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January 26, 2007 by erin.
Many people don’t realize how important rest is for their health. With such hectic lifestyles, a lot of us are sleeping less and working more. Proper rest is imperative for quality of life. Inadequate sleep leads to hormonal and metabolic imbalances, premature aging, increased onset of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, memory loss, and the list goes on. When you chronically don’t get enough rest, your body and mind stay tired. Because your body needs energy to make it through the day and you didn’t give it enough time to rest and repair itself the night before, you may find yourself craving sugar and be more likely to overeat.Sleep deprivation has a snowball effect. Eventually your body will shut down so it can recover. If you are frequently sick and don’t recover as fast as you should, you may want to take a look at your sleep habits. Here are some tips to improve the quality of your sleep and ultimately, your health.
1. Experts recommend six to nine hours of sleep a night. Most people need around eight. If you are one of those who claims that you only need four; you are sadly mistaken and need to stop cheating yourself.
2. Try to get to bed before midnight. Every one hour of sleep before midnight has the healing effects of two hours of sleep after midnight. The body performs the majority of its recovery functions between the hours of 11pm and 1am.
3. Go to bed and wake at the same time every day, even on the weekend. This will allow your body to get into a sleep rhythm.
4. Sleep in total darkness. Light disrupts the quality of your sleep.
5. Avoid eating right before bed. The digestive process can impair sleep.
6. Avoid T.V. and reading before bed which are both stimulating activities to the brain and make it harder to fall asleep. If you do read, choose something soothing that will actually make you fall asleep.
7. Wear Socks to bed. Cold feet will disrupt sleep.
8. Turn the alarm clock face down so that you don’t see the time and opt for an alarm clock that wakes you up gently. Loud alarm clocks insight the fight or flight reflex and that’s not the greatest way to begin the day.
9. Turn the thermostat down before bed. A temperature above 60-70 degrees is too warm and will disrupt sleep.
10. Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed.
11. Don’t do work in your bedroom. If you do, you may find it harder to relax.
12. Stop drinking liquids two hours before bed to avoid having to get up in the middle of the night to urinate.
13. If you exercise in the evening, remember that exercise energizes the body and you don’t want to do so right before bed. Exercise about four hours before bed time.
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