Your behaviours during the day, and especially before bedtime, can have a major impact on your sleep. They can promote healthy sleep or contribute to lack of sleep.
These past days of stay at home or partial lockdown, a lot of people have been having struggles with sleep. And this is understandable, it is such an unprecedented change even to our bodies. Disruption in our daily lives, school closures, online learning, working from home, somewhat lack of freedom to move around as desired. Oh, how I miss the movement part.
The children also feel this in a way and as parents, we should understand and take it easy on them, understand that we are all in it together.
Many times, I had returned to my children’s room hours after they had been sent to bed, only to see them highly awake, and you hear” Mummy, I don’t feel like sleeping”. How sincere they are…….
This also happens to us as adults, but we understand that our daily habit has a huge impact on our night and sleep and know that sleep is important to our physical health and proper functioning of our immune system.
Your daily routines – what you eat and drink, the medications you take, how you schedule your days and how you choose to spend your evenings – can significantly impact your quality of sleep. Even a few slight adjustments can, in some cases, mean the difference between sound sleep and a restless night. Completing a two-week sleep diary can help you understand how your routines affect your sleep.
It is important to understand that sleep empowers and strengthens our body’s defence, our minds perform better when we have a good sound sleep, learning and complex thinking works better for adults and our children, as we all work and learn from home. Your mood is made better when you have good sleep, your energy rises and you are mentally alert as sleep helps with our mental health
If you have difficulty sleeping or want to improve your sleep, try some of these healthy sleep habits. Talk to your doctor if your sleep problem persists.
Easy to follow Sleep Tips
Create a healthy sleep habit:
Stay active during the day as physical activity is still of huge benefit, workout from home as most gyms are locked down.
Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Get up by yourself every day, this will be best observed on weekends or when on vacations when no one is allowed to disturb or wake you up.
Beware of long day time naps, if you must have a nap, do it early afternoons and make it short.
Get in bed same time without any distraction or any gadget and notice your sleep experience.
Establish a relaxing bedtime routine.
allow your bed only for sleep and sex. If possible, don’t have a television set in your room
Make your bedroom quiet and relaxing. Keep your room at a comfortable, cool temperature.
Reduce the exposure to bright light in the evenings.
Switch off all electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
Have a healthy night meal so you don’t overindulge and feel uncomfortable at night. Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.
Take note so you don’t consume alcohol before bedtime.
Reduce your water or fluid intake 1hour before bedtime, so you don’t get to interrupt your sleep.