11 Habits for a Great Sleep

Adopting good nighttime practices is significant in assuring a peaceful and sound sleep. In contrast, poor habits at night before bedtime eventually result in disturbing your sleep throughout the night. Not only is your sleep affected, but a number of your normal body functions also show disturbances in their normal performances. A reduced level of brain and mind activity and increased stress levels are common problems. Therefore, paying particular attention to developing good nighttime habits for great sleep is essential. Here are some of the most influential and result-proven nightly habits you should create.

•   Keep your bedroom clean and tidy.
Having a clean and tidy bedroom is crucially essential for great sleep. Do you know why? It is because a clean and organized place always gives you peace of mind which is very important to sleep well. If your area is messed up, it would add unwanted stress to your mind and disrupt your sleep. Therefore, it is essential always to keep your bedroom clean to feel good and stress-free. Make it a habit to clean your bedroom in the morning and evening so that you can have a peaceful sleep.

•   Make your bed comfortable.

Your bed must be comfortable to enjoy the night's sleep. A bed that is messy and occupied with books, clothes, digital appliances, or other stuff won't let you have a good sleep. Keep in mind that the bed is only for rest and sex purposes. There should not be any books, digital appliances, piles of clothes, or any other "stuff" occupying that space. A bed that is clean and ready for sleep would relax your mind and keep your body comfortable throughout the night.

•   Have your dinner 2 hours before sleeping.
Many people prefer to have dinner as the last thing before they sleep. However, they make this biggest mistake and then complain about not having a peaceful sleep. When you eat and go straight to bed, your body gets busy digesting food instead of focusing on rest. Therefore, make sure to have dinner at least 2 hours before sleep. It will help your stomach properly digest your meal and let your brain focus on sleep when you go to bed.

•   Prepare a journal for the following day's duties.
The thing that interrupts our sleep the most is the stress of the next day's responsibilities. To avoid this stress, writing a journal at night about the next day's responsibilities helps manage the stress. In your journal, prioritize your tasks based on their importance and assign the time limits to accomplish each goal. In this way, you won't have to worry about managing things the next day and will be able to sleep peacefully.

•   Turn off your screens 2 hours before sleep.
Another important nightly habit is to turn off your screens at least 2 hours before you sleep. Turning off your screens would help in relaxing your eyes and give your brain a signal that it's time for sleep. Also, keep your mobile phones aside for at least an hour before bed. Spending lots of time on the phone badly affects the quality of sleep. If you are addicted to watching the mobile for hours before bedtime, try to avoid it starting today.

•   Take a bath with lukewarm water.
At night, make it a habit to take a bath with slightly lukewarm water. It will help relax your body muscles and give you a refreshing and relaxing feeling. It will wipe away all your worries and prepare your body for the most comfortable and relaxed sleep.

•   Engage yourself in book reading.
Book reading is the best nighttime habit that promises better sleep. Not only a good sleep, but book reading also enhances one's knowledge with a lot of new information. It also improves one's reading and understanding of other's concepts. Reading a book at night relaxes your brain muscles and gives your mind good thoughts that take away stress.

•   Avoid taking caffeine and alcohol at night.
The intake of caffeine or alcohol won't let you get to sleep on time. Caffeine, as well as alcohol, disrupts our regular sleep cycle and keeps our minds awake. This is why drinking coffee at night won't let you sleep for hours.

•   Drink a cup of warm milk.
A warm cup of milk at night helps in getting great sleep. The reason is that the milk contains certain healthy compounds, such as melatonin, that help you fall asleep quickly and peacefully. Moreover, milk gives a soothing feeling to all body parts, including the brain. According to research, a cup of warm milk at night removes all the fatigue and helps induce a calm sleep.

 
•   Fix and follow a specific time for going to bed.
Setting a proper time is vital to developing a good sleep schedule. It is also essential to set a specific time for sleep and rigidly follow it every night. When you sleep at varying times at night, it disrupts your sleep. Your brain fails to understand what is the exact time for sleep, and thus, it affects your sleep quality. 

•   Turn off the lights when you go to bed.
Finally, make it your habit to turn off the lights when it's time for sleep. It will create a big difference in making you sleep on time and enabling a sound sleep.

Good nightly habits significantly differ in getting great sleep at night. As discussed above, adopting several good night habits helps get sound sleep. However, the inability to follow these habits would make you develop sleep issues that ultimately affect your health.