Infographic Source: 80 Eye-Opening Stats & Facts About Sleep
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Improve Your Sleep
Flowers to Help You Sleep (Beautiful Way to Improve Your Sleep!)
After a day of working our minds to solve problems and craft solutions, we tend to be exhausted. Oddly enough, once we are settled into our bedrooms, it’s hard to shut our eyes and catch some zzz’s. Plenty of people experience restless nights even though they have been hard at work all day. This could be due to our thoughts still occupying our minds and not having the proper air quality in our homes.
Sometimes when we are physically drained, our minds stay awake, thinking about all the work we have done that day and will get to the next day. To add to factors affecting our sleep, breathing harmful chemicals takes a toll on our physical health, not allowing us to properly rest. To combat all of this, FTD has created a guide to help you get the rest you need to wake up feeling refreshed. There are flowers to help you sleep better and breathe better. Take a look at four flowers below to calm your mind and clean your air. Have a lovely rest tonight!
How to Improve Your Sleep
by Kenny Gill
Sleeping well impacts your physical and mental health in positive ways. If you lack enough sleep or are sleep deficient, it will take a stern toll on your emotional balance, daytime energy, weight, as well as your productivity. A good night sleep is as fundamental as your healthy diet and regular exercise. According to research, poor sleeping habits or lack of enough sleep impacts your brain function, hormones, and exercise performance in a negative manner. Additionally, it causes weight gain and increases the risk of contracting illnesses in children and adults. Nonetheless, many people often toss and turn at night struggling to get some sleep. Some students may work on their tasks till late, thereby finding it hard to sleep well. Hence, some of them may sit and ask, “Who can write an essay for me?”
Getting a good night’s sleep may be impossible for them if they do not know how they will go about their assignments. If you are one of these students, you need to know that you have more power over the eminence of your sleep than you realize. If you have too many assignments to handle, consider seeking professional CV writing help. This will enable you to worry less about your tasks and get to enjoy your sleep. Also, the remedy for your sleeping difficulties lies in your day-to-day routine. Unhealthy lifestyle choices and daytime habits can make you toss and turn at night thereby affecting your mood, immune system, heart health, creativity, brain, and vitality. However, by experimenting with the tips for better sleep below, not only will you enjoy your sleep at night but also improve your health. Additionally, it will boost how you feel and think during the day.
Drink less coffee
Coffee has several benefits, and a significant percentage of people around the world consume it. A single dose can improve your sports performance, energy, as well as your focus. But when you consume it late in the evening, it can stimulate your nervous system and may inhibit your body from resting at night. Studies reveal that drinking coffee 6-8 hours before your bedtime will worsen your sleep quality in a significant manner.
Coffee can stay high in your blood for a longer period. Thus, consuming it in large amounts is not suitable for your sleep quality.
Try to wake up and go to bed at one time
Another factor that may hinder you from getting to enjoy your sleep is waking up and going to bed at different times. Your mind and body can adapt to the changes you bring to them with ease. If you sleep early and wake up early today but sleep late and wake up late the other day, you will not be able to enjoy your sleep. Your mind and body can acclimatize or adjust to the day-to-day waking up and sleeping hours you embrace. Alternating them as the days go by can affect how you’re brain functions, as well as your productivity.
So, to learn how to get better sleep, try waking up and going to bet at one time. Do not alternate your sleep routine. But, if you have assignments to work on or you are studying for exams, try and adjust your sleep schedule so that it does not affect how your mind and body work.
Try to remove all light sources
Human bodies have a natural hormone (melatonin) that undergoes regulation by exposure to light, which helps control your cycle of sleeping and waking up. The brain discharges less melatonin when there is light thereby making your mare attentive and more when it is dark hence increasing your sleep. But, modern life aspects can change your body’s melatonin production and alter the rhythm of your circadian.
Nonetheless, to learn how to improve sleep, try to control or remove all light sources. Expose yourself to bright light or spend more time outside during the day and avoid bright screens or reading with backlit devices at night. Also, when it is time to sleep, ensure that your room is dark.
