Do you feel like you never get enough sleep even after sleeping for over six hours? You probably do not get enough deep sleep and have poor sleep quality.
We are a generation of people who do not like sleeping at night. Most of us stay up all night working, playing video games, scrolling down our social media page, binging on Netflix or YouTube, and so on.
With more people staying up all night than ever before in history, our sleep cycles are totally messed up. Most people think that surviving on two or three hours of sleep and loading themselves on coffee is the perfect remedy. But, the health consequences for this kind of lifestyle are dire.
However, even after getting over six hours of sleep, we walk around like zombies, feeling tired throughout the day. This happens when we do not get our much-needed deep sleep.
A Healthy Lifestyle Includes Proper Sleep
A healthy lifestyle is more than just healthy diets and exercise. Getting a night of proper sleep is a crucial part of leading a healthy life.
Many of our internal bodily mechanisms take place during sleep. Important growth and development hormones are released in our bodies while we sleep. So, not having enough sleep doesn’t just leave us feeling fatigued, but also hamper our internal growth and development.
Sleep is most important for our brain. Brain activity is processed and improved while we sleep. We even deal with our unresolved issues through dreaming!
Many health and weight loss supplements work better when taking them before sleep. This Resurge review on FitnessBond shows how the supplement works wonders during sleep.
Understanding Sleep
The activity of sleep is more complex than we think. There are two types of sleep called REM and non-REM sleep. Non-REM sleep includes deep sleep and light sleep. The entire sleep time is divided into 5 stages.
The first two stages are light sleep, where our brain and body activity slows down for resting. These stages prepare the body for the third and fourth stages of sleep, which are deep sleep. The third stage puts us into a deep sleep and during the fourth stage, our body and brain activity come to an all-time low.
Finally, in the fifth stage of sleep, we experience REM sleep. This is when brain activity surges up, and we often dream.
Why Is Deep Sleep Important?
Deep sleep is vital for brain health. During deep sleep, there is an increase in glucose metabolized in the brain. This helps the brain process and strengthen both long and short-term memory. It also powers thinking, learning, and retaining information.
Not getting enough deep sleep means the brain isn’t getting the chance to organize and arrange memories properly. This is why lack of sleep causes poor knowledge retention and forgetfulness. Students who study a lot but don’t get enough deep sleep, find it hard to remember what they learned.
Our bodies regenerate cells during deep sleep. Growth and repairing of cells occur, helping us boost our immune system. Proper blood flow is promoted throughout our body, and we wake up energized.
Improving The Quality Of Your Sleep
The longer we fail to get a proper amount of deep sleep, the more it affects our overall health. Lack of deep sleep has been linked with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, brain disorders that affect memories, etc. The following can help improve the quality of sleep.
Tiring Yourself Out
How many times have we gone to bed after a stressful day, but our eyes simply won’t close? Some people have more restless energy than others and their stubborn, hyperactive bodies refuse to sleep on demand.
People who face this problem often have desk jobs or jobs that don’t require physical activity. The best way to deal with this is to invest that restless energy into something productive. Consider going to the gym after work, going for a run or jog, playing a sport, etc.
Trying Zumba lessons, cardio workouts, or even dancing can also work. If you go to bed and feel wide awake, turn on some music and dance until your body gives up!
Optimize Your Bedroom For Sleep
If going to sleep is difficult one must find the source of the problem. The environment of the place of sleep can play a surprisingly large role. Having a comfy bed is not enough for improving sleep quality, although it does help.
Try to optimize your bedroom for better sleep. Make it completely dark if possible. If it is difficult to avoid streetlights or passing headlights, buy a sleep mask. Sleeping in pitch darkness not only makes it easier to sleep but also improves sleep quality.
Our bodies find it difficult to sleep in a warm environment. If the temperature of the bedroom is cooler, it will increase the chances of falling asleep faster.
Meditate Before Sleeping
Meditation helps us put our mind and body in sync. When that happens, our brain is more likely to listen to our pleas of wanting to sleep!
Practicing meditation before sleep can help to deal with stress, helps to relax, and calms the mind. Oftentimes, troublesome thoughts tend to keep us up at night. Meditation can help improve overall mental health.
Research has found that meditating before sleeping improves sleep quality. Meditation also helps regulate blood pressure, promotes blood circulation, helps one feel happier, deal with depression, and so on.
With numerous benefits, meditation can be a great way to improve our sleep quality. If one gets distracted easily, try to follow guided meditation audio, video, podcast, etc.
Time Your Caffeine Intake
People who sleep poorly should altogether give up on caffeine, but that is easier said than done. Even if you decide to give up your caffeine addiction, the smell of brewing espresso can drive any coffee lover mad.
The easier way to do it is by timing your coffee intake. Try to have your coffee an hour after having breakfast and avoid it for the rest of the day. Scheduling your coffee time has many benefits, including fighting inhibition of nutrient absorption.
Caffeine forces our body to stay awake and alert for hours. Cut down on caffeine intake to avoid sleep problems. Also, try to drink plenty of water to flush out the caffeine or burn it off by being active.
Bottom line
Our bodies need deep sleep. If you feel tired and forgetful, you are probably not getting enough deep sleep. Try out the tips discussed here to improve sleep quality and enjoy restful slumber.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
