Although everybody is different, the average minimum sleep requirement for an adult is 7 hours. During sleep your body repairs itself: the brain recharges and removes unnecessary byproducts from the day, it gives your body a chance to relax and repair itself and gives your muscles a chance to rest.
Getting high quality sleep is therefore vital for your body and mind. Here are a few examples of how to improve the quality of your sleep.
Having a set time to go to sleep and wake up every day gives your body the best chance of falling into its own rhythm. Obviously, life is crazy and can definitely get in the way, but having a cycle that works for you and your body is the best chance of getting restorative sleep. For an average person, 7 hours is a minimum (but you know your body best) so decide when you need to wake up and work backwards from there to decide your ideal sleep time.
Performing relaxing tasks such as reading a book with a dim light, stretching or deep breathing can increase your chances of falling asleep faster and therefore getting a more restorative sleep.
Although you may not seem to feel different whether consuming caffeine or not, it is a drug that stimulates your central nervous system and can make falling asleep more tricky. Try not to consume caffeine for 6 hours before trying to sleep.
The body’s hormones respond to outside stimuli to decide which state it should be in. If there is too much light (either natural or manufactured) the amount of melatonin reduces making it more difficult to fall asleep. External noise from things such as cars, television or other people will also disrupt your precious sleep so trying to keep this to a minimum would be ideal.
Although light stretching before bed can relax your body and be really beneficial, strenuous activity can have a negative effect on your sleep because exercise increases heart rate, body temperature, and metabolism—all of which are signals to the body that it should be awake and active.
As a team of chiropractors and sports therapists, we care about high quality sleep to aid in repairing any damage that you may have and giving rest to your muscles, joints and nerves. Hopefully some of these tips will help you get into habits to assist with the best sleep possible.
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