Perhaps you have not yet thought about how your relation with sleep affects your day. However, understanding about the relationship of sleep with your body is indispensable to optimize your rest and achieve the best performance your body can offer.
Poorly slept nights result in various problems and changes in physical and mental health, affecting performance in various common tasks. The shorter the time or quality of sleep, the longer your list of affected areas.
As a physiological necessity, a poor night’s sleep affects your next day because it is the time when the neurological system cleanses itself of free radicals and starts the anabolic process of the tissues. When we don’t maintain adequate sleep, our system can collapse, because it will not produce the optimal amount of hormones.
Even with its clear importance, many people do not pay enough attention to this rest, consequently impairing the functions to which it is related.
What habits are detrimental to your sleep?
Few people know, but several habits considered common can directly affect sleep. Avoiding them is essential for a better quality of sleep; after all, it’s not enough to sleep a lot, but it is essential to sleep well.
- Exercising at night: Higher intensity exercises such as cardio and weight training should be done hours before bedtime. This is because it activates the body and sends an alert message, the opposite of the desired reaction, which is relaxation.
- Eating a lot at dinner: Thinking about the quality of sleep, the night diet should be of light foods, because the activation of the digestive system can cause cases of reflux, very uncomfortable during the night.
- Drinking coffee at night: Even if you are used to drinking coffee during the day, drinking it close to bedtime can be harmful. This happens because of caffeine’s relationship with deep REM, the nighttime stage in which we rest deeply.
- Smoking and/or drinking alcoholic beverages: A study conducted at Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University highlights that nicotine and alcohol use in the 4 hours prior to sleep increased sleep fragmentation. This causes the individual to wake up frequently. These results support the attention to the consumption of caffeine and nicotine at night.
- Not having a regular bedtime: A sleep routine is paramount to improving the quality of your rest. This may seem difficult at first, but it will send a signal to the body about the time to switch off from the world and focus on restoring energy.
- Room temperature: The body begins to lower its temperature two hours before going to sleep, which coincides with the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone. A very warm environment not only causes dehydration through night sweats, but also interferes with the body’s thermoregulation, making it more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. The optimal temperature for a healthy night’s sleep is between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius, with modest variations from person to person.
- Loud sounds: It is common for loud sounds to disturb people, however, did you know that noises above 60 decibels can wake you up? This is equivalent to common traffic noise or a conversation with a medium tone. From this point on, choose the windows in your room carefully, giving preference to sound-insulating materials. Also avoid contact with music or the high volume of electronic devices until 1 hour before bedtime, prefer more monotonous tasks like reading to stimulate relaxation.
- Contact with blue screens until late: The light emitted by the devices is called “blue light”. This transmission stimulates the brain’s work and keeps it active, preventing sleep and disrupting the biological cycle. Avoiding contact with these screens at least 1 hour before bedtime is important.
How your relation with sleep affects your day
Negative effects of poor sleep:
When these habits are followed, there can be big changes in the quality of your sleep. But when ignored, our rest can suffer and affect our entire next day, impairing work tasks, interpersonal relationships, and more.
These consequences can even reach physical levels of health, such as:
- Drop in the immune system;
- Short-term memory loss;
- Obesity;
- Difficulties in concentrating;
- Premature aging;
- Anxiety;
- Depression;
- Cognitive deficit;
- Loss of muscle mass;
- Lack of appetite.
How natural supplementation can help your sleep hygiene?
With countless consequences, we see the importance of investing in sleep! It has several connections with the body and revitalizes our mechanisms in several aspects, such as:
- Stress reduction;
- Controls the appetite;
- Improves mood;
- Improves memory and reasoning;
- Rejuvenates the skin;
- Boost the immune system;
- Tissue regeneration.
To achieve these benefits, sleep hygiene is necessary. In case you don’t know what it is, it is about several habits that together organize and optimize the night’s rest routine.
Among them, we have: avoid consuming stimulating foods close to bedtime; establish a sleep routine; maintain healthy habits with a balanced diet and morning exercises, among others.
If you are startled by this list and believe that you won’t be able to fit all this advice into your routine, don’t worry! You can start with natural supplementation, as it will help you with sleep disorders in a direct way.
Opting for natural options is a great solution for your sleep disorders.