Ways to Change Your Bad Sleep Habits for Better Sleep Hygiene
Everyone has unique habits and lifestyles that affect their sleep. These sleep habits can help discover a problem that needs to get solved. Many people are suffering from sleep disruptions that are a sign of a health condition that needs a doctor’s attention. Some lifestyle habits inhibit one from getting quality sleep. While some sleep issues are ignored by people for they assume that they are normal. For instance, snoring, disrupting sleep to pee among others. Yet, your sleep habits reveal a lot concerning your health. Fortunately, there is a solution to each one of them. Here are ways to change your bad sleep habits to better your sleep hygiene.
Have a routine to stop hitting snooze
Are you the type of person that hits the snooze button over 10 times? This is a sleep habit that shows you have no sleep routine. Having a schedule of when you wake up and sleep will help you out of your comfortable intellibed to start your daily routine. Following through a consistent sleep routine is a sign that your sleep hygiene is good. Once your circadian rhythm is trained on a schedule the drama between you and your alarm will end. Maintain the momentum through to the weekends and holidays for it’s a habit that you can easily control. Since a new wake up time every other day has negative effects on your sleep cycle.
Evening walks to rest your legs
If you are suffering from restless leg syndrome. Planning an evening walk will help with the itchiness and burning sensations that you feel as you start falling asleep. Introduce this new habit in your life to avoid suffering from the habitual urge to uncontrollably move your feet. Do simple leg stretches and moving around to help feeling like your legs have a life of their own. In case it persists talk to your doctor to know if you are lacking some nutritional benefits like iron or vitamin B12. Other natural remedies are massaging your feet and avoiding alcohol and caffeine.
Practice relaxation to stressing in bed
The sleeping environment is best used to meditate, relax and sleep. These practices will help you distress with ease than just lying in bed thinking of how to problem-solve. This bad sleep habit hinders falling asleep with ease and the quality of sleep you get. Practicing relaxation techniques will ensure that your mind is calm enough to shut down at night. The best way to achieve this is an hour before bedtime. Practice to switch off all electronics, dim your lights and wind down with a relaxing bath to calm our mind down. By preparing your brain for bed in these relaxing activities you fall into a peaceful sleep.
See a sleep specialist if you snore
Snoring is a respiratory problem that affects sleep quality and quantity as well. This is a sleep habit that most people can have control over if it is solved. The many types of snoring cases that are available just show that most people suffer from sleep apnea but term it as snoring. Some of the negative effects of this sleep habit are morning headaches, poor memory, daytime sleepiness among others. If sleep apnea is part of the family history the more it should get checked. Since it can lead to worse health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. A doctor will give you remedies to aid this habit and improve your sleep hygiene.
Change your diet to curb sleep fatigue
Are you always fatigued when you wake up? Check the diet you are on it could trigger this sleep fatigue. This is just one of the reasons for most people however morning exhaustion has many triggers even after a long night’s sleep. A meal high in fiber and low in saturated fats and sugars is best if you get constant awakenings during sleep., If the fiber is low you tend to wake up tired as though you had no sleep. Consult your nutritionist about the healthy meals you can have that will boost your sleep quality and change your life generally.
Get up shortly to ease of anxiety
Some people have high levels of anxiety that they cannot nod off. This is common if you had a previous sleep condition, stressed or just anxious about something. Therefore, do not just toss and turn in bed, try shifting your focus somewhere else by getting up and moving around. This will help break this cycle that is forming or what you are experiencing every night. Plus, your sleep hygiene will improve once you know how to ease out of anxiety. However, counterproductive it seems moving from your bedroom to do non-sleep activities it will help you tire and nod off with ease.
Consult a doctor if you pee a lot at night
The only excuse to pee a lot at night is when you are pregnant. This too is controlled and after some time and it will ease off. Thus, if you have to wake up frequently to pee at night. Consulting a doctor at night will help you get a diagnosis of what the reason is. Although drinking a lot of water at night causes the urge to pee. it is important to rule out any health conditions that portrays in the same way. For instance, maybe it is a sign of diabetes or prostate enlargement some of which commonly cause a lot of night peeing.
In conclusion, other bad sleep habits need to change for better sleep hygiene. Making sleep a priority is a decision that will ensure you cut off any lifestyle habits that will affect your sleep pattern. For instance, drinking alcohol at night is a lifestyle habit that causes the users to get in the habit of waking up every night at 2 or 3 a.m. Giving up this leisurely night cup is the best chance for better sleep hygiene. All in all, focusing on getting continuous and uninterrupted sleep throughout the night to ensure you complete the 5 stages of your sleep cycle.