sleep Archives | Better Innovations

Five Yoga Poses to Help You Fall Asleep

May 31, 2014 By Monica Hughes

It can be nearly impossible to turn your brain off when you get in bed at night. Thoughts spiral into a tangled web of worries and to-do lists and sleep is actually pushed further away rather than getting closer. Our bodies even carry the extra stress of the day and it becomes hard to relax.

Yoga instructor Nicole Lynn Hooley has come up with a five minute yoga routine to help you reach a state of relaxation that will lead into a healthy nightâ€™s sleep. All you have to do is stop the day a few minutes earlier to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep every night.

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8 Ways To Improve Your Sleep

February 16, 2013 By Lauren Hill

Getting adequate sleep each night is important for both mental and physical health. However, it can be harder than it appears. Many people struggle with insomnia, unable to sleep through the night. Others stay awake tossing and turning due to stress, anxious legs, back problems, and more. Fortunately, there are easy ways to improve your sleep habits and your health. Try these 8 suggestions today for a well-rested night of sleep and a better morning.

1 – Skip Caffeine

One of the biggest detriments to anyoneâ€™s sleep is caffeine. Many people love their coffee in the morning because it has caffeine, which stimulates their mind and body. Unfortunately, consuming caffeine too close to bedtime can cause sleep trouble. In particular, caffeine should be avoided 4 to 6 hours before bedtime. If your sleeping issues are severe, you might want to consider skipping caffeine entirely.

2 – Create A Sleep Friendly Bedroom

Next, make sure that your bedroom is conducive to effective sleep. A good room is quiet, dark, and cooler in temperature. If noise is a problem, try a white noise machine or earplugs to minimize disruptions that might keep you awake. If it is too light in your room, use a sleeping mask or curtains to shut out excess light. Also, make sure to keep the room temperature between 60 and 75 degrees. Anything outside of this range is either too hot or too cold, and it can impair your ability to sleep properly. Furthermore, make sure to remove distractions from the bedroom that might impair sleep. TV and work should be left out of the room. In addition, bright lights should be avoided.

3 – Prepare For Sleep

Once you have a suitable environment for sleep, you need to prepare properly for sleep. Before bed, participate in activities that are more relaxing:

Relax in the bath.
Watch your favorite TV show.
Read a book.
Listen to relaxing music.
Meditate.

Make sure to avoid activities that can be stressful or stimulating. This could include exercise and work. Also, if you are having a stressful day, write down your problems on a piece of paper to help free your mind prior to sleep.

4 – Sleep When You Are Tired

The right time to sleep varies between individuals, and there is nothing worse than tossing and turning in bed as you struggle to fall asleep. Instead of forcing sleep, get in bed when you are tired. If you cannot fall asleep right away, do not be afraid to get out of bed and relax in another room until you feel tired. When you do this, you will help your body to develop better sleeping habits and to sleep more efficiently.

5 – Stop Looking At The Clock

Furthermore, it is important to stop looking at the clock when you are trying to go to bed at night. In addition, you should try to avoid the clock when you wake up in the middle of the night. In fact, sometimes it is better to remove clocks altogether from the bedroom. They are sometimes discouraging and can prevent people from falling asleep.

6 – Take Advantage Of The Right Light

Although too much light can harm sleep, the right light can actually benefit your sleeping habits. Light in the morning is actually beneficial to the bodyâ€™s internal clock. It can help you develop a good sleeping cycle and allow you to wake up at the proper time. Therefore, try to avoid blinds or curtains that conceal light completely.

7 – Develop A Consistent Sleeping Schedule

Another sleep remedy involves developing a consistent sleeping schedule. When the sleep and wake times vary on a daily basis, your bodyâ€™s internal clock gets confused. This makes it more difficult for your body to understand when rest is needed. It can also cause you suffer from fatigue during the day. When you go to sleep at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each more, your body will sleep better.

