The Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep is one of the most important things we do for our health. Sleep is crucial for maintaining our minds and body and a lack of sleep can not only make it difficult to concentrate it can increase the risk of developing obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a host of infections. While there are many people with underlying illnesses that cause sleep problems nearly all of us will struggle to get a good night’s sleep some time in our lives.

However there is much you can do to help you drift off and ensure you get a good night’s sleep. Some of these ideas are simple too such as ensuring you have the right bedding like a pure wool duvet or have eliminated all the lights and noises. Here is a checklist of things you can do to ensue you get a good nights sleep.

Make sure its dark. Our bodies are designed with its own internal body clock and this is stimulated by light. Make sure all lights are off when you go to bed and even an hour before you turn in, dim the lights to ensure body clock knows its time for bed.

Noise is another stimulus that will keep us awake. Keep the doors closed if other people are in the house with televisions on etc. Even ticking clocks can be a distraction in the middle of the night, so replace the loud tick-tock alarm with a digital clock. Even better why not buy a green water powered clock and save on all those batteries.

Ensure the room isn’t too hot or cold. Feeling stuffy will keep us awake so keep the room ventilated with a window slightly open and make sure the heating isn’t on too high.

Avoid using your bed for work or watching TV. Keep your bed for sleeping and one other (ahem) activity only. Using a bed like an office or living room will make you associate your bed with work which will start you thinking about it when its time for sleep.

Make sure you have the right bedding.  Waking up with a sore neck or bad back is a good sign your mattress needs replacing but also scratchy sheets will cause discomfort or itching that will keep you awake. Always use natural materials like 100 % cotton sheets and a  100% pure wool duvet. Man made materials can often leave you too cold or too hot while a 100% pure wool will be softer and keep a steadier temperature.

There is much you can do during the day to help you sleep at night too. Avoiding alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes close to bedtime will help as they are all stimulants and like with most things ensuring we get plenty of exercise and have a healthy diet will do plenty to help our sleep patterns improve.