How to Sleep Better

How you feel during your waking hours hinges greatly on how well you sleep. Similarly, the cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine. Your sleep schedule, bedtime habits, and day-to-day lifestyle choices can make an enormous difference to the quality of your nightly rest. The following tips will help you optimize your sleep so you can be productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day long.

Sleeping Baby

The secret to getting good sleep every night

The first step to improving the quality of your rest is finding out how much sleep you need. How much sleep is enough? While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need at least eight hours of sleep each night to function at their best.

1: Keep a regular sleep schedule

Getting in sync with your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle—your circadian rhythm—is one of the most important strategies for achieving good sleep. If you keep a regular sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, you will feel much more refreshed and energized than if you sleep the same number of hours at different times. This holds true even if you alter your sleep schedule by only an hour or two. Consistency is vitally important.

Sleeping Schedule

• Set a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night. Choose a time when you normally feel tired, so that you don’t toss and turn. Try not to break this routine on weekends when it may be tempting to stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, help your body adjust by making the change in small daily increments, such as 15 minutes earlier or later each day.
• Wake up at the same time every day. If you’re getting enough sleep, you should wake up naturally without an alarm. If you need an alarm clock to wake up on time, you may need to set an earlier bedtime. As with your bedtime, try to maintain your regular wake-time even on weekends.
• Nap to make up for lost sleep. If you need to make up for a few lost hours, opt for a daytime nap rather than sleeping late. This strategy allows you to pay off your sleep debt without disturbing your natural sleep-wake rhythm, which often backfires in insomnia and throws you off for days.
• Be smart about napping. While taking a nap can be a great way to recharge, especially for older adults, it can make insomnia worse. If insomnia is a problem for you, consider eliminating napping. If you must nap, do it in the early afternoon, and limit it to thirty minutes.
• Fight after-dinner drowsiness. If you find yourself getting sleepy way before your bedtime, get off the couch and do something mildly stimulating to avoid falling asleep, such as washing the dishes, calling a friend, or getting clothes ready for the next day. If you give in to the drowsiness, you may wake up later in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

2: Naturally regulate your sleep-wake cycle
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone controlled by light exposure that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin production is controlled by light exposure. Your brain should secrete more in the evening, when it’s dark, to make you sleepy, and less during the day when it’s light and you want to stay awake and alert. However, many aspects of modern life can disrupt your body’s natural production of melatonin and with it your sleep-wake cycle.

Everyone has a sleeping cycle

Spending long days in an office away from natural light, for example, can impact your daytime wakefulness and make your brain sleepy. Then bright lights at night—especially from hours spent in front of the TV or computer screen—can suppress your body’s production of melatonin and make it harder to sleep. However, there are ways for you to naturally regulate your sleep-wake cycle, boost your body’s production of melatonin, and keep your brain on a healthy schedule.

3: Create a relaxing bedtime routine
If you make a consistent effort to relax and unwind before bed, you will sleep easier and more deeply. A peaceful bedtime routine sends a powerful signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down and let go of the day’s stresses.

Make your bed comfort

Tips to make your bedroom more sleep friendly

• Keep noise down. If you can’t avoid or eliminate noise from barking dogs, loud neighbors, city traffic, or other people in your household, try masking it with a fan, recordings of soothing sounds, or white noise. You can buy a special sound machine or generate your own white noise by setting your radio between stations. Earplugs may also help.
• Keep your room cool. The temperature of your bedroom also affects sleep. Most people sleep best in a slightly cool room (around 65° F or 18° C) with adequate ventilation. A bedroom that is too hot or too cold can interfere with quality sleep.
• Make sure your bed is comfortable. You should have enough room to stretch and turn comfortably. If you often wake up with a sore back or an aching neck, you may need to invest in a new mattress or a try a different pillow. Experiment with different levels of mattress firmness, foam or egg crate toppers, and pillows that provide more or less support.
• Reserve your bed for sleeping and sex. If you associate your bed with events like work or errands, it will be harder to wind down at night. Use your bed only for sleep and sex. That way, when you go to bed, your body gets a powerful cue: it’s time to either nod off or be romantic.