Buy an orthopedic mattress and pillow
Another factor that may affect how you sleep is the type of bedding that you sleep in. The quality of your mattress and pillow ought to be put into consideration if you are looking to learn how to sleep better. If you sleep in a mattress and pillow which have been in use for a while, you will not get to enjoy your sleep. Thus, the reason why most people prefer sleeping in a hotel.
The right mattress and pillow will not only improve your sleep but also boost your health. They help reduce shoulder pains, back stiffness, and back pains. The best mattress and pillow are subjective in extreme ways. If you are looking to upgrade your bedding, consider buying an orthopedic mattress and pillow. Also, health specialists recommend that you advance your bedding every five to eight years.
Put ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your mobile
Your phone can also distract you from sleeping well at night. You may be receiving phone calls or email notifications, which can prevent you from sleeping. You may receive some news that can hinder you from sleeping at all. Hence, this will come to affect your productivity, brain function, as well as your health. So, you need to refrain from receiving phone calls and email or social media notifications at night. Consider putting ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your phone. This will help to stop or prevent notifications, calls, and alerts from making any noise, lighting up your phone, or vibrating when you lock the screen. Go the settings section of your phone and put in on. Another advantage of this feature is that it does not have any effect on alarms. So, if you set an alarm to wake up at a particular time, you do not have to worry about anything.
In conclusion, sleep is integral to the body as much as a healthy diet and regular exercise. Getting enough sleep helps boost your immune system, productivity, brain function, weight, as well as your creativity. Thus, you must ensure you get enough sleep every day. Above are some ways to sleep better which you can implement if you want to boost your sleep quality. Also, if you have too many assignments that have short deadlines, do not work on all of them till late in the night. Instead, pay for essays from professional writing services. This will help you to deliver your tasks on time as well as get to enjoy your sleep.
About the author:
Kenny Gill is a senior advisor and writer in the department of CustomEssayOrder. He is familiar with corporate events, sports, education. He is responsible for supporting internal communications needs for specific business functions, as well as writing, creating and editing various quality content. He performs a leading role in developing and creating good content, chiefly for different types of audiences.
Does Lack of Sleep Increase Chances of Diabetes?
by Hayden
Adequate sleep is essential for a healthy body. It reinvigorates your mind and relaxes your body. If you lack enough sleep, you’re likely to be irritable and lethargic; this can also lead to more stress and increased appetite. We are all aware that obesity and craving for sweet foods can increase your risk of diabetes.
Regrettably, most people suffer sleep deprivation due to lack of the right mattress. However, by acquiring smart beds from Eight Sleep, you can be guaranteed of comfortable, good night sleep.
Can lack of sleep cause diabetes? Read on to find out:
- Lack of sleep affects your hormone levels. Skimping on sleep drives your hormone levels out of control. If you always lack sleep, your body discharges less insulin after you eat, leading to secretion of more stress hormones like cortisol. Cortisol makes you stay awake but tougher for insulin to do its job efficiently. As a result, you have too much glucose in your bloodstream, which intensifies your risk for acquiring type 2 diabetes.
- Lack of sleep impairs the functioning of your pancreas When you lack adequate sleep, the ability of your pancreas to deliver insulin is adversely affected, and this results in diabetes. More so, lack of sleep leads to a decrease in slow-wave or deep sleep which is the most restorative stage of sleep. Deep sleep plays a critical role in sustaining proper insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control.
- Lack of sleep results in insulin resistance.Sleep deprivation boosts resistance to insulin, and this heightens the risk of developing diabetes. There’s sufficient evidence to show that sleep deprivation could cause a pre-diabetic state. The body’s response to sleep deprivation can, in most cases resemble insulin resistance which is a symptom of diabetes.
