How to Have More Sleep at Night

Lacking sleep at 2:00 am at night is like a nightmare in itself. Yet, falling asleep is in your control in many ways than you think. Thus, sleep has been recommended by many doctors in various ways, for certain reasons as a solution for some illnesses. On average, most people sleep for at least seven or eight hours. However, depending on your age your amount of sleep is different. The younger you are the more sleep you need. Infants are known to sleep up to 18 hours a day, while teens sleep up to 9 hours. As adults, including the elderly, the recommended hours of sleep are at least 7 hours per night.

Have a comfortable bed and room

The bedroom should be only for sleep and rest and the setting should portray that. From the lighting, furniture arrangement, to the type of bedding you have on should be comfortable to sleep on. Nowadays, many mattresses are made with the aim to increase comfort with cooling and massaging effects. The mattresses provide support despite a person’s weight and help in straightening the body. Using darker shades for the bedroom and maintaining cleanliness helps create a restful environment. Keep bed hogs like your pets and children away from your bed to have a satisfying and comfortable sleep.

Have a sleep routine

Sleep routines and patterns assist a lot in having enough sleep. Being consistent in all the schedules that you have allows your body to follow through with this routine. Including weekends, ensure that you follow through the wake and sleep time every day. This ensures that you have a specific cycle that your body is able to accustom to. The circadian rhythm which resets our internal clock will be able to rest and make it easier for you to have this pattern in a more natural way. Therefore, you will not need alarms to wake you up and your body will always know when the time for bed is due to adopting these positive habits.

Avoid catalysts

A better way to have enough sleep is by changing some of the lifestyle habits that you have. For instance, consuming coffee, nicotine, chocolates and alcohol hours that are late in the day, will keep you awake or give you poor sleep quality at night. These catalysts can easily be changed by making a choice to stay away from them at least a few hours before sleep. Others like smoking, you can try and quit or reduce the number of sticks you smoke a day. Interestingly, some people use alcohol as a sleep aid especially those suffering from insomnia. This practice is wrong for it eventually results in alcohol dependence and with the time you start sleepwalking, sleep talking and having a challenge with your memory.

Sleep Apps

Technology has brought solutions to literary everything. Today, you can find some Apps for sleep that assist you sleep better. From sleep trackers to tranquil sleep sounds they all encourage restful and quality sleep. Buddhist music for instance, that is made from ancient Buddhist chants can be found online and downloaded to put on an hour before sleep. Others such as the sleeping genius, track your sleep cycles and offer a progressive alarm clock to prevent sudden awakening that is provoked by tiredness.

Regular exercise

Exercise has many benefits to having more sleep at night. Individuals who exercise regularly are known to have a deep and restful sleep. Also having a consistent exercise routine helps you fall asleep faster. In as much as, exercise is good, avoid exercising too close to bedtime. This is important since exercise releases the feel-good hormone, endorphins, that might make you more alert provoking you to watch a movie or other activities that will interfere with your sleep pattern due to the new energy you got from the exercise.

DE stress

Prior to your bedtime adopt some habits to de-stress your day events. Some examples that can help with this are, getting relaxing massages, taking a walk with a loved one or pet, yoga, and meditation, and writing a journal before sleeping. The aid of this practice is calming your mind and preparing you to sleep. Stress and anxiety are easy to handle by making positive choices and counter-attacking negative thoughts and emotions.

Combat sleep debt

Sleep debt is a really common habit, especially during weekends and holidays. Others want to sleep in just because during one day of the week they were not able to get enough sleep for one reason or the other. Hitting the snooze alarm a number of times to pay your sleep debt will only disrupt yours already at par cycle. Plus, you will throw off your regular sleep pattern and this will make it hard for you to fall asleep eventually at night. However, if you are sick and you’re having medication that has drowsy side effects. It is out of your control to follow through with your sleep regime until you feel better.

Adults and children should get more sleep in regards to the respective hours they should sleep according to their age. While this is true, oversleeping or getting less sleep in unhealthy and can lead to some risky chronic conditions. For instance, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, memory loss and sometimes death. Choose a healthy lifestyle as a start to you getting more sleep if you suffer from sleep deprivation.

More but not excess sleep has many benefits to your body as well as helps in memory retention, manages weight, boosts your immune system, increased performance and alertness among others. As a matter of fact, there’s quite a price to pay for not sleeping well and not sleeping enough. Thus, do whatever it takes to setting an alarm, buying a new sleepys mattress, making simpler changes in your life to be able to achieve more sleep from the four hours per night to an average of seven or eight hours a night. It is never too late to work on your sleep schedule.