Ever wake up in the morning with a stiff neck, an achy shoulder or a headache? Or have you just not been in a “people person” sort of mood when you started your day? Whether you realise it or not all of those achy body parts and the less than chipper mood you’re sporting could be the result of a poor night’s sleep.
We don’t stop long enough in the day to eat right let along think about how important sleep is to us. For most of us, the goal is to drop into bed every night at the last possible hour with little on our minds and little on our plates for the next day. That rarely happens though. Instead what we wind up with is tossing and turning, replaying our day’s conversations and arguments over in our heads or subconsciously adding items to tomorrow’s To-Do list and praying we don’t forget something.
That’s no way to be well rested and researchers at The National Commission on Sleep Disorders know this. In fact, they’ve probably lost a few night’s of shut eye just thinking about how to help people get a good night’s sleep.
Sleep Deficit and Our Body
We know that without sleep our bodies don’t perform at their best. But what we are just beginning to discover is how much damage lack of sleep can do to our bodies. William C. Dement, author of Promise of Sleep has dedicated his career to teaching people how to sleep better. One of the biggest problems that a night of poor sleep can do to us is aggravate our weight problems. That’s right ladies… we can blame those chocolaty desserts on poor sleep! Or can we? Actually we can’t but we can blame poor sleep on a lack of energy. Those of us who don’t get enough sleep at night will discover that they have trouble with having enough energy to get them through the day. Without energy, our bodies don’t receive enough exercise to burn calories. So even if you do make regular trips to the gym, unless you are sleeping well at night, you still won’t have the energy you need to get you through the day.
The “wiped out” feeling you have during the day all goes back to having proper sleep at night. When sleep eludes you it also keeps your body from doing it’s night shift too. During our sleeping hours, our bodies use that time to repair cells, fight infections, and when we are ill, the need for more sleep (though it isn’t always achieved) is our body’s natural way of telling us that it has work to do. Granted we don’t always feel rested after a nap or full night’s sleep when we are under the weather but our body is still hard at work repairing what is wrong. There are still many undiscovered links to sleep and our immune system but it is becoming more and more apparent that without getting enough rest, we do our body a great deal more harm than good.
Keys to Peaceful Sleep
If you want to have the kind of night that dreams are made of you are going to have to invest a little time and energy into feeling rested the next morning.
Doctors recommend that you know your caffeine limits. An eight ounce cup of coffee typically takes 15-30 minutes to begin affecting the brain. At an hour past drinking caffeinated beverages, you are hitting caffeine’s maximum effects. But depending on your tolerance for caffeine this could be different. Some people swear that a cup of coffee after 4 pm will keep them up all night, while others wouldn’t bat an eye at another cup.
You also need to consider your environment. Is your room conducive to good sleep? What makes a room ideal for sleeping all depends on the inhabitants of the room, suggests Dement. Some people need a firm mattress while others prefer the softest mattress they can find. Likewise, you don’t have to rule out outside the outside environment either. If a little background noise or music helps you get to dreamland embrace it. With the advancements in technology we can set almost any television or radio to shut off at a certain time, (hence the fabulous function “sleep timer”). However, since nearly 70% of us have bed partners (children, spouses or both), finding the balance between what they need and what you need is imperative. If you feel calm by envisioning a room bare of extras like televisions and phones, and only fluffy bed pillows and crisp sheets, then try to create what you need.
Tired Yet?
The benefits of a good night’s sleep far outweigh being deprived of sleep. Getting enough good sleep creates brain activity, makes us more alert and focused and naturally lifts our spirits. A good night’s rest helps us better deal with stress and anxiety too.
Overall, because everyone has different needs for sleep, there is no right or wrong way to achieve it. A good night’s sleep can improve your cognitive ability… So do the smart thing, start getting a better night’s sleep, tonight.
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By Lalitha_K on 07 Nov 2008
learning to switch off,&on;,is a quality to be developed.Small power naps also do great wonders,especially for exam going teenagers.Meditation ,yoga -esp Shavasan relaxes patient & induces good relaxing sleep
By Niyati on 16 Sep 2009
I read your whole article and I loved your article. Yoga and Meditation may be an effective in the treatment of insomnia.