The Importance Of Sleep And How To Get More Of It
Sleep is the most important thing we need to maintain good mental, emotional and physical well-being. It’s amazing just how busy our body is while we sleep. It heals, renews, fights infections, digests our food and processes all the information from our senses. Every bit of it is busy. Without good quality sleep, we can become unwell, fatigued and emotionally fragile.
Dreaming is an important part of the sleeping process that occurs mostly during deep sleep. It’s thought to help file away all the information we picked up through our five senses. It also enables the brain to make sense of that information, interpreting it, and making decisions based on what it learns. It certainly explains the adage ‘sleep on it.’ Most importantly it allows us to imagine scenarios that help us mentally and emotionally prepare for the next day.
To get to sleep, our bedrooms should be cool, quiet and dark. The bed needs to be comfortable too. Sometimes gaps in the mattress can cause us to wake up. You can check out the benefits of the mattress wedge to see if it can help you with this. Use fresh bedding as well for the best quality sleep. If this doesn’t help you drift off quickly, there are other things you can try.
A good bedtime routine helps prepare the body and mind for falling asleep. A warm cup of milk and a warm bath can help a lot. When you get out of the bath, the body cools quickly, making you feel sleepy. Other things that may be part of a good bedtime routine include reading and sitting quietly for half an hour. If your mattress is old now, replacing it will help you get more comfortable when you get into bed.
To aid your body’s activities as you sleep, make sure you can stay asleep. Interruptions from children, traffic noise, or light coming in through the windows can all wake you up. They may also prevent you reaching the deep sleep stages of your sleep cycle too. Use blackout curtains if you need to.
Other causes of poor sleep include sleep apnea. If your partner regularly complains about your snoring, this may be a symptom of the condition. It’s best to consult your doctor if you feel tired in the day or lack focus at times. Your partner may thank you for it too! Sleep apnea can be quite dangerous if you work in a job that requires you to be alert.
Sleep also helps manage our hormones and metabolism. If you struggle to lose weight, or you find that your hormones are unbalanced, you might benefit from a better sleep routine. Try not to stay up late. We all need about seven and a half to eight hours of sleep each night to be at our best. After all, the body has a lot to do while we’re sleeping!
Sleep is so important to our bodily functions and processes. Most importantly, our clarity of thought and emotions are also affected by the quality of sleep we get. Sleep well tonight to make the most of a good day tomorrow.
