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How To Improve Sleep Quality (Top 5 Tips!)
- Richard J Yun
- Dec 12, 2019
- 2 min read
Sleep is more important than we think. The human body can go 3 weeks without water and about 2 weeks days without food, but we can only go 72 hours without sleep before noticing extreme symptoms such as
- extreme fatigue
- hormonal imbalances
- decreased motivation
- risky decisions
- inflexible reasoning
- decreased attention
- speech impairments
- drowsiness
Here are 5 simple tips for making the sleep of your dreams a nightly reality.
1. Avoid Caffeine & Alcohol
Caffeine is a stimulant that can keep you awake. So avoid caffeine (found in coffee, tea, chocolate, Coca-Cola, and some pain relievers) for four to six hours before bedtime.
Caffeine can significantly worsen sleep quality, especially if you drink large amounts in the late afternoon or evening.
2. Establish a Pre-sleep Routine
Avoid stressful, stimulating activities—doing work, discussing emotional issues. Physically and psychologically stressful activities can cause the body to secrete the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with increasing alertness.
Try and avoid using electronics an hour to two hours before bed. Blue light keeps you up and alert!
3. Don't Nap!
Try to avoid naps throughout the day. While short power naps are beneficial, long or irregular napping during the day can negatively affect your sleep.
Sleeping in the daytime can confuse your internal clock, meaning that you may struggle to sleep at night (Healthline)
Another study noted that while napping for 30 minutes or less can enhance daytime brain function, longer naps can negatively affect health and sleep quality (Healthline)
4. Take Melatonin
If you are struggling with falling asleep and looking for a safe method to solve your problem, Melatonin supplements might be the solution.
Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the sleep–wake cycle. It is primarily released by the pineal gland. As a supplement, it is often used for the short-term treatment of trouble sleeping.
Melatonin supplements are an extremely popular sleep aid
In one study, 2 mg of melatonin before bed improved sleep quality and energy the next day and helped people fall asleep faster. In another study, half of the group fell asleep faster and had a 15% improvement in sleep quality (Healthline)
5. Adjust Your Bed
In Dave Asprey's most recent book called Game Changers, he revealed a life hack for quality sleep. If you raise the height of the head of your bed by 6 inches it will vastly improve the quality of your sleep. Get blocks, bricks or other items to lift up the head of your bed. So, how does this work? According to Dave, while you sleep all the cells in your brain dehydrate (and then replenish) themselves to get rid of toxic proteins that build up during the day. He calls this process "brainwash".
Try these tips out for yourself and let me know how it goes!
I'm a UofT student and this is a student exploration project sponsored by KiImpact.com
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