The importance of sleep for health, as well as its physiological basis, has already been discussed at length here on the site, especially in this post: https://icaro.med.br/sonoideal/
However, sleeping well is much more than sleeping the famous 8 hours a night (and even a more recent study indicates that 7 hours is the “ideal” period...).
Today, however, I would like to give you more details on how to have the most productive sleep possible, without considering the association of “sleep” medications (not least because most people who use medications for this purpose are unaware that they are not specifically designed to induce or maintain sleep and often even harm it or considerably affect individual productivity when you wake up, for several hours or even a whole day). I don't intend to exhaust such an extensive subject, of course, but only to give you tips that have been proven to help you not only “fall asleep” better and more easily, but also to maintain it and make you more productive, with a view to waking up more “rested”.
Commandments of good sleep:
1 - Sleep in the dark or with minimal light
The more light there is in the room, the less melatonin is released (and without it, it's practically impossible to get quality sleep).
- For children and adults who feel uncomfortable in the dark, a good alternative is to use soft blue lighting in the room.
2 - Sleep in a quiet environment or with minimal noise
Sounds keep the brain “awake”.
- Noises can be drowned out by quiet instrumental music (without vocals) at very low volume, especially classical music.
3 - Never sleep hungry or thirsty (or long after your last meal, even if you're not hungry)
Your body will need water and nutrients to replenish what it needs during sleep and to eliminate toxins through the excretory pathways. For example, muscle growth and memory fixation are activities that take place mainly during sleep and depend on adequate blood circulation of amino acids, hormones, fatty acids, minerals, glucose, water and various other substances.
- Food should be eaten no later than one hour before bedtime. The more food you eat (and/or the “heavier” it is), the greater the activation of the gastrointestinal tract to digest it. Remember that this apparatus is essentially made up of muscles, and the secretion of insulin to transport nutrients into the cells can help keep you awake or in a much lighter sleep than ideal.
- Drinking water too close to bedtime can cause you to have to get up during the night to urinate (something that becomes more and more frequent with age).
4 - Avoid “agitation” close to bedtime, whether it's physical exercise (if done in the evening, it should be done at least 2 hours before bedtime), activities that require attention or concentration, or even loud TV programs.
Activities of this kind can raise cortisol (“stress hormone”), which reduces the release of GH and melatonin, impairing sleep. Remember that GH basically controls the body's physical repair, while melatonin is responsible for mental repair.
- Try to reduce the brightness at night and “calm down” the environment, allowing your brain to realize that it must slow down, changing the wave pattern and preparing for sleep.
5 - The best sleeping position, with very few exceptions, is on your side, especially if you are overweight or have a back problem; even better if one of your thighs is at an angle of between 60 and 90 degrees to the other and there is a thin pillow between them.
This position improves breathing, blood circulation and allows the postural muscles (especially those of the trunk, which help keep the spine in place) to relax. Sleeping on your stomach compresses the blood vessels in your abdomen, making it harder for blood to flow back to your legs and slowing down circulation.
- Sleeping on your side often helps to reduce snoring.
6 - Invest in a good pillow and a good mattress, suited to your biotype
Most mattresses should be rotated 180 degrees every 7 days and turned on their side every 2 weeks to avoid permanent and progressive deformations that can damage the spine. The pillow needs to be firm enough so that, when you're on your side, your head is comfortably at an angle of around 90 degrees to your shoulders. In particular, I recommend only two types of pillow: viscoelastic (better known as “NASA”) or latex, as the others tend to deform very easily.
Mattresses and pillows don't last forever. What's more, their weight and measurements will hardly be the same after 5 years, right? Depending on how you use them, change them every 3 to 5 years.
7 - Avoid sleeping too late as much as possible
The hormones that induce and maintain sleep (as well as those that “get in the way”) have more or less fixed times for their “peaks”, since they are strongly influenced by the so-called circadian rhythm (the body's responses to night and day - something like an “internal clock”). After all, dawn will come anyway, and remember how much light interferes with the release of melatonin.
8 - Your brain should associate your bedroom with sleeping
The more you do other activities in the bedroom or in bed (with the exception of an obvious situation, such as studying, talking on the phone, using the computer or watching TV), the less your brain will associate these places with sleep.
9 - Your day affects your night
Physical exercise and relaxing activities, for example, contribute to a more restful night's sleep. On the other hand, prolonged naps and the abuse of alcohol, cigarettes, coffee or other excesses in general are very likely to impair your sleep.
10 - Don't sleep too little or too much
Find out how many hours you normally need to feel well and rested the next day and try to respect that time. Studies show that oversleeping can be almost as harmful as sleeping less than you need.
11 - Take a deep breath
Breathing calmly and deeply helps to bring more oxygen to the brain, which has a “calming” effect on it.
12 - Can't sleep? Get out of bed
If you spend 20 to 30 minutes rolling around in bed (even taking care of the aspects already mentioned), get up and go do something quiet, with little light and no agitation. Of course: watching TV or using the computer are bad choices, because these activities keep the brain awake, whether it's because of the light, sounds, attention, concentration or even the emotions involved.
Final considerations
Television emits sounds and lights in a diversified program, enough to fulfill its “noble” purpose: to keep you watching (and awake at night). Remember Skank's song: “... it's like watching TV and not sleeping”? Well, that's a bad idea “in real life”.
For those who need an alarm clock to wake up, a good tip is to opt for “progressive” models (those in which the sound or music starts very low and increases in volume very slowly). These alarm clocks help to avoid sudden awakenings, which for many cause considerable discomfort in the first few minutes or hours of the day.
If you need to sleep at unusual times (for example, after shifts or a “night out”), try your best to reproduce the conditions already suggested (especially the restriction of light and sound).
“Sleeping through exhaustion” doesn't guarantee quality sleep. After all, after a night of “excess”, no matter how much sleep you get, do you really wake up well the next day?
Avoid prolonged use of “sleeping pills” as much as possible. Most of them quickly require higher doses to keep working. Studies show that these drugs disrupt brain function, can be highly addictive and make it difficult to wake up or get a truly restful sleep.
Beware of teas or “grandma's recipes” (nothing against grandmas, of course). Every tea is, in practice, a medicine, since it contains the active ingredients of the plants used. So are you sleeping because of them or in spite of them?
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