Why is your sleep quality important?
Adults need 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night to repair and grow their cells. Sleep impacts our muscle repair, hormone function, and protein synthesis. Sleep is taken for granted but it’s a vital part of our body functioning. Insomnia and common sleep disorders are linked to an increase in diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Even just one bad night’s sleep can have you feeling low in mood, irritable, and prone to accidents during the day. Stress is the biggest cause of all sleep disorders, around 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems. Therefore, we have put together a list of 5 things for you to try to improve your sleep quality.
Here are our 5 top tips to de-stress, unwind, and relax…
1- Massage Therapy
Massage boosts the production of melatonin in the body. Melatonin is responsible for controlling your natural sleep-wake cycle. Boosting your levels of melatonin through a relaxing massage will put you into a state of quiet wakefulness that helps promote sleep. A deep tissue massage is a great option if you’re looking to lower your blood pressure and heart rate. The pressure applied helps to relieve any muscular tension and relaxes the full body to ensure a great night’s sleep.
2- Swap Caffeine for Chamomile
A high caffeine consumption throughout the day can overstimulate your central nervous system. We’re not just talking about coffee and tea; fizzy pop has also been linked to sleep problems such as sleep-disordered breathing. We recommend cutting out all forms of caffeine at least 6 hours before you’re due to go to sleep. Chamomile tea is a great replacement for caffeine due to its natural calming and sedative effects.
Aromatherapy
Essential oils known to promote relaxation and sleep include lavender oil, chamomile oil, and ylang ylang oil. 2-3 drops in an oil diffuser an hour before bedtime can create the perfect relaxed and drowsy atmosphere. You can also treat yourself to an aromatherapy massage to combine the calming effects of the essential oils with the body’s massage pressure points.
Switch off your phone
Unplugging all electronics a few hours before bedtime will decrease your blue light exposure. Blue light suppresses the body’s release of melatonin which disrupts your natural sleep cycle patterns, keeping you awake for longer. Switching off all exposure to blue light a few hours before bed will enable you to fall asleep faster.
Sleep habitat
Your environment has a huge impact on the quality of your sleep. A few factors to keep in mind when creating the perfect habitat for a full night’s sleep include temperature, light, and noise. The ideal temperature for sleep is 65 degrees Fahrenheit or 18.3 degrees Celsius as your body’s temperature decreases during sleep. If you live on a busy road, noise pollution can be blocked out with earbuds. Light from the windows should also be blacked out as much as possible, which is why we recommend investing in some quality black-out blinds.
We hope that by following these tips you find the perfect night-time routine to set your sleep cycle patterns on the right track for a quality night’s sleep.
