Scrolling on your phone, eating too much or too little in the evening, drinking herbal teas, tea or coffee, smoking, overheating your room, sleeping without shutters, sleeping in on weekends… Here are 10 common mistakes to avoid more to do to regain quality sleep.
Sleeping well requires maintain a good environment sleep, that is, to pay particular attention to the bedroom. Are its colors soothing? Conducive to relaxation? Isn’t it too bright at night? Isn’t it too hot? Good sleep also requires respecting hygiene rules: watching your meals, especially in the evening, watching your drinks too, doing physical activity at the right time of day so that it does not interfere with falling asleep, stay away from screens and their blue light harmfulespecially when it’s time to go to bed… Finally, to be able to fall asleep easily, don’t neglect the signs that show it’s time to go to bed: itchy eyes, yawning… Ignoring these signs, voluntarily or not, is responsible for having trouble falling asleep when you decide to (finally) go to bed.
Mistake 1: Drinking herbal tea before sleeping
Valerian, passionflower… Yes, these plants offered in special sleep herbal teas can help you fall asleep faster. But they also have the disadvantage of make you want to pee…because of the water they make them drink just before going to bed. But being forced to get up to urinate, nothing like having a disturbed sleep! Avoid consuming anything that contains too much water: herbal tea, tea, soup… It is better to consume them well before bedtime.
Mistake 2: Putting the heating on too high in your bedroom
The body’s core temperature must drop to sleep well. It’s impossible if it’s 22°C or 23°C in your room! Being too hot slows the process of falling asleep and also promotes nocturnal awakenings. The ideal bedroom temperature is included between 18°C and 20°C. Better a slightly cool atmosphere and sleeping with more blankets!
Mistake 3: Taking too long a nap
To recover from short nights, you usually sleep in the afternoons when you can and/or on weekend days. But wait not to extend this time of rest. Naps that are too long disrupt the sleep cycle and reduce the duration of nocturnal sleep. A nap that does not disturb nocturnal sleep does not exceed 20 minutes. Et it ends before 3 p.m. Naps after 3 p.m. interfere with nighttime sleep.
Mistake 4: Being on your phone at night
Computer, tablet, smartphone, television… We spend a lot of time on screens, including during our evenings. This is a mistake because the blue light diffused by screens delays falling asleep, because our brain sees the same light there as daylight! So, for quality sleep, banish screens at least one hour before bedtime. And don’t sleep with your smartphone on the nightstand. It emits blue lights at night…
Mistake 5: Resisting Sleep Signs
Yawning, itchy eyes, heavy eyelids… Your body is telling you that it needs rest. You deliberately ignore these signs because you want to continue working, reading, listening to music… It is a mistake to resist sleep because afterwards when you decide to go to bed you have trouble falling asleep.
Mistake 6: Sleeping in on the weekends
It’s good to sleep three more hours on Saturday morning. Yes, but… There is a BUT, and a big one. Delaying waking up any longer two hours more than usual sleep time is responsible for a beginning of deregulation of our internal clock. Getting up at regular times has a synchronizing effect on the sleep/wake cycle and makes it easier to fall asleep. So, on the weekend or during the holidays, ndon’t shift your wake up times too mucheven if it means going to bed earlier and/or taking a short nap at the very beginning of the afternoon.
Mistake 7: Do EVERYTHING in bed
Sleep experts agree: your bed should be used only for sleep and sexual activity! Stimulating activities, such as reading or watching television, should not take place in bed. All visual, auditory or intellectual stimulation delays the onset of sleep.
Error 8: Sleeping with the shutters open
Do you sleep in a room without shutters, the shutters open or without curtains? Or do you have a nightlight or leave a bedside lamp on? This habit interferes with your sleep. Sleeping in complete darkness makes it easier the secretion of melatonin which is the sleep hormone. The result: deeper, better quality sleep.
Mistake 9: Drinking tea or coffee in the evening
Every evening, you are used to drinking tea while working or watching television… Wrong! In the two hours before bedtime, Avoid all sources of caffeine and theine (coffee, tea, chocolate…). Other stimulants that must be given up: cigarettes, which are comparable to caffeine and engaging in strenuous exercise too close to bedtime. Also beware of alcohol consumption: it can help you fall asleep but it causes nocturnal awakenings in the second part of the night.
Mistake 10: Heavy dinner in the evening
Do you have a light lunch and eat more at dinner? This is a bad habit for the quality of sleep. When you eat too large a meal in the evening, your body must monopolize all its energy to assimilate fats and proteins. This digestion heavy will disturb your sleep and can even cause unwanted awakenings and distressing dreams. Conversely, eating too little at dinner is also a factor of poor sleep, the energy deficiency preventing you from falling asleep and leading to nocturnal awakenings!