Irritability, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy: the quality of sleep can really impact the productivity of your day as well as your longer-term health, greatly reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Here are some tips to stop spinning all over the place and fight insomnia once and for all, reported in “The Telegraph” on Tuesday.
1- Perform some morning exercises
After a sleepless night, morning exercises can help combat insomnia for the next night, while reducing some of the negative impacts that set in over the long term from lack of sleep.
This notably reduces the higher risk of cardiovascular disease caused by insomnia, according to a study that followed more than 92,000 adults in their daily lives.
2-Avoid naps at all costs
As tempting as it is, napping reduces the “pressure to sleep” that helps the brain achieve deep sleep at night, explained Professor Guy Leschziner, neurologist at Guy and St. Thomas hospitals in London, according to the English media. .
Instead, try to stick to a routine, getting up and going to bed at the same times all week.
3-Watch your diet
The expert suggests avoiding “large portions, especially those high in carbohydrates, late at night,” he said, which will impact the digestive system overnight and might cause indigestion, reflux and sloshing.
For his part, Dr. Guy Meadows, founder and clinical director of Sleep School advises having dinner before 6 p.m., to allow your system to digest well before going to bed.
4-Cut on the biscuits
In the same vein – and as difficult as it is to hear – diets involving sugars and refined carbohydrates cause even more damage to sleep, according to a study from the University of Columbia.
Indeed, they produce stress hormones, such as adrenaline, during sleep. It is thus better to avoid consuming cakes and biscuits when insomnia is part of daily life.
5-A cup of coffee is good, but…
Coffee consumption should be cut following dinner, as even a small dose six hours before bedtime can have a huge impact on sleep quality. The same goes for alcohol which, despite its sedative effect, greatly impairs sleep.
“Alcohol will worsen the quality of sleep: although many say that alcohol helps them sleep, it rather destroys the quality” since it interrupts the stage of sleep that allows you to feel more rested, explained Dr. Leschziner.
6- There is no point in stressing
While many fear the effects of their insomnia on their long-term health to the point that it prevents them from sleeping, remember that a few nights of tossing and turning won’t have such a big impact on your health.
“The human brain and body can adapt to all kinds of changes: […] even a short period of disturbed sleep will not have a major long-term fundamental impact, the neurologist concluded. Obsessing over sleep will potentially make insomnia worse.”
