How can I Improve my Quality of Sleep?

Do you ever wake up feeling like you haven’t slept at all? Is your sleep not refreshing? This might indicate that you’re having a problem with your Quality of Sleep. In my recent post: “How to make an end to your Insomnia”, I explained how you can stop the vicious circle of insomnia.

In this post I’ll  cover how to maintain good sleeping habits or “sleep hygiene”.

Even though we sleep one-third of our life, many people don’t know what they have to do to sleep well. In this article I’ll therefore explain how you can improve your Quality of Sleep.

Go to bed on the same time of the day, every day

Our body is quite sensitive to changes in schedules, especially with regard to sleeping schedules. Pick a moment on the day in which you are normally sleepy and stick to it.  It can also help to start  a sleeping ritual (for example, read something, take a hot shower or bath, dressing your pajama’s, brush your teeth etc.) in order for your body to get ready for sleeping. You will see how your body will prepare you for bedtime, by lowering your body temperature and closing your eyelids more and more. All this helps you in order to fall asleep better and more deeply.

Reject sleeping medication 

Sleeping medication is highly addictive and has a lot of negative side effects. Sleep medication will leave you drowsy during the day, and it’s not effective in improving your quality of sleep in the long run. If you need sleeping aids, you could discuss melatonin supplements with your doctor. Melatonin supplements can reset your biological clock and can help you to fall asleep. They have no negative side effects, and are part of our natural sleep-wake system.

There are cases in which sleep medication is necessary,for example in the case of psychosis or temporary severe sleep disturbances. However, sleep medication should always be prescribed by a doctor and for a period of 2 weeks or less. If this is not the case it is better to stay away from sleep medication or to discuss your medication with your doctor again. 

Leave your worries to a journal

When you go to bed with your head full of memories from the past day, it can be difficult to fall asleep. Also, you might dream restlessly. Journaling can be a great way to organise your thoughts and leave your worries behind. When you write something down you have to bring structure to what happened to you. This can already help you to make more sense of it and let it go.

Exercise during the day

It has been shown in various scientific studies that exercising during the day improves our sleep. Exercise helps in releasing the stress hormone cortisol from your body, which makes it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Try to exercise at least 3 hours before going to bed, so you avoid having to go to bed excited.

Excercising helps to push out the stress hormone cortisol of your body, thereby improving your Quality of Sleep.

Make sure you get enough sunlight 

We humans are like plants. When we don’t get enough sunlight during the day, we don’t feel well.This is caused by a lack of Vitamin D and melatonin. Melatonin is especially important for a good night of sleep, since it regulates when you get tired and if you can sleep throughout the night. Your doctor can give you information on vitamin D and melatonin supplements if necessary. Also, if you live in area with a lack of sunlight you can consider buying a day-light therapy lamp.

However, the best way to procure you gain enough sunlight is to be outside at least for 30 minutes a day. This even works if the sun is not shining because there is still more light intensity (lux) than when we stay inside. When you’re outside try to roll up you’re sleeves so the sun can touch your skin directly (obviously you can apply sun screen beforehand).

Avoid caffeine after 2 pm

Caffeine takes 8 hours to get out of our blood. This means that if you drink a cup of coffee around 8pm, your brain will be more active until 4am at night! This is why drinking caffeine after 2pm is not a good idea if you want to improve your quality of sleep. If you’re a coffee lover, try decaf coffee.

Do a relaxing activity before going to sleep

We have a tendency of not stopping nowadays, but your body needs some time to wind off before going to bed. You can read a book, take a bath, get a relaxing massage or do a relaxation exercise.

Winding off by doing a relaxing activity like reading can help us to calm down before going to bed.

Avoid alcohol or marihuana as an aid to fall asleep

Drinking alcohol or smoking marihuana to fall asleep is like putting a band-aid on a flat tire. It might help you temporarily to fall asleep, but during the night you will wake up more frequently and your REM-sleep will be interrupted. Therefore it is important to limit alcohol to one to two drinks per day and marihuana to one or two joints per week, or less, and to avoid drinking and smoking within three hours of going to bed.

Don’t eat heavy meals before going to bed

Heavy meals take a long time to digest. During digestion, the body spends energy on processing the meal, and moving it forward through the body. This process interferes with our sleep. The fatter and heavier the meal, the longer it takes. If you eat a heavy meal, avoid doing this within two hours of going to bed.

Get pets out of the bedroom 

It is very cute to have your pet sleeping on your feet, belly, or back. However, having pets in the bedroom disrupts your sleep, and makes you wake up more often. If you can, try to keep your pets out of the bedroom.

Don’t try to fall asleep while listening to music or the television

Even though calming music or the television can help you to calm down, it interferes with your quality of sleep by preventing you to reach the deeper sleep stages. The deepest sleep stages are most important to help us recover during the night. Listening to some soft music before going to bed can be a good idea though.

Listening to some relaxing soft music before going to bed can be part of your sleeping ritual. Avoid music while going to sleep though

Practice a relaxation technique

Relaxation techniques are awesome! They help you to reduce anxiety and stress, and they’re a great help in calming down before going to bed. You can try to take deep and slow abdominal breaths, or do some yoga or meditation exercise.

Quality of sleep can be more important than quantity of sleep. That’s why I wrote this article. I hope you’ll find these tips helpful and that you will notice some improvement in your Quality of Sleep.

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