Poor sleep is a common issue in the 21st century. People struggle with falling asleep or waking up a few times during the night, making it hard to live the day without energy and low concentration. No one likes poor sleep, but not everyone knows that how we live the day directly affects how we sleep.
Statistics show that approximately 30% of all U.S. residents struggle to fall or stay asleep. Even though we all had restless nights, chronic lack of sleep is a disease that can lead to many health issues. For example, chronic lack of sleep is linked to obesity, heart disease, mood swings, imbalanced hormones, depression and anxiety.
If you always struggle with getting enough sleep, there might be some things that can affect it. In some cases, you will just need to change some habits. However, if nothing that we mentioned above feels like you, we recommend consulting a healthcare professional to check whether you have a sleep disorder.
Restless Sleep Symptoms
If you don’t know whether you get enough sleep, explore the most common symptoms your body shows that you are not getting sleep in the quantity or quality that you need:
- Morning fatigue;
- Headaches;
- Low concentration;
- Irritability;
- Aggression or mood changes;
- Increased appetite;
- Trouble falling asleep at night;
- Waking up a couple of times in the night;
- Staying awake for 1-2 hours during the night.
Why You Have Poor Sleep Quality
Knowing some reasons why you may have poor sleep quality can help you create a new pre-sleep routine and adjust your body to better sleep. By resolving these reasons as soon as possible, you can quickly prevent the long-term effects of chronic lack of sleep.
Wrong Room Temperature
Sleep experts say that room temperature is essential for having quality sleep. Not feeling comfortable enough in your sleeping room will bring a serious impact on your ability to fall asleep. Discomfort in sleeping conditions, in general, negatively affects how you sleep.
The wrong temperature means you have either too hot or too cold in your sleeping room.
Sleep experts say that perfect sleep conditions are when it is a little cold in your room. First of all, keeping the thermostat lower helps make sure you won’t wake up during the night because it is too hot in the room. In addition, the body temperature decreases when you fall asleep. Therefore, lowering the room temperature can help boost the same process and allow your body to relax and fall asleep more readily.
Too Much Caffeine
Having a cup of delicious coffee in the morning is an excellent way to get more energy. However, if you tend to drink coffee during the day, you will notice that it is harder to fall asleep. Coffee needs 4-6 hours to fully leave the organism, so the last cup of coffee should be before 5 p.m.
But we not only talk about coffee here. Coke also contains caffeine and green tea as well. Switch these drinks into something more soothing and without caffeine to make sure you will get enough sleep during the night.
High & Chronic Stress
Stress and worries are the two most common reasons why you may struggle to fall asleep. If you have ever found yourself lying in bed and worrying about something because you can’t fall asleep, this may be your reason for poor sleep quality.
Even though stress is normal and you won’t be able to reduce it at all, try to manage stressful situations and calm yourself down. Racing thoughts before sleep can appear when you’re overwhelmed with stress in your daily life. Stressful situations and fear about something can cause anxiety.
Luckily, there are many ways you can reduce stress and promote relaxation to get better sleep. These include breathing techniques, using a sound of rain app or turning to aromatherapy since oils have been shown to soothe nerves and reduce stress. Also, since meditation is thought to be beneficial for mental and physical health, you can use a mesmerize app that opens up a unique audio visual meditation experience to help you relax, calm your mind and improve your sleep quality.
Late Exercises
Even though staying active and including regulator physical activity during the day helps improve sleep quality, most people make a common mistake – workout too late. Exercising late in the evening may have a negative impact on your ability to fall asleep. The reason is simple – when you exercise, the body releases adrenaline, which increases energy and concentration. This may even cause racing thoughts and anxiety in some people if they work out late.
Even though you may feel tired after workouts, your body is ready for 5-6 hours of activity. So ensure you have intensive exercise only in the morning or before launch. If you still want to exercise, but it’s too late, do yoga, pilates or stretching as a soothing alternative.
Alcohol Before Sleep
Even though a glass of wine before sleep will probably make you sleepy, when you drink too much before you go to bed, it can interrupt your sleep. While alcohol always causes feelings of drowsiness, it can confuse your circadian rhythm – our inner clocks are responsible for falling asleep and waking up. Keeping this rhythm healthy is essential if you want to have a quality night’s rest, but if you constantly confuse it, you will soon notice that it is hard for you to fall asleep.
A Sleep Disorder
The last but also vital reason why you may experience sleep issues is that you may have a sleep disorder. Since modern life is all about stress, pressure, lots of responsibilities and fast speed, a lot of people have developed sleep disorders. These might be insomnia, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, or parasomnias.
While sleep disorders are popular, experts say they tend to be underdiagnosed. For instance, one study reports that only about 20% of patients struggling with insomnia are accurately diagnosed and treated for the disease.
