What’s makes up a good night’s sleep? According to The Huffington Post, focusing on 3 metrics of sleep can help make you a better sleeper, helping to improve your overall quality of life:
Sleep Duration: For most people, this is easiest to focus on and identify. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get 7-9 hours of quality snooze every night of the week for optimal performance, happiness and health.
To find out how much sleep you need, keep track of how you feel with a sleep tracker, or even better, allow yourself to wake up naturally over the course of an extended weekend or vacation. Record what time you go to bed and what time you wake up, as well as how you feel throughout each day in terms of energy and mood.
Sleep Quality: While the amount of shut-eye you get each night is important, research has revealed that quality is also the key to a good night’s rest. This aspect of sleep can be hard to recognize as not all sleep disruption wake you up during the night. Sleep disorders, your diet, sleep environment and habits throughout the day all work together to impact your sleep quality.
Sleep experts recommend soaking up sunlight throughout the day, cutting off caffeine after 2 pm, exercising regularly, avoiding heavy dinners, saying no to nightcaps, putting away electronics 90 minutes before bed and paying attention to your bedroom environment. Keep it cool, dark and quiet, or try using a white noise machine. Everyone’s needs are different, so take the time to find out what makes you feel the most relaxed in your bedroom.
Sleep Timing: For deeper, refreshing snooze experts recommend going to bed and waking up at just about the same time every day. This routine serves as a signal to your body to feel drowsy or alert at the right times. Some studies have even found that the timing of your sleep is more important that sleep duration and quality when it comes to cognitive functioning. The ideal bedtime is between 8 pm and 12 am, and should be in-sync with your 24-hour biological—so if you are an early riser, naturally you should have an earlier bedtime to get the optimal amount of shut-eye.
Make the most of your life with the help of rejuvenating sleep each night! There’s still plenty of time to make the necessary changes you need for better shut-eye this year!
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