7 Sleep Mistakes That You Are Making And How To Fix Them | Divya Toshniwal |

Are you having trouble sleeping? You are not alone.

More than  47% of people have trouble sleeping during the night or they complain of waking up multiple times during the night. More people are suffering from insomnia, stress disorders, fatigue, and various other issues than ever before. 

You are stressed so you can't sleep and because you could not sleep you are even more stressed the next day and this cycle continues. Stress and sleep is a vicious cycle. It goes on and on until you go for an intervention to break it. Not having a sound sleep can result in various problematic scenarios and may hamper your day to day working. It can also result in long term issues.

Effects of Lack of Sleep:

• It causes fatigue and reduces body energy.
• It reduces your span of attention and impairs your reasoning and decision-making abilities.
• It can cause heart-related problems, irregular blood pressure, and sugar levels.
• It affects your sexual life.
• It causes premature ageing of the skin.
• It impacts your memory and makes you forget things.
• It may also cause sudden weight gain or weight loss.
• It makes you irritable and can cause mood swings.

Here are some common bedtime mistakes that you might not know that you are doing and along with them there is a possible solution for each problem to help you get a night of better sleep.

1. Caffeinated or sugary midnight snacks: 

Caffeine is a stimulant and it blocks the sleep neurotransmitters that can lead to trouble in sleeping. Drinks like coffee and Cola should be avoided at bedtime to help you sleep better. In fact, a few studies have also shown that caffeine changes your body clock hence reducing your sleep hours. Thus reducing caffeine intake during the day will also help you sleep better at night. 

Refined sugars, on the other hand, may stress the organs responsible for hormone regulation. This causes you to wake up multiple times during the night as the levels of hormones fluctuate. Thus you should avoid having any drinks or snacks that has refined sugar, around your bedtime.

Solution: You should have your meal at least 2 hours before you sleep. If you feel hungry around your bedtime you should choose options that are easily digestible like a piece of fruit or a cup of milk.

2.Catching Up On Sleep:

The concept that if you lost on sleep earlier then you can catch up with it now is simply ridiculous. If you haven't slept for a night that doesn't mean you can sleep for 12 hours straight and make it right. This is only going to disturb your sleep cycle further causing extra fatigue. Serious sleep deprivation is bad and trying to balance it with extra sleep can be worse.

Solution: Even if you have had sleep deprivation do not compensate by oversleeping. Instead, stick to your normal sleep routine. This may not feel ok immediately but in 2 to 3 days you will be back on your normal routine and your body clock would be balanced for you to sleep better at night.

3.The snooze policy:

Most of us set our alarm clocks a little earlier than we actually need to get up. We all love sleeping for those extra 5 minutes but those extra 5 minutes indicate and give us a poor quality of sleep. Any extra sleep you get is fragmented and that makes it low quality. Also, your brain and body gets prepared for a new sleep cycle that you obviously have no time to complete ( a sleep cycle on average is about 90 minutes). 

Solution: Set your alarm clock on the exact time at which you need to get up. If you set it up for the same time every day your body will accept it as a natural waking time and eventually you would not need any alarm clock at all.

4. Your Surroundings : 

Having a clumsy or overstuffed room, wearing rough clothes or the clothes which you have been wearing for the whole day, having a dirty bedsheet and lack of fresh air in the room is a big no-no if you want to sleep better at night. if you are uncomfortable with your surroundings and your clothes you will not be able to relax and 

Solution: Freshen up before bed. If you do not prefer having a bath at least wash your face, hands, and feet. wear fresh clothes. keep your room clean and change your bedsheet frequently. Don't keep your bedroom stuffed. Your bedroom is a private space. Keep only the things you need to keep in there. Shift all unnecessary things in some other place in the house. 

5.Alcohol Intake : 

Yes! we want to party and we want to have a glass of wine along with dinner. But how does this alcohol affect your sleep? Alcohol reduces the REM (Rapid Eye Movement)- the phase of sleep associated with deep dreaming. Maybe it makes you sleep easily but it doesn't give you a good night's sleep. This, in turn, causes day time tiredness and sleepiness.

Solution: Avoid drinking alcohol near your bedtime. It takes an hour for the body to process one unit of alcohol. Instead, opt for a cup of herbal tea, like chamomile tea, which will relieve stress and help you sleep better.

6.Technology Before Bed:

Electronic gadgets have become such an important part of our lives that not a single day passes by when we do not use gadgets. More than 80% of the urban population uses a smartphone or laptop or a tablet even just before bed. These screens emit blue light which affects your circadian rhythm or internal body clock by delaying the production of melatonin i.e., the sleep-inducing hormone.

Solution: Put a curfew on technology in your bedroom. no screens an hour before your bedtime would help you sleep better. Instead, read a book( not an e-book), spend time with your family, write journals, schedule your next day and anything else that just not involve any screen time

7. Get some action in your day:

People with a sedentary lifestyle have some trouble sleeping properly because their bodies aren't worked up or tired enough to have a good night's sleep. With most of our lives being stuck to a laptop screen, we need to work on our physical bodies more often than we think we should. 

Solution: Go for a walk, join a game or join some dance classes. Do anything that can exert you physically more than you get exerted in your normal day to day life. Spending some physical energy will make your body want more and thus take proper rest. Getting physically exerted would thus help you to get better sleep.

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Divya