You can effectively counteract sleep disturbances by following these ten sleep hygiene enhancing rules:
Sleep hygiene means:
• to meet the personal sleep-need, to take sufficient time for sleeping
• everyday go to bed at about the same time
• to get a bed you are able to comfortably sleep in; a comfortable mattress, cozy bedding and linen
• to optimize your sleep surrounding; care for a pleasant temperature, peace and darkness
• to avoid a dinner too late as well as too rich
• to avoid stimulating things like coffee or other caffeine-containing beverages before going to sleep
• to avoid drinking alcohol before going to sleep – falling asleep might be easier, but sleeping through and sleeping restful becomes harder
• to avoid exhausting physical activation before going to sleep; this stimulates the circulation and is rather helpful for staying awake than for falling asleep. Exception: sexual activity – this clearly supports a good sleep
• to avoid watching TV or working on your computer when you are in bed
• seek medical advice when you think that your sleep disturbances can be traced to lasting complaints and not to temporary mental strain, physical illness or adverse environmental conditions
For more than 30 years I have been dealing with the topic of “healthy sleeping” and I can truly say that your sleeping underlay is playing a decisive role – it has to be orthopaedic. The civilized human being gets too little exercise – and in case he does, it often is wrong. He is using chairs and shoes that don’t support ergonomics. Ligaments, tendons, joints and intervertebral discs are very demanded during the day, out of this reason they need something balancing at night. For example: during the last years, the so-called “smartphone-neck” – a tense musculature in the neck – has developed. In the neck, there are nerves that lead into the brain – a very sensitive part of the body that also regulates the blood pressure. This is the reason why a wrong pillow that leads to neck tensions might also increase the blood pressure.
The proper bedding climate is an essential part of a healthy sleeping place. During the night our organism is working differently than during the day, we are having different physiological preconditions: a different blood pressure, a different heart frequency, a different metabolism and a different breathing. And the hormones as well: melatonin for example is not only a sleeping hormone it also protects from cell degenerations, helps to regenerate damaged cells. This hormone is only produced in total darkness and in a bedroom with a balanced room climate. Noise is another huge sleep disturber. During the day, we can cope with 80 to 90 decibel for some time but during the night we are disturbed by only 20. A further stress-causing factor is technically induced radiation. The German Max-Planck-Institute discovered in 1993 that we need an undisturbed earth’s magnetic field on our sleeping place.
Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.
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