Things to avoid before sleep
- Sleep is considered to play a vital role in the health and wellness of a person.
- Proper sleep results in healing.
- Sleep boosts your immune system.
- It strengthens your heart and increases the rate of recovery during your rest.
Habits affecting your sleep:
Drinking excess water: Water intake plays an important role in preventing dehydration. Excess water intake at night near sleep time will disturb the sleep cycle affecting your health and body recovery. Few may also find it hard to fall asleep again.
Bright alarm clocks: Few alarm clocks which emit blue lights stimulate your brain and make you restless. So, it is always suggested to avoid such bright alarm clocks and replace them with simple ones.
Heavy dinner before sleep: The timing of your meals and the portion size will also affect your sleep. It slows down your metabolism, and the later you eat, the adverse is its effects on your body. Heavy dinners, including high carbs, increase blood sugars and may lead to obesity, heart diseases, acidity, etc. So try closing your dinner at least 2-3hrs before your bedtime.
Exercising at late-night: Few people have trouble falling asleep after a vigorous workout session before sleeping. Doing cardio workouts may increase heart rate, and few people have difficulty sleeping. So studies suggest, working out at least 1-2hrs before bedtime may solve this issue.
Using gadgets: Gadgets emit harmful blue light and radiation, which stimulates your brain activity without giving it rest. The blue light also restrains the production of melatonin. So, this may drain your energy and leave you drowsy the next day.
Frequent napping: Taking frequent naps before sleeping may worsen the conditions like insomnia or people having poor sleep quality. So, without interfering with the sleep cycle, one can avoid long or frequent naps.
Uncomfortable mattress: Using an uncomfortable mattress or a deformed one can affect your neck and back. The discomfort caused due to neck and backache may disturb your sleep.
Using sleeping aids/pills: It is highly suggested to avoid sleeping aids/pills as one gets addicted and dependent on using them. So, when someone stops using them, they may experience temporary reactions and won’t sleep.
Reading e-books: Avoid reading e-books as they emit blue lights. But, Studies suggest reading paperback format before bed can help in healthy sleeping.
Lack of proper sleep routine: It is always suggested to maintain a fixed sleep schedule maintaining your body’s internal clock. Waking up and sleeping at different hours of the day may confuse the body’s internal clock and lead to sleep disorders.
Sleeping positions: Few sleeping postures may hurt your lower back and neck, causing discomfort. So, experts suggest sleeping in some best sleeping positions avoiding discomfort. Some of them are shown below:
Coffee at night: Caffeine in coffee is a stimulant and affects your sleep. So, it is always suggestible to stick to a 2 pm cut off by avoiding coffee after 2 pm in the day.
So, work on your habits affecting your sleep for better recovery and health.