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Everyone has likely experienced a sleepless night. Long nights spent tossing and turning. Feeling as though it is impossible to fall asleep, or worse, waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to drift back off again. Almost half of adults fail at falling asleep, battling the challenges of insomnia.

Regardless of age, sleep is a vital mechanism. It can restore our energy levels, whilst healing both physical and cognitive damage. Having a sleeping pattern, where you get between 7-9 hours of sleep per night is recommended to help us function at our best.

If we get less than 6 or 7 hours of sleep one night, it can impact how we feel the next day. Additionally, chronically missing out on sleep can increase the risks of developing of disease.

As we get older, there are various obstacles to combat that make it challenging to achieve this target. Despite this, it is still essential to try and achieve the recommended hours of sleep. It could improve our lives in many ways.

Why You Should Aim To Achieve A Good Night’s Sleep

Simply having a well-regulated sleeping routine can offer a person many benefits. It can help to improve their overall health, as well as their quality of life. There are many benefits that we can reap simply by getting the right amount of sleep each night. Here are just a few of them.

• Helps To Keep Your Heart Healthy – When you sleep, your body releases hormones that help to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. With lack of sleep, it can be associated with worsening blood pressure and heart function. It can be an issue, especially if you have an existing heart condition. One which over time could lead to heart disease.
• Makes You More Alert – After having a good night’s sleep, it makes you feel more energised and alert the next day. It can help you to stay focused on the task you are working on. It also allows you to socialise and enjoy your favourite hobbies. Alongside this, having this abundance of energy and alertness might encourage you to exercise, which is essential for your overall health. When you are engaged and active throughout your whole day, it can feel great. After participating in all of the activities during the day, it can help to increase your chances of sleeping well. Helping you to feel energised for the plans you have made for the following day.
• Can Help To Reduce Stress – Sleep can help both your body and mind to relax and recover from your day. When you are sleep deprived, it can cause your body to release stress hormones. When stressed, it can cause you to react in a manner that is not productive. It includes acting out in fear or making rash decisions. If you do not have a good night’s sleep, it can leave you feeling anxious till you can finally get some much-needv

How To Establish A Healthy Sleeping Pattern

Those who experience disturbed sleep will often result in them spending along in bed. It could also cause them to have slept in intervals throughout the day, as they try to catch up on the sleep they lost during the night.

Get Into A Routine

Creating an environment that is conducive for sleep can help with lulling you off to sleep at night. Another way is setting a regular sleep schedule and wake up time. It can reinforce your body’s internal biological clock, which allows you to fall asleep and wake up more easily.

An evening routine is not just a set time that you go to sleep and when you wake in the morning. It also includes the time leading up to you going to bed. In your bedtime routine, consider winding down an hour or two before you want to fall asleep. It could be changing into your pyjamas, reading a book, dimming the lights, not going on your phone or doing some breathing exercises. These small changes in your evening routine can help you to get in the mood for sleep.

Turn Off The Screens

A quick scroll of your Facebook or Instagram feed is not as relaxing as you might have thought. The light coming from your device, combined with the emotions that can stem from checking social media accounts, can make it more difficult to unwind and drift off.

Our mobile phones and other devices have a blue light, which blocks the release of melatonin – the hormone in control of our sleep-wake cycles. There is an option on most smartphones where you can remove the blue light on your screen. A better option is skipping the electronics altogether before going to sleep.

Finally, Quit Old Habits 

If you have been on the fence about quitting smoking but have been unsuccessful, knowing how it impacts the quality of your sleep might help. As smoking is a stimulant, it makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Other factors that can make it hard to fall asleep are alcohol and caffeine.

Removing these stimulants before going to bed, you will notice a difference in the quality of your sleep. However, it might take some time first. Nicotine is addictive, one which the body rapidly becomes used to having. When you quit, the nicotine addiction might cause you to experience withdrawal cravings and symptoms. It can also worsen any of your sleeping problems.

Switching from smoking a cigarette to using a vape could be the first step in helping you quit. Since you can reduce your nicotine intake, you can gradually reduce it over time till you no longer crave it. There are guides available that can support you in your quest to quit smoking, which shares what you can expect when you finally kick the habit.

Implementing one or multiple of these approaches into your evening routine could help make a difference. It is important to remember that some of the improvements might take some time to notice, such as quitting smoking. Whilst it might be a challenge to implement these approaches to start with, try to stick with them. Over time, you will begin to notice the difference in the quality of your sleep. In time, you will be able to drift off to sleep and wake up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.