4: Eat right and get regular exercise

Your daytime eating and exercise habits play a role in how well you sleep. It’s particularly important to watch what you put in your body in the hours leading up to your bedtime.

Excercise

• Stay away from big meals at night. Try to make dinnertime earlier in the evening, and avoid heavy, rich foods within two hours of bed. Fatty foods take a lot of work for your stomach to digest and may keep you up. Also be cautious when it comes to spicy or acidic foods in the evening, as they can cause stomach trouble and heartburn.
• Avoid alcohol before bed. Many people think that a nightcap before bed will help them sleep, but it's counterintuitive. While it may make you fall asleep faster, alcohol reduces your sleep quality, waking you up later in the night. To avoid this effect, stay away from alcohol in the hours before bed.
• Cut down on caffeine. You might be surprised to know that caffeine can cause sleep problems up to ten to twelve hours after drinking it! Consider eliminating caffeine after lunch or cutting back your overall intake.
• Avoid drinking too many liquids in the evening. Drinking lots of water, juice, tea, or other fluids may result in frequent bathroom trips throughout the night. Caffeinated drinks, which act as diuretics, only make things worse.
• Quit smoking. Smoking causes sleep troubles in numerous ways. Nicotine is a stimulant, which disrupts sleep, plus smokers experience nicotine withdrawal as the night progresses, making it hard to sleep.

Know when to see a sleep doctor

If you've tried the tips above and are still struggling with sleep problems, you may have a sleep disorder that requires professional treatment. Consider scheduling a visit with a sleep doctor if, despite your best efforts at self–help, you are still troubled by any of the following symptoms:

• Persistent daytime sleepiness or fatigue
• Loud snoring accompanied by pauses in breathing
• Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• Unrefreshing sleep
• Frequent morning headaches
• Crawling sensations in your legs or arms at night
• Inability to move while falling asleep or waking up
• Physically acting out dreams during sleep
• Falling asleep at inappropriate times

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Do You Having any of These?

Common types of sleep disorders

In addition to insomnia, the most common sleep disorders are sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome (RLS), and narcolepsy.

Sleep apnea

It is a common sleep disorder in which your breathing temporarily stops during sleep due to the blockage of the upper airways. These pauses in breathing interrupt your sleep, leading to many awakenings each hour. While most people with sleep apnea don’t remember these awakenings, they might feel exhausted during the day, irritable and depressed, or see a decrease in productivity.

You Can Stop Breathing Anytime

Sleep apnea is a serious, and potentially life-threatening, sleep disorder. If you suspect that you or a loved one may have sleep apnea, see a doctor right away. Sleep apnea can be successfully treated with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), a mask-like device that delivers a stream of air while you sleep. Losing weight, elevating the head of the bed, and sleeping on your side can also help in cases of mild to moderate sleep apnea.

Symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Loud, chronic snoring
• Frequent pauses in breathing during sleep
• Gasping, snorting, or choking during sleep
• Feeling exhausted after waking and sleepy during the day, no matter how much time you spent in bed
• Waking up with shortness of breath, chest pains, headaches, nasal congestion, or a dry throat

Restless legs syndrome (RLS)

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sleep disorder that causes an almost irresistible urge to move your legs (or arms). The urge to move occurs when you’re resting or lying down and is usually due to uncomfortable, tingly, aching, or creeping sensations.

Why I Can't Sleep?

Common signs and symptoms of restless legs syndrome include:

Uncomfortable sensations deep within the legs, accompanied by a strong urge to move them

The leg sensations are triggered by rest and get worse at night

The uncomfortable sensations temporarily get better when you move, stretch, or massage your legs

Repetitive cramping or jerking of the legs during sleep

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that involves excessive, uncontrollable daytime sleepiness. It is caused by a dysfunction of the brain mechanism that controls sleeping and waking. If you have narcolepsy, you may have “sleep attacks” while in the middle of talking, working, or even driving.

