Here are few lifestyle shifts to improve your quality of sleep

Sleep is important for healing, recovery, repair, detoxification, managing weight, etc. But if we don’t sleep well, all of these processes will go for a toss and in turn affect your body as well as health. You might be eating well and regular with workout, but lack of sleep affects your weight loss and healing process. Let’s look at making these simple lifestyle changes to sleep better on a daily basis.

It’s very important to stay away from your devices like mobile, TV, laptop etc at least one hour before your bedtime so that you can sleep better. Melatonin is a sleep hormone that gets produced in the body post sunset, but if we are putting artificial light on the retina, it is signalling the body to stop the production of melatonin. With lack of melatonin, it’s very difficult to sleep and heal the body. So as a thumb rule, keep all your light emitting gadgets away at least an hour before sleep.

After keeping aside your light emitting gadgets, focus on deep breathing particularly left nostril deep breathing to disconnect the mind from chaos or thoughts and fall asleep easily. Oxygen is the life force of our body which enhances healing and helps in suppressing the stress hormone (cortisol). When we focus on deep breathing at bedtime, we are disconnecting from all thoughts that keep running in the mind; which further makes us feel calm and enables better sleep.

One can take a cup of Nutmeg tea (mix a pinch of nutmeg in a cup of water) or sip on Chamomile tea by adding a pinch of nutmeg in the same. Nutmeg as well as chamomile have a calming effect on the nerves and also possess sleep inducing properties which help you to get a good night’s sleep.

Many people, particularly the homemaker who takes nap in the afternoon, has difficulty in falling asleep at night which may affect health and weight negatively. If you can take a nap in the afternoon and also sleep at night, you’re good to go. But if you can’t, it is better to avoid the afternoon nap for few weeks to set a proper bedtime routine or a sleep and wake up cycle.

The ideal time gap between dinner and sleep should be between two to three hours because a late dinner can make the body highly acidic, which can trigger reflux or acidity when you are in the lying down position. And all of this affects the sleep cycle. Finish your dinner early, go for a light walk an hour after your dinner and you will surely feel better and sleepy after the same.

Atleast five to six days a week, keep the same wake up and sleep time so that your body gets into a circadian rhythm. Once a week, it’s fine to socialise and have late nights, but if you do it regularly, that’s when your body is not helping you to heal. Chronic insomnia or lack of sleep can lead to an array of issues and diseases, so try to catch up with your sleep on most days.

Your sleep is the fundamental platform for good health. If you don’t sleep well, your body will crave sugar
and carbs the next day, you will not be able to focus on work and be productive, it will cause hormonal imbalances, increase inflammation, aggravate stress etc. Let’s understand the importance of sleep and understand the far reaching effects of the lack of it; do everything that it takes to ensure you have a good sleep.