Improve The Quality Of Your Sleep
Added Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 11:33 am | View Comments
One of the biggest health complaints in the 21st Century is sleep - or lack of it! Only 1 in 10 people regularly sleep well and 1 in 5 of us suffer from lack of sleep. There has been a rise in the number of people suffering from lack of sleep due to busier lifestyles.
On average, two thirds of people are currently getting 90 minutes less sleep than they did a few years ago. Many sleep experts have speculated on the amount of sleep needed in a night, the common figure usually quoted is 8 hours.
Some of us need more and others less, so realistically the sensible answer is get enough sleep until you feel refreshed in the morning and can stay alert throughout the day.
If lack of sleep is a problem then there are simple changes to your lifestyles or sleep environments that can help. Take a look at our basic sleep guide below to see if there are any changes you can make that could improve your quality of sleep.
Always try to keep a regular sleep pattern by going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time, this will help program your body for sleep.
Make sure the environment you sleep in is restful, external noise should be kept to a minimum, the room should be dark and kept at a suitable temperature.
Make sure your bed is comfortable, sleeping on a bed that is too hard or soft will make it more difficult to get to sleep.
Regular exercise will help moderate stresses and strains on the body and help you sleep better, exercise done too close to bedtime could have the opposite effect.
Cut down any stimulants like caffeine before going to bed. This can cause interference with sleeping and will certainly prevent deep sleep. Try a hot milky drink instead!
Over indulgence in food or alcohol close to going to bed will cause havoc with your sleep patterns, although excess alcohol may help with sleep initially, it will disrupt your sleep further on in the night.
Smoking can have a negative effect on sleep, it has been proven smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake more often and have more disrupted sleep.
Try to relax before bed, this can be achieved by having a bath, listening to some soft music or even trying some yoga! The more relaxed you feel before going to bed, the better nights sleep you will get.
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