Do you know that sleep is the core to improved health?
Up to 40% of the US population is now affected by insomnia, which is equivalent to approximately 70 million individuals. Insomnia is reported to affect women more then men. People tend to report increased insomnia with advanced age.
Sleep is essential to good health. While you sleep, the body recovers from the stressors of the day. The immune system is active at night when you rest to help fight off infections and support the body in detoxification.
If you are struggling to achieve optimal, restorative sleep, note the below strategies that could support you on the path to sleep more soundly:
- Create a routine sleep and wake cycle.
- Sleep in a dark room. Melatonin production is activated by the brain when you are in a dark room. Avoid artificial light and electronics and hour before bed.
- Avoid caffeine after 2 PM. This cut off time will depend on the individual
- Avoid alcohol before bed. While alcohol may feel relaxing, id disrupts the body’s ability to enter deep, restorative sleep.
- Use your bedroom for sleep only.
- Do deep breathing right before bed. Deep, quality breaths can reduce stress and support balanced blood pressure.
- Daily movement. Long periods of physical inactivity can raise the risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity.
Many of the above activities sound so basic that you may not put much time into thinking how you can incorporate theses activities into your daily life so you can sleep more soundly.
Without a restful, deep REM sleep of 7 to 9 hours nightly, it is also extremely difficult to maintain a healthy metabolism and to not have sugar cravings.
Remember that regular movement also creates increase lean muscle mass, which is essential for balancing blood sugar over time.
It is imperative for you to create a lifestyle that’s more conducive to better sleep.
If you are working on creating an amazing life, you get to create time to rest and sleep by incorporating these simple steps.
Remember, when you sleep your brain becomes rested and will support you in thinking more clearly. When you rest you heal!
❤️❤️❤️