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Support Your Sleep With 3 Simple Dietary Habits
If you struggle to sleep at night, your bedroom set up could be to blame. Good news: there’s an easy fix.
Do you want to wake up refreshed and in a good mood every morning?
Of course, you do. To achieve this goal, you need to create a sleep environment that will aid in getting good shut-eye on a nightly basis.
The good news is, it’s much easier to do than it seems.
These simple tips will help you create your own sleeping space that will boost your sleep quality!
The climate in your bedroom has a huge impact on the quality of your sleep. It consists of two main parameters: temperature and humidity.
And you can easily regulate both to meet your demands.
The proper temperature is important because it can help your body produce melatonin. Melatonin is your sleep hormone and its levels in your blood increase when the body temperature drops a bit. That’s why the blood vessels in your skin dilate prior to sleep, to facilitate heat loss.
But if you have a higher temperature around, this process will be much slower, and as a result, you will struggle to fall asleep for a longer time, not mentioning the lower quality of sleep overall.
If your bedroom is too cool (lower than 60F), however, things won’t get better either. In this case, your feet and hands, which have a lot of blood vessels, will cool down very fast and may freeze, leading to uncomfortable sensations and disrupted sleep.
Once you’ve done that, you just need to remember to adjust your thermostat somewhere between 60 and 67F before going to sleep as this is the optimal temperature range for a good snooze.
Now, what about humidity?
High humidity is pretty common during summer months and has several adverse effects on your sleep:
During winter months humidity in homes drops, but this also comes with a couple of downsides.
First, if your bedding is synthetic, it will be more likely to generate static electricity due to dry air.
Second, dry air will cause the water to evaporate from your skin and mucous membranes much faster. This might result in headaches and sore throat, and may even lead to higher chances of catching the flu, as dried-out mucous membranes are a perfect target for germs.
So, the advice is to adjust your room humidity between 30 and 50% – this is the perfect range, according to the EPA – and regulate it throughout the year (with the help of an air conditioner, humidifier, or other devices) to maintain a perfect climate for sleeping.
Another factor that has a drastic impact on your sleep quality is your mattress. If you have been sleeping on your current one for more than 7 years, it’s probably time to replace it.
To get a good, sleep enhancing mattress, follow these tips:
A sleep-friendly bedroom is a bedroom without any irritants that can suddenly wake you up. In the modern world, these would be all sources of light and noise, so you have to minimize their presence in your bedroom as much as possible.
And here’s what you can do:
Getting a couple of home plants will not only add some life to your bedroom but also improve the quality of your sleep. See for yourself:
Finally, make your bedroom a reflection of your sense of style and character. This way, your brain will create positive associations with the time spent in this room, which, in turn, may promote better sleep experience.
For starters, you can change the wallpaper or paint the walls in the colors you like.
But be careful here:
Bright colors may have a stimulating effect on your brain, keeping you awake instead of aiding in falling asleep.
Also, add some personal touches, such as photographs, paintings, drapery, etc. – whatever makes you happy. This will help you turn your sleeping space into your sleep sanctuary.
Before pouring yourself another cup of coffee and resigning yourself to never sleeping well again, try some (or all!) of these tips for a better night’s rest. You need your sleep, after all!