All around the world, people have come to understand that better living starts with better sleeping habits. Studies have shown that quality sleep helps people recharge, stay strong, and power them through their daily lives. And, a lack of sleep shows just as much suffering in reverse: sluggish days, clouded thoughts, and poor energy. Lack of sleep also leads to other negative consequences like poor eating and exercise habits and poor performance at work. It’s hard to live a truly good life if you aren’t really sleeping well.
Healthy diet and regular exercise are good, but they are not sufficient if you really want to live a good life. We are all limited to 24 hours in a day so you have to prioritize your rest to get really make the most out of life. Without sufficient sleep, you are apt to feel weak and even open yourself to higher likelihood of both minor and serious illness as well as accidents and other preventable conditions.
Improve your Quality of Sleep to Live a Better Way
There certainly are a number of medical conditions that keep people from sleeping properly, but for most of us, the main impediment to sleep is how we approach it and how much we help our bodies prepare for sleep. Eating late, watching TV into the early morning hours, scrolling through our phones, working on our computers, and doing other projects all disrupt our natural inclination to slow down and prepare for sleep.
While there are plenty of medications design to help you sleep, that’s certainly not where to start. Good sleep habits begin with guiding your body into a consistent night time routine. You need to let go of the pressures, sounds, and sights of the busy daytime and ease away by not snacking late, turning off the TV and stepping away from your screens. Ease into softer light and try to keep to a consistent timeline in your bedtime routine. A consistent schedule of sleep and wake times will make it easier to get to sleep, have a quality night’s sleep nad extend that sleep for 8 hours each night–the standard for a full night’s sleep for most people. Your enhanced energy from restful sleep will help you accomplish your goals in the other 16 hours each day.
Good habits and a consistent routine are more reliable and have no negative side effects compared to many dietary supplements, sleeping pills and other types of synthetic sleep tools that work to force your body to sleep. Good habits can instead last a lifetime and provide compounding benefits over the years.
One of my favorite questions to ask doctors when meeting in a social setting is “what is the one thing you’ve seen that has the biggest impact on living a healthy life?” Almost always, the answer is “get good, consistent sleep.” That’s the lesson I’ve taken and I hope you can try it too.