Proper sleep is crucial to your physical and mental health, as sleep gives your body the chance to heal itself. During the day, your muscles and tissues go through wear and tear, and sleep provides them with time to heal. It is also essential for your immune system; otherwise, your body will not have the ability to fight disease.
If you don’t get enough sleep, you might get sick as your body doesn’t get time to repair itself. It could also become difficult to focus and makes you gain weight.
As you grow older, you need less sleep, with newborns needing 14-17 hours a day and adults need 7-9 hours.
Falling asleep immediately after you get to bed is usually a sign of sleep deprivation. In this case, you should make changes to your sleep schedule to have more time to sleep. A person who is well-rested needs about 10-15 minutes to fall asleep.
Types of sleep
There are two types of sleep. These are Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. Non-REM sleep occurs in 3 stages. The first stage is where you go from being awaken to falling asleep. It lasts a few minutes.
The next stage is light sleep, while Stage 3 is deep sleep. Stage 3 leads to REM sleep.
How to have better sleep
A few changes to your lifestyle might help you sleep better. These include making changes to your diet, exercising and following a sleep schedule. Certain kinds of food can make it easy to sleep at night. Poultry contains tryptophan that might make you feel sleepy. Alcohol and caffeine, on the other hand, can make it hard to sleep.
For the perfect sleep environment, turn off all lights, avoid noise and lower the temperature to 60-75°F. Light from your phone or computer could keep you awake, so turn off all your screen 1-2 hours before going to bed.
If you find it hard to fall asleep 20 minutes after getting into bed, get out of bed and try doing something to relax you. You could choose to read, knit or take a bath. Avoid stimulating activities before going to bed, as this will only make it difficult to sleep.
