Sleep disorders are one of lifestyle-related diseases. By adjusting your lifestyle, many people will be able to sleep soundly. Here, we introduce a checklist of sleep-related lifestyle habits from the “Sleep Test Handbook.”
Table of Contents
Sleep and wakefulness that form the basis of lifestyle habits and life rhythms
In order to improve sleep, it is important to review lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise.You can sleep soundly at night and be active during the day. If you have a good rhythm of day and night, wakefulness and sleep, you can live a healthy life with a well-balanced mental and physical rhythm. Conversely, if your lifestyle is disrupted and your sleep and wakefulness rhythms are out of sync, you are more likely to catch colds and other illnesses.
” (All Japan Hospital Publishing) , written to spread knowledge about sleep among the general public, contains a checklist of lifestyle habits that improve the quality of sleep. Here, we will introduce the item with an explanation. By the way, ” Sleep test handbook ” is a text for passing the sleep test. If you want to deepen your knowledge about sleep, why not try the sleep test? For more information.
maintain body clock
Almost every cell in our body has an internal clock . The human body clock is slightly longer than 24 hours, so it must be reset every day to match the external 24 hour clock. For that reason, it is important to have a regular life and to be exposed to light.
The following five items are the habits of adjusting the body clock and regularizing the biorhythm . Let’s check if it works or not.
- Wake up at about the same time every day
- I eat breakfast while chewing my teeth
- Getting plenty of sunshine in the morning
- I am not obsessed with getting 8 hours of sleep, but I follow a regular sleep schedule that suits me.
- I try not to have irregular sleep schedules
It is important to stay awake to get a good night’s sleep
Walking increases serotonin, a stimulantSleep and wakefulness are like pendulums. If you stay awake during the bright hours, you will be able to sleep soundly at night. However, low arousal during the day can make it harder to fall asleep at night and result in poor quality sleep.
For example, if you go to bed late on a day off, you will not feel sleepy after waking up. In order to stay awake during the day, it is important to spend time in the sun and to be active.
The following 7 items are lifestyle habits to ensure good wakefulness during the day and before going to bed .
- I meet as many people as possible during the day
- I spend a lot of time walking and being active during the day.
- enjoys hobbies
- The sun is shining during the day
- Taking a nap for 15 to 20 minutes (30 minutes or less for those 55 and older) after lunch and at 3:00 p.m.
- Doing light exercise, gymnastics, or walking in the evening
- I haven’t fallen asleep since the evening
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Preparing for a good night’s sleep
When night falls, prepare yourself for a little sleep. The autonomic nervous system includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nerves are active during the day, but before going to sleep, it is necessary to calm the sympathetic nerves and create a state in which the parasympathetic nerves are dominant.
Therefore, avoid stimulants such as light and caffeine at night. Taking a lukewarm bath will help you relax and prepare for sleep. Using your smartphone or mobile phone in bed can make it worse for sleep quality. The screens of smartphones and other devices are small, but the blue light emitted from them reduces melatonin, the sleep hormone, so be careful.
Here are 10 lifestyle habits to help you relax before bed and prepare your brain for sleep .
- Do not drink coffee or green tea after evening
- Haven’t smoked 1 hour before going to bed
- Dim the lights in the room an hour before going to bed
- Soaking slowly in a lukewarm bath
- Not watching TV or working in bed
- Keep your bedroom quiet and warm
- Doing relaxing exercises (abdominal breathing) before going to bed
- not drinking to sleep
- not worrying in bed
- I’m in bed because I’m sleepy
So far, we have introduced the 22 items of the lifestyle checklist from the “Sleep Test Handbook”.
Keep doing what you are already doing. If there is something you haven’t done before, and you think you can do it, or you think you should try it, even just one is fine, so let’s start today. After a month or so, you will definitely notice an improvement in the quality of your sleep.