Who doesn’t like to drift off to the dream world after facing the harsh reality all day? Everyone! Right! Sleep is essential for forgetting about everyday sorrows and for starting a new day with refreshing and energetic vibes.
However, despite spending more time on the mattress, sometimes certain variables can interfere with your ability to have a good night’s sleep and cause a delay in your journey to la-la land. Some of them can be controlled, while some can’t. However, it’s better to look at them and try to find a solution before they get out of our hands and cause more significant problems in the future.
To understand more about it, here are some factors elaborated which affect our sleep in the wrong way:
Your sleeping arrangements matter
Your sleeping environment and sleeping habits are the two factors that have the most significant impact on your ability to sleep.
Place for slumber
Even after sleeping for a sufficient number of hours, if you still don’t feel well, you should think about looking around.
Your ability to sleep comfortably depends on various factors, including the mattress’s comfort level, room temperature, fragrance, noise level, and light.
- Mattress – the primary thing we require for sleeping is a mattress, which is soft, comfortable and gives you a good sleep. However, after some time, mattresses start to sag and become uncomfortable. Also, the firmness of mattresses we use must support our sleeping positions, such as; for back and stomach sleeper’s firm mattress is required to keep the spine, while side sleepers need a softer mattress that aligns with the body curvatures. Nowadays, mattress brand in India provides plush, firm, ortho, and hybrid mattresses.
- Temperature—The study reveals that we can’t sleep if our room is hot and humid. Thus, proper ventilation, a cooling mattress, and a lower room temperature are the most important things.
- Noises- Since we need to calm down our brains to have a good night’s sleep, we must find a place that is not noisy or completely silent.
- Light- Our circadian rhythm works on light conditioning around us. It sends signals to our body to sleep when it goes dark outside and when it wakes us up when it’s bright. To avoid any issues with the balance of circadian rhythm, it’s always better to sleep in a dark or dimly lighted room.
- Fragrance- The place we sleep must not stink as we find it uncomfortable even to stand in bad-smelling areas, let alone sleep. Also, due to our body heat and odour, our mattresses and pillows smell bad, and since we can’t wash them, it’s essential to give them proper sunlight.
If any of these are damaged, they will almost certainly interfere with your sleep, and if this situation persists, it could lead to severe sleep disorders or health problems.
Posture for sleeping
Many people have a preferred sleeping position on their back, stomach, or side, which they like or are likely to wake up in. However, there are various reasons why that position might only sometimes be comfortable, including physical aches, injuries, improper bedding, and a lack of available sleeping space. If you want the best possible sleep, you must consider these variables; otherwise, any issues that may arise will impact your sleep and general health.
Altered work hours and jet lag
Many people tend to fall asleep as soon as they get into bed, but in recent years, people have become more career-oriented, and the responsibilities that come with them have started seriously influencing their sleep.
A longer workday and rotating shifts
A blend of grown competitiveness in the workplace and modern communication technology made us available even after we departed the workplace, resulting in working overtime. It interferes with our time for ourselves and keeps us up at night wondering about our productivity and achievement.
Constant time zone switching
Countless people now travel internationally as a result of globalization. Most frequently travel, severely disrupting their circadian rhythm and reducing their sleep quality. It further develops into more sleep-related illnesses and conditions.
Watch your diet
Who doesn’t enjoy eating? In addition to its significance for survival, everyone enjoys constantly sating their palates with various cuisines. However, poor eating habits might seriously interfere with getting to bed on time.
Our circadian rhythm keeps the body’s metabolism, sleep-wake cycles, and hunger in balance. Unfortunately, unhealthy eating habits can impact this rhythm just as much as other unnatural elements.
The poor proportion of meals
Everything we eat must be appropriately digested to be healthy, which might take a while depending on several things like meal quantity and timing. A sour stomach is caused by insufficient time between dinner and bedtime for your metabolism to function, and eating large meals only worsens the problem.
Additionally, eating less or being hungry might lead to weakness, which can keep you twisting on the mattress at night.
Incorrect dietary choices
It’s vital to be mindful of your diet throughout the day and before bed since an unsettled stomach might make it difficult to fall asleep. Overeating or not eating enough can result in improper nutrients and vitamins being ingested, which can harm our entire health, including our ability to sleep.
Additionally, drinking too much alcohol and caffeine affects our ability to sleep because they stimulate our brains more and cause restless nights.
Other factors that matter
Other variables, such as health problems and unexpected life changes, also affect our ability to sleep.
Health problems
Chronic or transient health difficulties always negatively impact our everyday routine, including sleep. Your ability to sleep is disrupted by discomfort, drugs, and their adverse effects. Our quality of sleep may be worsened by these health problems, doubling our risk of developing sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, etc.
Life-altering experiences
Whether the news is positive or negative, it can still be alarming and leave us stressed or anxious. Your body undergoes a neural system shift during sleep, switching from an active sympathetic system to a more relaxed parasympathetic functioning. The dynamic nervous system doesn’t shut down while you’re under stress because this transformation is interrupted.
In this situation, your brain continues to be overactive, and your anxiety over being unable to sleep only worsens the situation.
Avoid using technology
Despite being a blessing for us, modern technology is a curse for sleep. The blue and white light emitted from laptop and phone screens can severely disrupt your sleep cycle. This light prevents the production of melatonin, a hormone that notifies our bodies it’s time to sleep.
