foam follows the contours of you and your partner's bodies separately, if either of you get up in the night the other will not be disturbed.
Consult your doctor if you ………….
If you think you're getting enough sleep but still feel very tired during the day
If you fall asleep mid conversation or during meals
If you collapse when you laugh or experience other strong emotions
If you physically enact your dreams, lash out and injure yourself or your partner while you are asleep
If your partner is regularly disturbed by your snoring, sleep talking or walking
If you thrash about a lot while asleep
If there is unexplained damage to your home in the morning or evidence of missing food
You've started or changed any medication and found your sleep affected
In addition, studies show that sleep deprivation can lead to developing problems regulating blood sugar levels, which increases the risk of diabetes.
We all require different levels of sleep, but with a few tweaks here and there to our lifestyle a bad nights sleep should soon become a distant nightmare.
Article Source: How to achieve a decent night's sleep
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