I was speaking with my doctor this time last year, the great Dr. Tom Malibenco, about why I was feeling so tired all of the time and how I could get more energy throughout the day. We spoke about my diet and my sleeping pattern and he asked if I was getting enough quality sleep. I was sleeping around 7 hours per night so assumed that this was sufficient, but I had never really considered what kind of quality the sleep was. Dr. Malibenco told me that it was likely that my sleep quality was poor and that this was what was contributing to how I felt. After just two weeks of changing my bedtime routine, I felt brilliant. I had more energy and woke up feeling fresh. If you want to ensure that you get high-quality sleep, besides buying a new mattress, here are some tips which I’d recommend.
Digital Shutdown
An hour before you go to bed it is important that you stop using all phones and gadgets, anything with a screen basically (with the exception of an E-reader). When your eyes stare at these screens the lights inside them cause the brain to wake up and start clicking over, naturally this is something which you don’t want just before you head off to sleep which is why the last hour of your evening you should only be looking at E-reader screens or a book page.
Food and Drink
You have to remember that food and drink, apart from water, gives us energy which the body then wants to burn off. This is why you should not eat anything after 6pm and you should only be drinking water. We all know that caffeine keeps us up and that is why many of us avoid it late in the day, what we don’t always realize is that whilst we sleep the body is trying burn off energy which prevents us from having a high quality sleep each night.
Darkness
In your bedroom it is important to try and make the spec as dark as you possibly can in order to ensure the best kind of sleep which you are capable of. Even when our eyes are shut light can still penetrate and this can cause the brain to wake up a little bit. If you are able to cover the windows with black out curtains then you can bank on getting a far higher quality of sleep.
Routine
Your body and brain adapts easily to routines and this is why it makes sense to try and go to bed at the same time each night. In doing this you will find that it is far easier for you to sleep because the brain will know at what time it goes to sleep, and so it will begin to shutdown in the hour before you go to bed.
Follow these tips and I guarantee you that you will have a far better quality of sleep each and every night.