Cute Narcolepsy Baby

Common signs and symptoms of narcolepsy include:

• Seeing or hearing things when you’re drowsy or starting to dream before you’re fully asleep
• Suddenly feeling weak or losing control of your muscles when you’re laughing, angry, or experiencing other strong emotions
• Dreaming right away after going to sleep or having intense dreams
• Feeling paralyzed and unable to move when you’re waking up or dozing off

Circadian rhythm sleep disorders

We all have an internal biological clock that regulates our 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, also known as our circadian rhythms. Light is the primary cue that influences circadian rhythms. When the sun comes up in the morning, the brain tells the body that it’s time to wake up. At night, when there is less light, your brain triggers the release of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy.

When your circadian rhythms are disrupted or thrown off, you may feel groggy, disoriented, and sleepy at inconvenient times. Circadian rhythms have been linked to a variety or sleeping problems and sleep disorders, including insomnia, jet lag, and shift work sleep difficulties. Abnormal circadian rhythms have also been implicated in depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder (the winter blues).

Jet lag sleeping problems

Jet lag is a temporary disruption in circadian rhythms that occurs when you travel across time zones. When you travel, it usually takes time for your internal clock to reset itself. In the meantime, you feel tired, get hungry at the wrong hours, and want to go to sleep at inopportune times. Symptoms include daytime sleepiness, fatigue, headache, stomach problems, and insomnia. These symptoms typically appear within a day or two after flying across two or more time zones. The longer the flight, the more pronounced the symptoms. The direction of flight also makes a difference. Flying east tends to cause worse jet lag than flying west. 

A Clock in Our Body?

However, there are ways to help reset your internal clock when you travel through time zones. 

Switch

On a long trip, don’t turn in until it’s bedtime in the new time zone. For the first day or two, spend as much time outdoors as possible to let daylight reset your internal clock.

Use the Sun

If you need to wake up earlier in the new setting (flying west to east), get out in the early morning sun. If you need to wake up later (flying east to west), expose yourself to late afternoon sunlight.

Water 

Drink plenty of fluids, but not caffeine or alcohol. Caffeine and alcohol promote dehydration, which worsens the physical symptoms of jet lag. They can also disturb sleep.

When you understand your condition, you can find way to treat them.

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Is it a sleep disorder?

Do you...

• React relatively slow than usual?
• Feel irritable or sleepy during the day?
• Keep fall asleep or feel very tired while driving?
• Have difficulty on concentrating?
• Often get told by others that you look very tired?
• Having trouble controlling your emotions?
• Feel like you need to take a nap almost every day?
• Require caffeinated beverages to keep yourself going?
• Have difficulty staying awake when sitting still, or while watching television or reading?

I Can't Sleep!!

If you answered “yes” to any of the previous questions, then you may have a sleep disorder.

Sleeping Disorder

Most of us have experienced trouble sleeping at one time or another. This is normal and usually temporary, due to stress or other outside factors. But if sleep problems are a regular occurrence and interfere with your daily life, you may be suffering from a sleep disorder. Sleep disorders cause more than just sleepiness. The lack of quality sleep can have a negative impact on your energy, emotional balance, and health. If you’re experiencing sleeping problems, learn about the symptoms of common sleep disorders, what you can do to help yourself, and when to see a doctor.

Understanding sleep disorders and sleeping problems

Sleep can often be a barometer of your overall health. In many cases, people in good health tend to sleep well, whereas those suffering from repeated sleeping problems might have an underlying medical or mental health problem, be it minor or serious. Sleeping well is essential to your physical health and emotional well-being. Unfortunately, even minimal sleep loss can take a toll on your mood, energy, efficiency, and ability to handle stress. Ignoring sleep problems and disorders can lead to poor health, accidents, impaired job performance, and relationship stress. If you want to feel your best, stay healthy, and perform up to your potential, sleep is a necessity, not a luxury.