8 – Avoid Naps

Those who suffer from daytime fatigues due to improper sleep often try to take naps to fix the problem. Sadly, naps only hinder sleep performance because they confuse your bodyâ€™s biological clock. If you cannot go without a nap, make sure to nap earlier in the day and for short periods. Try a 20-minute power nap after lunch. Then resume your normal activities.

These helpful tips are easy to implement and they will greatly improve your sleep and health. Try them today and enjoy a peaceful night of sleep that is free from interruptions.

Lauren Hill writes for Solstice Medicine Company, an online traditional Chinese medicine company.

Eight Solid Hours: The Importance of a Good Night’s Sleep

August 7, 2012 By smilingdoggie

Over-scheduling has become a modern epidemic, driven by a just-in-time economy and a culture of instant gratification that has given rise to a more or less permanent workday. It shouldn’t be shocking, then, that American adults are more sleep-deprived than ever. During crunch time, the calculation seems obvious: you’ll be more efficient if you stay up a little later and get up a little earlier. Unfortunately, more and more studies suggest that shorting yourself on sleep now may lead to health problems down the road. Read on to learn how to improve the quality of your sleep. [Read more…]

Top Five Ways to Stay Healthy

July 31, 2012 By Steve

Many people hear the word healthy and shudder. We all know the importance of maintaining our health, but doing it is another thing all together. The good news is that by taking a few simple steps and making small changes to our life, we can minimize harmful behaviors. Here, we will explore five ways to stay healthy. [Read more…]

Sleepâ€™s effect on weight loss

August 4, 2011 By KCasey

Whilst many of the benefits of a good nightâ€™s sleep are obvious and quite straight forward there is one huge boon that many people do not associate with slumber. Sleep is primarily known for helping individuals achieve alertness and improving their cerebral workings yet it also provides benefits such as helping stave off illness and, surprisingly, maintaining or even losing weight.

Studies

One of the most recent pieces of academic research that looked into the correlation between sleep and weight was conducted and published by the British Medical Journey. The longitudinal study took 244 child participants and measured both the amount of sleep they had and their Body Mass Index (BMI). The aim of the study was to see if here was any link between the two and the findings seemed to suggest that there were indeed. One finding highlighted that children aged between three and seven who slept less than the recommended eleven hours per night were much more likely to be overweight than those who managed to do so. Additionally for every hour on top of the suggested eleven a child was able to gain decreased their chances of being overweight by nearly two thirds. A similar study from the Warwick Medical School found that thirty months old who did not sleep the suggested amount were 45% more likely to be obese at the age of seven than those who managed to gain the appropriate slumber.

Sleepâ€™s affect on weight loss hormones

As the human body sleeps it releases a number of hormones. All of these hormones have different jobs aimed at restoring, fixing and managing the body. There are those, such as Melatonin, which have the goal of fixing broken cells and thus reducing the risk of cancer. Similarly there are hormones, primarily Leptin and Grehlin, which are used to help a body understand the amount of sustenance it needs and helping it regulate its dietary requirements. As these are released during slumber, if too little sleep is gained then the hormones will be released in insufficient quantities. This can result in the human body having a superficial appetite as the hormones which are used to suppress this have not been released to the appropriate degree. 8 hours sleep per night is the recommended amount to stave off these effects.

The correlation between sleep and exercise

One of the many benefits of sleep is the improvement it can deliver to exercise standards. Even better is the fact that this is a circular relationship. A study published in Sleep: Journal of Sleep Research & Sleep Medicine in 1997 found that individuals who engaged in exercise were able to improve all subjective levels of sleep quality whilst staving off the effects of depression. The circular part of this correlation comes from the fact that individuals who are able to gain an optimum amounts of sleep, helped by exercise, are able to undertake greater levels of exercise due to the increased energy levels that come with a good nightâ€™s slumber. This, in conjunction with hormones such as Leptin and Grehlin, helps an individual lose weight as many calories whilst be burnt by this additional exercise.

About the author

Kieron Casey is a BA (Hons) Journalism graduate who blogs regularly on a number of topics including health, fitness and baby bedding.