10 tips that will help you sleep well with quality sleep

Everyone has heard the typical tips for getting a good night's sleep : get the TV out of the bedroom, find the perfect bed, say goodbye an hour or two before bedtime to your electronics, etc.

Sleep is important, because it allows your body to recover, helps build muscle after exercise, and performs vital metabolic processes like clearing toxic proteins from the brain.

Also, during REM sleep, your "asleep" brain is very busy consolidating short-term memories into long-term memories.

Lack of sleep is linked to a host of health problems. Many studies have found that it increases inflammation, impairs focus, fat loss, insulin levels, testosterone production, and your cardiovascular health.

In a recent study, it was found that it is also associated with a higher chance of inadequate hydration.

Getting “enough” sleep is not the same as “enough quality” sleep. Because, sure enough, you might do it for 8 hours, but how many of those hours have actually been total rest?

Tips to sleep well

Keep you away from the light

Light helps regulate the human biological clock through melatonin , a hormone that tells the body it's time to sleep. Blue light, which is produced by the sun, but also by TV, computer, and smartphone screens, disrupts melatonin production.

One trial examined the impact of smartphones with and without blue light and found that although blue light artifacts did not significantly affect serum melatonin levels , they did reduce sleepiness.

So if you have to use electronic devices before bed, install a program that gradually reduces the blue light from the screen after sunset. Fortunately, more and more devices come with such a program pre-installed (for example, Night Shift on iPhones and Macs).

But what if you can't easily adjust the color balance of your screen? Or if the blue light source is a lighting fixture in a room that you share with other people?

In these cases, wear glasses that block it a couple of hours before going to sleep. However, remember that while blue light is the main offender, you should avoid bright lights in the hours before bed.

To sleep well, darken your room by using curtains on the windows. If you can't, then you may have the option of a sleep mask.

Reduce noise to sleep well

Just as light that doesn't wake you up can affect the quality of your sleep , noise that doesn't wake you up affects you too. Not all sounds have the same impact. Sudden noises are more likely to disturb your sleep than constant noises.

For example, the sound of the air conditioner running may not bother you too much, but the air conditioner itself can affect you, or even wake you up, if it turns on abruptly while you sleep.

The noises most likely to disturb your sleep are the ones that have meaning. At the same volume, two people talking are more likely to wake you up than instrumental music.

You may also be able to sleep through heavy traffic noise (although not without loss of sleep quality) and wake with a start if your baby makes a much softer, but disturbing sound.

Therefore, if you sleep in a noisy environment, use earplugs. These attenuate high frequencies more than low frequencies, protecting you against car horns, but not much against traffic noise.

So, as a general rule, both light and sound should be minimized.

Control the heat to sleep well

Did you know that elevated core body temperature has been associated with insomnia? So if your bedroom is too warm or warm enough to raise your core body temperature, you may have trouble falling asleep and experience a decrease in quality of sleep.

Conversely, a cooler room can help decrease sleep latency by keeping your core body temperature low .

So if your bedroom is cool enough to lower your core body temperature, but not so cool that it's uncomfortable, you can fall asleep faster and enter the deeper stages of sleep sooner.

Even if high temperatures do not prevent you from sleeping, you should strive to do so in a cool room, as heat can affect sleep quality more than noise.

To drink alcohol

Science says that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant . This means that it causes relaxation by binding to GABA receptors in the brain. In other words, alcohol helps you relax; and you may think it contributes to good sleep, but research shows otherwise.

It's true that alcohol can help you fall asleep at first, but this effect wears off after a few days if you keep drinking close to bedtime.

Ironically, alcohol use disorders have even been linked to insomnia, although their cause or consequence is uncertain.

Keep your caffeine intake under control

Caffeine is generally safe and certainly has its benefits, but also some drawbacks, as it can block different adenosine receptors in the brain, with varying effects.

By blocking the A1 receptor , which promotes sleepiness when activated, caffeine can increase alertness. By blocking the A 2A receptor , it could increase dopamine levels, with stimulant and mood-boosting effects.

The A1 receptor does not seem to desensitize, which may be why caffeine does not lose its wake-up effect. However, the A 2A receptor becomes desensitized, which is why coffee drinkers don't feel a true stimulation, even after drinking several cups.

It is possible that by not feeling stimulated, coffee drinkers may believe that caffeine will not affect their sleep. In fact, many people can fall asleep with caffeine coursing through their veins.

