It’s a no-brainer that a good night’s sleep is healing and refreshing both physically and mentally. None of us can deny the vitality of a good night’s sleep. Being part of an era, when gadgets and computer screens surround us, it is highly unlikely to get natural sleep. Many factors are playing a role in keeping us awake at night. Moreover, stress at work only makes things worse.
Smoking at night just before dinner and in the later hours disturbs the sleeping habit. Doctors suggest not indulging in smoking or drinking in the evenings. The medical profession relies on scientific evidence and proof. Healthcare professionals know how lack of proper sleep can affect our health and activities of the day. It takes a lot out of hard work just to become medical professionals going through the tough studies & residency that are mentally draining. If we see them working and caring for patients, we will agree that it is one of their fundamental rights to sleep like a baby. Our messiahs not only have to deal with the patients but also with the government and medical billing service companies for healthier reimbursements. Thus, the stress levels are mostly touching the limits. The tips mentioned in this article can help the hard-working individuals, regardless of their type of work, achieve healthier sleeping cycles.
- Avoid Electronic Screens
In the imperative age of internet, smartphones, tablets, computers, and laptops, it is hard to find refuge even at night. The blue light that emits from these screens activates the brain cells resulting in sleeplessness. I also would like to remind everyone of Arianna Huffington’s sleeping routine. Many of us may find relief by following her sleeping rituals. But it depends on us, really, to choose the most suitable methods of putting us to sleep.
Staying away from these gadgets and searching for consolation in a book instead can improve our sleeping cycle.
- Physical Activity
At night, a little bit of physical activity after dinner puts things in perspective. While it clears our heads and is suitable for digestion, it also refreshes our brain by flooding it with endorphins. I don’t recommend exerting ourselves before bedtimes like going for a run or performing intense workouts. But a 30-minute walk around the park can be the right ingredient to this recipe of sleeping like a baby. For instance, if you are medical coder at a medical billing company, sitting on a chair all day can make those legs stagnant. Taking breaks and moving around after every 20 minutes will keep the system in motion. This helps in achieving the best sleeping routine.
- Positive Journaling
It is time to reunite with the pen and paper and put the digital age aside for a while, at least during the night. Writing down or taking note of the top three events that took place during the day can help bring the focus back. By narrating the thoughts in a journal, we can bring those mounting stress levels down and unwind us in a relaxing manner.
- Be Creative as the Night Matures
The night time is perfect to invent something new. You can start writing about a novel idea you had in mind for months but couldn’t transform it into reality. Go for it before bedtime. Rekindle the romance with the pen and paper as mentioned earlier. I think the conventional way of writing makes use of our hands in an absolute way as compared to just using the tips of our fingers on the smartphones. Let those hands dance and glide along the strokes of the pen.
If you are good at drawing, you can create an image that brings the best out of you. You may write a letter to your mom or dad, craft a poem or jot down the list of groceries for tomorrow.
- Breathing Exercise
Breathing certainly encourages natural sleep to kick in. Nothing beats a good meditation routine, but beginners can start by the inhaling and exhaling cycle. Take the air in through the nose slowly counting from 1 to 10. To exhale, use your mouth and slowly breathe-out counting from 10 to 1 backward. Ensuring the stomach fills up with air instead of the chest can lower stress and overall fatigue.
- A hot bath
Taking a hot shower before going to bed doesn’t need any inspiration because the result is fascinating. We are cognizant of the benefits of taking a shower but a bath at night has its positive influence. Let go of all the worries with the soapy water down the drain.
- Tea without caffeine
You can soothe your neurons by drinking a hot cup of tea before going to bed. Our brain needs to switch off to sleep. Tea relaxes the charged up mind, helps it unwind one neuron at a time.
- Don’t use your bed for working
Even if you are working late, replacing the bed with the working essentials is never a good idea. Going into a study or living room is a better place to deal with work leftovers. Keep the bedroom away from anything that can lead to stress. In this way, our brains will eventually look at the bed as a sleeping or a resting place.
- Maintain a routine
If you do not derail from the routine on weekends, it will aid in keeping up with our sleeping schedules. Training our bodies to sleep earlier at the same time and waking up in the early hours of the day is hard to achieve. But once we accomplish this milestone, we will see an incredible improvement in our overall health.