How can you sleep better?
People in the Arab world are known for their love of evening socializing and late-night activities. Hence unsurprisingly, many people in the region aren’t getting enough sleep and some are even paying a high price for this nocturnal lifestyle. Indeed, poor sleep is a serious threat to health but luckily, there are many proven ways to improve the quality of your sleep.
Even though people have struggled with sleep since the beginning of time, the World Health Organization has only recently declared a global sleep loss epidemic. While the average adult is supposed to sleep 7 to 9 hours a night, not many people do. The main reasons for this are anxiety and loneliness, which keep people up at night chatting or distracting themselves watching TV shows or social medial feeds or catching up on news.
Not sleeping well makes us more sad, worried, irritable and lethargic. It can have serious consequences on our physical and mental state: less sleep means a weakened immune system and a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s. Sleep deprivation makes people more prone to having car accidents. It impairs their memory and their ability to concentrate. It also makes them more likely to gain weight and to suffer from depression. It increases their stress levels while reducing their sex drive.
Since most organs within the body and processes within the brain seem to be optimally enhanced by sleep, sleeping well should be among your top priorities, along with eating well and exercising. Yet the demands of modern life keep shortening the time available for rest, as we can’t be working or consuming in our sleep. Furthermore, the sleep-tracking devices meant to improve our sleep often produce the opposite effect by increasing our anxiety around it.
So, concretely, what can we do to sleep better?
Getting into a relaxing routine before going to bed is probably the most efficient way. Turning down the lights allows the production of melatonin, a hormone which signals us to sleep, so making our bedroom a quiet dark space will coax us towards sleep. Another kind of light that needs to be suppressed at least thirty minutes before going to bed is the blue light given off by our electronic devices. The blue light emitted by our smartphones and computers is akin to anti-sleeping drugs or stimulants, so these devices better be kept out of the bedroom at night. A cool bedroom environment also helps to get a good night’s sleep.
Lifestyle is also key to getting a decent amount of quality sleep. Regular exercise significantly improves sleep, as does healthy eating and avoiding late-evening meals and caffeine. Going to bed a little earlier is probably one of the easiest ways to get sufficient sleep, but this would require a cultural change that the Arab world has yet to embrace.
If you enjoyed reading this article, please share it with your friends and networks using the little icons below.