- Lack of sleep leads to a craving for sweet foods.Your body is programmed to do most of the critical mending of the immune system during sleep. So, when you suffer disrupted sleep, you interrupt the cycle, and this affects your immune system as well as it’s the ability to fight infections.More so, if you lack sleep, your appetite levels increase, and you crave for starchy and sugary foods. Indulging in such cravings or overeating wreaks havoc in your insulin, blood sugar levels, and your weight, all which are risk factors for diabetes. If you lack sleep, you’re likely to feel sluggish and fatigued. And this makes you less inclined to exercise. Remember, working out helps in weight management and control of blood sugar.
- Lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity.How does lack of sleep increase your risk of obesity? Sleep deprivation affects your metabolism and makes your body store extra carbohydrates which can lead to weight gain. We all know that obesity is a risk factor for diabetes. More so, when you lack adequate sleep, the cardiac rhythm of the body is disrupted, resulting in abnormal hormonal changes that lead to diabetes.
- There’s a relationship between sleep and diabetes type 2. There’s a link between blood sugar and sleep. When your blood sugar is out of control, having a good night sleep becomes a problem. High blood sugar will prompt the kidneys to try to discharge it by urinating frequently, and this will make you not sleep well. Lack of sleep also increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Bottom line
Family history, what you consume, and your weight can all affect your risk of developing diabetes. More so, your sleeping habits play a significant role, and lack of sleep is a risk factor for diabetes. Therefore, get adequate sleep daily for better health and lessen your risk of diabetes.
Lavender Essential Oil: Relax, Release, and Rest
I recently began a new series of posts here on the self help blog dealing entirely with essential oils and aromatherapy.
I have become a HUGE fan of essential oils and find myself turning to them first, as opposed to last, when I have a headache, stiff neck, nighttime restlessness, or morning grogginess. I am loving all the fascinating ways essential oils can be used to improve your health, mind, and… well to be perfectly honest… your quality of life.
One of my absolute favorite essential oils, Lavender, is one of the oils I never allow myself to run out of.
Relax, Release, Rest.
Lavender is associated with relaxation and for a very good reason. There is something incredibly relaxing and comforting about the fragrance of lavender. The scent, alone, seems to condition your mind and body that it’s time to relax, release, and rest.
I use lavender aromatherapy and essential oil absolutely everywhere in the bedroom and master bath. Candles, pillow sprays, essential oil… you name it, it’s there. I want that entire area of the house to feel like a relaxing spa and have achieved the desired effect. Lavender causes your body and mind to unwind and I love the way that feels (head to toe) at the end of a long day.
Have you ever tried to “think” your way to relaxation? Let’s be honest, it’s only so effective. While we try to make our thoughts concentrate on “relax, relax, relax.” another part of our mind answers back, “but.. I… can’t… because….” Then we’re right back to square one.
Lavender seems to have magical powers over the part of the brain that’s always a wiseguy! Maybe it lulls him to sleep. Whatever the trick is, I am mesmerized by it.
Lavender Essential Oil helps your muscles AND mind relax. THEN you are able to release the stress, cares, and worries that pile up over the course of the day.
You know what comes next, don’t you? The best rest you have had in a very long time.
Due to its relaxing aroma, lavender oil is often the only sleep aide needed to help sleep come faster. That’s why I routinely spray a little lavender essential oil on my pillow. There is even a Lavender Spray on Amazon that helps release tension and soothe the body and mind as you prepare for sleep. It’s made my Bath and Body Works and it is the best one on the market.
More Than Just Relaxing
Lavender oil actually has even more going on for it than stress relief and relaxation, however. It is believed to have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties as well.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I suffer from plantar fascitiis. I’ve found that lavender oil salts are the only thing that causes the pain to let up. I have also rubbed lavender essential oil directly on my foot for relief as well.
When I recommend essential oils, lavender is usually the first one out of my mouth. There are so many that have wonderful benefits, but lavender has what I consider to be one of the best effects you can hope for – RELAXATION.
If you’re new to the world of aromatherapy and essential oils, I hope you’ll keep a very open mind about their usefulness. I once kind of doubted that they were as “wonderful” as people said they were.
After using them for months, now, I realize that the people who claimed they were “wonderful” didn’t do them any justice. They’re far better than that.
~ Joi