However, while you sleep, caffeine makes you more alert and your sleep tends to be shallow. For that reason, you should avoid caffeine within six hours of bedtime.

Does exercise help you sleep well?

"If you sleep well you will feel more energy to exercise." "Exercising will make you sleep better." Are these claims true? Well, studies don't always agree, in part, because they don't always focus on the same population.

A 2013 study of 11 women with insomnia found that better sleep generated more energy for exercise, but more exercise did not help with good sleep.

Another in 2014 showed that sleeping well didn't generate more energy to exercise, but that more exercise led to better sleep.

When exercise causes pain, poor sleep that night makes it more tempting to skip a workout. Although the exact mechanisms are not yet clear, physical activity during the day seems to improve sleep quality, especially during times of stress.

Many types of exercise such as meditation, yoga, and tai-chi, or something more intense, such as aerobic exercise and resistance training, have the potential to improve sleep quality, as well as mood and health. in general.

But is exercising at night bad? Well yes and no. Physical activity raises your core temperature, which isn't conducive to getting a good night's sleep, but that rise is temporary.

Exercise also increases the production of epinephrine (known as adrenaline), but that increase is also temporary, and therefore should only affect your sleep if you jump straight from the gym to bed, without taking the time to shower.

However, everyone is different, so if you find that exercising too much close to bedtime disrupts your sleep, try finding another time to train.

Establish a consistent sleep time

Your body is a giant clock that counts every second and records every year. Most physiological processes follow a 24-hour schedule, based on cues such as temperature and light.

This 24-hour schedule is your circadian rhythm , and by messing it up, an inconsistent sleep schedule is likely to affect the quality of your sleep. Going to bed at around the same time each night can improve the quality of your sleep and reduce the time it takes you to fall asleep.

To further solidify your circadian rhythm, a bedtime routine can help by signaling to your body that you'll be going to bed soon. This routine can be as simple as taking a bath and brushing your teeth. You can also spend a certain amount of time reading or meditating.

Melatonin

The absence of blue light signals your body to produce melatonin, which in turn signals your body that it's time to sleep. That's why it's important to avoid blue lights for two hours before bed.

If you've already taken that step and the others described above, but still have trouble falling asleep, you could try taking melatonin as an oral supplement. At Evolution we have 2 great supplements with melatonin.

On the one hand we have Fat burner that helps you stimulate good sleep, controls appetite, reduces stress and is an excellent fat metabolizer. This product is ideal when you are in an accelerated weight loss process.

We also have SLEEP , which is a natural sleep regulator and relaxant that does not cause drowsiness. It contains 3 components that are in charge of helping you, such as melatonin, magnesium and L-theanine. For more information consult the pages of these products.

Oral melatonin can help you alleviate insomnia, reduce sleep latency, and improve sleep quality, even in children and older adults. It also helps combat jet lag. Therefore, it is popular among frequent travelers.

If you've implemented tips 1-7 in this article and are still having trouble falling asleep, you can try taking melatonin close to bedtime.

Magnesium

A lack of magnesium, a dietary mineral that plays an important role in the brain, can result in abnormal neural excitations that lead to sleep disturbances. Supplemental magnesium has been shown to improve sleep quality.

Its deficiency is not unknown in young people, especially athletes, since magnesium is lost through sweat. However, getting the recommended daily allowance should be easy: Magnesium-rich foods are numerous and can fit into all kinds of diets.

use lavender

Among the many possible causes of lack of sleep, two of the most common in our modern world are stress and the simple fact that many people don't schedule enough time for a good night's sleep on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, no powder or pill will allow you to cram eight hours of sleep into six hours, but some supplements can help ease stress.

One of them is magnesium, presented above. Another is lavender, the scent of which has been shown to promote relaxation, relieve insomnia, and improve sleep quality.

But beware, the Endocrine Society and the National Institutes of Health warn that there is mechanistic and anecdotal evidence that lavender oil has estrogenic properties and can cause gynecomastia (breast enlargement in men).

So if you are a man and after using lavender you notice some kind of reaction, stop using it and consult an endocrine specialist.

As you can see, sleeping well is more important than you can imagine. And even if you sleep 8 hours, what counts is the time you really rest enough.

So, if you've already tried all these tips to improve your sleep quality and still wake up tired, we recommend that you go to a doctor to make sure you don't have sleep apnea or another disorder.