The Three Best Ways to Achieve a Full Night’s Sleep

Sleep is one of the cornerstones to living a healthy life. It not only ensures your body will repair and recover, sleep can also lower an individual’s risk of developing chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes. Getting enough sleep is critical to protect your body, brain, and mental health, but how much you need will be unique to you, although professionals believe at least seven hours per night is sufficient.

However, your health and other aspects of life can worsen if you are struggling to get enough sleep. The effects of disrupted sleep over time may include becoming irritable with others, finding it difficult to concentrate at work, feeling tired or nodding off throughout the day, or catching common colds and other bugs due to your weakened immune system. These issues can be difficult to deal with, so ensuring you get a full night’s sleep, and a deep sleep at that, is vital.

This post outlines three of the best ways to ensure you achieve a full night’s sleep.

Stay Consistent with a Schedule

Developing a sleep schedule is a good idea, but you must stick to it to reap the benefits. This is one of the first steps a person should put in place to get the sleep they need consistently. Your body will eventually become conditioned to the cues, such as reading for a specified time before bed, putting on your pajamas, or brushing your teeth, that have been put in place to promote sleep. Over time, your body will see these as signals that it is time to sleep.

Once you have set a bedtime, try to stick to it all week, even at the weekends. This will improve your body clock, especially if you wake up at the same time each day. Your cues will make sleep easier, but if you find yourself struggling to sleep for 20 or more minutes, get out of bed and do something boring until you begin to feel sleepy, then head back to bed. Repeat this process, if necessary, but you must try to stick to your schedule to achieve quality sleep.

Pay Attention to What You Eat and Drink

What you eat and drink affects several parts of your health and quality of life, and sleep is no different. Eating the wrong foods or drinking high caffeinated drinks can ruin your chances of getting enough sleep. For example, spicy foods can result in heartburn, which worsens when lying down and makes sleep uncomfortable. Similarly, red pepper has been known to increase an individual’s core body temperature, which can make falling asleep tougher. Avoiding spicy and acidic foods at least three hours before bed should help you sleep easier.

Additionally, alcohol can actually be a hindrance when trying to get a good night’s sleep. Although it does help people fall asleep at first, it can wake people up when the alcohol begins to wear off. If you drink alcohol regularly, you are even at a greater risk of memory issues, sleep talking, and sleepwalking. You should avoid alcohol and drink chamomile tea, tart cherry juice, or warm milk before bed instead.

Speak to a Health Professional

When you are struggling to sleep the full night and experience additional issues, such as drowsiness during the day or shortness of breath when waking up, it is probably a good idea to consult a health profession. Before your appointment, it is beneficial to keep a sleep diary with information on the time you go to bed, the time you wake up, how long you have actually slept, how often you wake up during the night, and so on. This will give the doctor a better idea of your situation.

The appointment and the sleep diary, as well as any questions the doctor might ask, will help them determine the next steps. Some patients might receive medication to help fix sleeping issues or instructions for better sleep hygiene, while others might be referred to a specialist for a suspected sleep disorder or alternative treatments, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

By following the advice outlined in this post, you will have a better chance of achieving a full night’s sleep.