Trouble Sleeping?

It’s not normal to feel sleepy during the day, to have problems getting to sleep at night, or to wake up feeling exhausted. But even if you've struggled with sleep problems for so long that it seems normal, you can still learn to sleep better. You can start by tracking your symptoms and sleep patterns, and then making healthy changes to your daytime habits and bedtime routine. If self-help doesn't do the trick, you can turn to sleep specialists who are trained in sleep medicine. Together, you can identify the underlying causes of your sleeping problem and find ways to improve your sleep and quality of life.

Insomnia: The most common type of sleep disorder

Insomnia, the inability to get the amount of sleep you need to wake up feeling rested and refreshed, is the most common sleep complaint. Insomnia is often a symptom of another problem, such as stress, anxiety, depression, or an underlying health condition. It can also be caused by lifestyle choices, including the medications you take, lack of exercise, jet lag, or even the amount of coffee you drink.

Common signs and symptoms of insomnia include:

• Difficulty falling asleep at night or getting back to sleep after waking during the night
• Waking up frequently during the night
• Your sleep feels light, fragmented, or exhausting
• You need to take something (sleeping pills, nightcap, supplements) in order to get to sleep
• Sleepiness and low energy during the day

Whatever the cause of your insomnia, being mindful of your sleep habits and learning to relax will help you sleep better and feel better. The good news is that most cases of insomnia can be cured with lifestyle changes you can make on your own—without relying on sleep specialists or turning to prescription or over-the-counter sleeping pills.

Do sleeping pills help sleep disorders and sleeping problems?

When taken for a brief period of time and under the supervision of your doctor, sleeping pills may help your sleeping problems. However, they are just a temporary solution. Insomnia can’t be cured with sleeping pills. In fact, sleeping pills can often make insomnia worse in the long run.

In general, sleeping pills and sleep medications are most effective when used sparingly for short-term situations, such as traveling across many time zones or recovering from a medical procedure. If medications are used over the long term, they are best used “as needed” instead of on a daily basis to avoid dependence and tolerance.

When to take Sleeping Pills?

Safety guidelines for sleeping pills

• Only take a sleeping pill when you will have enough time to get a full seven to eight hours of sleep. Otherwise, you may be drowsy the next day.
• Read the package insert that comes with your medication. Pay careful attention to the potential side effects, dosage instructions, and list of food and substances to avoid.
• Never mix alcohol and sleeping pills. Alcohol disrupts sleep and can interact dangerously with sleep medications.
• Never drive a car or operate machinery after taking a sleeping pill, especially when you first start taking a new sleep aid, as you may not know how it will affect you.
• When to call a doctor about sleep disorders

If you’ve tried a variety of self-help sleep remedies without success, schedule an appointment with a sleep specialist or ask your family doctor for a referral to a sleep clinic, especially if:

• Your main sleep problem is daytime sleepiness and self-help hasn’t improved your symptoms.
• You or your bed partner gasps, chokes, or stops breathing during sleep.
• You sometimes fall asleep at inappropriate times, such as while talking, walking, or eating.

At your appointment, be prepared with information about your sleep patterns and provide the doctor with as much supporting information as possible, including information from your sleep diary.

What to expect at a sleep clinic or center

Sleep Clinic

If your physician refers you to a sleep center, a specialist will observe your sleep patterns, brain waves, heart rate, rapid eye movements and more using monitoring devices attached to your body. While sleeping with a bunch of wires attached to you might seem difficult, most patients find they get used to it quickly.

The sleep specialist will analyze the results from your sleep study and design a treatment program if necessary. A sleep center can also provide you with equipment to monitor your activities (awake and asleep) at home.

Wish you have a nice sleep!

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