Sleep To Improve Your Health!
Improving your mental health may be easier than you think. Sleep used to be one of the most mysterious and misunderstood aspect of our day, but thousands of studies we now understand how truly important it is. Most of the improvements from sleep occur when we get 7-10 hours of sleep a night and the more nights in a row the better for you!
- Sleep removes waste from our daily brain activity during the night to help it run more effectively.
- When we sleep a full night we have better eating habits and less food cravings.
- Our body recovers and builds muscle after exercise, something it will not do if you do not sleep well.
- The last few hours of sleep at night help process emotional experiences we have during the day.
- Our memories get fortified and we are more likely to remember and retain information from the previous day.
- Our brain is overwhelming more efficient after a full nights sleep, which means you will be smarter and better at solving problems.
- When we sleep more, we dream more frequently. This helps us come up with new ideas and leads to more creative thinking.
- Mental health improves overall with consecutive full nights of sleep.
How to Improve Sleep
- Be consistent with what time you go to bed and wake up. This will help your body and brain develop an expectation for sleep.
- Do no look at electronic screens or bright lights for at least a half hour to an hour before bed.
- Avoid caffeine consumption after 2-3pm and nicotine and sugar several hours before bed. Stimulants like these are bad for sleep!
- Give yourself time to get to bed, being rushed will only serve to keep you up longer.
- Avoid drinking too much liquid before bed, to prevent from frequent waking up at night.