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Sleep is an essential element in every person’s life. The quality and quantity of sleep that you get each night can influence certain aspects of your life, like productivity, mood, energy levels, and health. Studies show that many people suffer from sleep-related conditions, and a good number also suffer from poor sleeping patterns. Research also shows that partaking in some activities before sleeping may affect your sleeping patterns. Below are such activities.
1. Too Much Screen Time
Using gadgets at night can also affect your sleeping patterns. Most devices, like phones and TVs, features blue light emissions. The emission of blue light tends to restrain the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that helps to control your sleep and wake cycle. When the melatonin levels in the body are reduced, it becomes hard for you to fall asleep. It is, therefore, advisable that you keep your bedroom gadget-free, hence enabling sleep.
Too much screen time during bedtime can also affect your sleeping pattern by keeping your mind engaged. With the emergence of online shopping, plenty of people are on their phone particularly at night browsing online shops and looking for online voucher codes. What happens is that watching tricks your mind into thinking that it needs to stay awake, hence changing sleeping habits. The same thing happens when you spend your time on social media or reading negative emails.
Having gadgets in your bedroom can also affect your sleeping pattern by waking you up mid-sleep. For instance, if you receive late night texts, emails, or calls, higher chances are that you will have a hard time falling back asleep after waking up. This, in turn, will affect the length and quality of sleep that you get.
2. Drinking Alcohol
Most people assume that taking alcohol before bedtime will help with sleep because it triggers drowsiness. However, the truth is that consuming alcohol at night affects both the quality and quantity of sleep that you get. While it is true that alcohol is a depressant and causes drowsiness, it also contributes to poor sleep.
Taking alcohol at night interferes with REM sleep. This means that it tends to trigger slow-wave sleep patterns, which are referred to as delta activity. Delta activity is the process of memory formation, and learning that occurs during sleep. While this may assist in sleep, the contrary happens when the alcohol triggers alpha activity. This is the opposite of delta, and it makes it hard for you to fall or maintain sleep.
Alcohol also affects the body’s natural production of chemicals like adenosine, a chemical that triggers sleep. When the compound is not produced in the required quantity, it results in poor sleep quality. The drug also aggravates breathing issues during sleep, especially for those with conditions like sleep apnea. It also makes sleeping time uncomfortable as one makes bathroom trips, hence affecting the quality of sleep.
3. Environment
The physical and emotional environment that you create for yourself at night also affects your sleep patterns. For instance, getting into a fight with close relatives or a loved one before going to bed will naturally affect your sleep because of issues like stress. A physical environment that is packed with light can also affect sleep patterns.
4. Eating
Eating certain foods at night can affect sleeping patterns significantly. Examples of such foods include those that have high sugar levels, carbohydrates, and heavily-processed foods. Foods that are rich in carbs and sugar tend to increase energy levels in the body. Therefore, taking these foods at night can cause trouble sleeping because they activate the brain and body’s activity instead of helping the body relax and wind down for sleep. Eating heavy meals at night can also affect sleep patterns because the sleep quality is interrupted by the work of the body as it digests the food. Drinking caffeinated drinks before bed can also hinder sleep significantly.
What You Can Do to Sleep Better
If you want to get better sleep, you can start by creating a suitable environment. For instance, get rid of too much light in your bedroom and get yourself comfortable beddings. You can also avoid watching too much at night. It would also help if you turned off your phone at night or did not have gadgets like TVs in your bedroom.
You can also practice sleep-friendly eating habits. To sleep better, you need to avoid foods that have a lot of sugar. It would help if you even ate light meals like fruit, low-sugar cereals, or a light snack like yogurt. Drinking the following teas before bedtime will also help you sleep better:
- Chamomile tea leads to calming sleep because it helps you feel calm and restful. For this reason, it is an excellent sleep aid. Additionally, it is packed with beneficial antioxidants and microbial elements.
- Oolong tea– This tea helps with sleep because it calms the body, and it also has some soothing elements.
- Lemon balm tea- This tea is an incredible sleep aid because it is packed with soothing components.
- Lavender tea- This tea has numerous medicinal properties, and it is also instrumental when it comes to fostering good sleep. It helps the mind and body to relax, hence promoting deep and relaxing sleep.
- Valerian root tea- This tea features mild sedative properties that help with sleeping. It contains phytochemicals that help to send a message to the brain that it is time to relax. The tea allows people that are suffering from insomnia, mood problems, and anxiety.
- Ginger tea- This tea contains antibiotic, antibacterial, and sedative elements which assist with sleep.
- Peppermint tea- This tea helps to relax the body because it is packed with aspects like menthol. Menthol helps to calm both the body and the mind hence stimulating sleep.
- Magnolia bark tea- This tea features ingredient that is very effective in assisting people in falling asleep.
Final Word
The teas mentioned above can be acquired in the form of loose leaf tea and tea bags. You can get them from tea bag online shop or offline shops if you are not so much into online shopping. Some online stores offer coupon deals and voucher codes that allow you to get a wide range of teas at affordable costs.
