The Power of Rest: How to Sleep Right and Boost Your Health

The average adult should have a quality night’s sleep, between 7 and 9 hours. The harsh reality is only around  26% of Americans  get anywhere near that much sleep per night. 

Learning how to sleep is crucial for your overall health. It gives your body time to recover from workouts, boost mental function, and digest the food you enjoyed so you can keep everything functioning at optimal levels. 

Of course, knowing is only half the battle. Here is some essential information on why sleep is so important and how changing a few habits can quickly lead to better sleep sooner rather than later. 

The importance of sleep cannot be overstated. It is the difference between quality brain performance, a positive mood, and overall health to feeling discouraged and ready to crash for the day. 

There have been all kinds of scientific studies demonstrating how lack of sleep often leads to numerous health problems like weakening your body’s natural immunity, gaining unwanted weight, and slowing brain function when you need to be alert for a work presentation. 

When you occasionally sleep in and get your essential 7 to 9 hours, you: 

• Have a better immune system, reducing the chances of sickness. 
• Maintaining a healthier weight. 
• Lower the risk of health issues. 
• Reduce stress in your mind and body. 
• Boost your mood and daily outlook. 
• Get along better with the people around you. 
• Think more clearly, improving performance at work and school. 

The path to better sleep begins and ends with you. Making a conscious decision to boost your sleep hygiene will ensure you are getting in all the “z’s” you need for success. 

It’s hard to rebuild a car’s engine if you don’t have a garage full of tools. The same is valid for getting sleep help. You want an environment conducive to proper sleep health. 

Start with a cooler room, somewhere around  65 degrees Fahrenheit, if you can swing it. Either use thick curtains to eliminate light and noise from outside or some form of ambient machine for the sounds you like (ocean waves, rain, etc.). Make sure your bedding is soft and comfortable for your unique needs, and try to eliminate any distractions around your space. 

One thing that works well is not having a TV or phone in your sleeping area. If you must have a phone, put the charger away from your bed area, like on a dresser across the room. 

Johns Hopkins reports that having solid exercise ensures you fall asleep more quickly and get higher quality sleep during the night. The good news is that working out doesn’t require endless sweating at your local gym. 

The goal is to avoid heavily vigorous workouts close to bedtime. That can spike your energy level and make it harder to sleep. You want something lighter that moves your body and makes you feel a little tired. We suggest our  Redliro Walking Pad with a 4% Incline. This way, you can work out, challenge yourself, and still be able to drift to dreamland when you’re all done. 

We all love a fresh scoop of ice cream in a cone, but maybe you need to pull it back a little. Foods that have been  overly processed  with too much sugar, fat, and salts make sleep harder to acquire. You cannot get sleep help if you’re downing a bag of Twinkies right before bed.

This fact doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy the occasional candy bar. However, you need to balance it out with a healthier diet plan full of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods. That will give your body the essential nutrients it needs without a giant spike in unhealthy items like sugar. 

There is a trick to never getting writer’s block. If you set aside the same time each day, inspiration comes to you. The same trick can be used for better sleep. Learning how to sleep always starts with having a set sleep schedule. 

The goal is to trick your circadian rhythm so your body naturally produces the hormones needed to fall asleep. Find a good time that you know you can stay consistent with every night, and your body’s internal clock will happily accommodate your needs. 

Having caffeine up to  6 hours before your regular sleep  schedule significantly disrupts the quality of rest. A good rule of thumb is to cut any caffeine intake after 2 pm. This way, your body has time to flush out any caffeine left over from a hard workday or a lunch date at your favorite coffee shop. 

Remember, caffeine comes in many forms. Coffee and tea, of course, but chocolate, espresso, energy drinks, and many sodas have potent caffeine ingredients. 

If you want to learn how to sleep better, you have to put down the screens. TVs, cell phones, video games, tablets, and laptops emit blue light arrays. They overstimulate your brain and make getting a good night’s sleep significantly more challenging. 

Most research suggests that you should be good to go if you give yourself a 1.5- to 2-hour buffer between using technology and getting to bed. Pick up a book, do a crossword, or enjoy an evening talking with a partner, and you should sleep better.