1. You are eating sweets (or spicy foods) very close to bedtime
We love dessert (we are not monsters), but eating sweets very close to bedtime can be harmful to sleep health. A study published in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that foods high in saturated fat and sugar are associated with lighter, less restorative sleep with more interruptions. Oh, and avoid eating spicy foods before going to the hay. They often cause acid reflux, which is made worse if you lie down right after eating. (Sorry, nachos. Not tonight.) As for when you should finish your last meal of the day, nutritionist Samantha Cassetty, RD, explains that eating too close to bedtime can disturb your sleep. “Laying close to eating can cause acid reflux, which can wake up or wake up periodically during the night,” notes Cassetty. “This situation limits that deep, restorative sleep you need to function well during the day.” Her suggestion? Finish eating at least two hours before picking up the hay.
2. Are you having an extra glass of wine
We know the benefits of drinking a glass or two of red wine before bed. But more than two glasses can actually interfere with your sleep cycle. A little alcohol can make it easier to fall asleep, but it will also decrease the quality of your nap by reducing REM sleep. Enjoy a glass or two at dinner time so that your body can metabolize it well before you sleep.
3. Are you ending the night with a hot shower or a hot shower
Dipping into a hot tub may seem like the perfect end to a long day, but think twice before mixing the bubbles. Our friends at the National Sleep Foundation tell us that our body’s internal temperature tends to drop a few degrees before going to sleep, which helps us stay calm and sleepy. Raising your body temperature (for example, sitting in steamed water) can make you feel wide awake. So skip the foam or enjoy it in the early evening.
4. You roll on Instagram in bed
Most of us are guilty of checking our phones in bed, right? But just because it is common does not make you healthy. Why? The blue light from the screens of our beloved devices can lead the brain to think that it is still daylight, messing up our circadian rhythm, the physiological cycle that informs our sleep. Andrew Varga, MD, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, explains: “Electronic devices with backlit screens emit a very high percentage of blue wavelength light. Exposure to blue light from any source – including TVs, cell phones, laptops, electronic readers and tablets – at the end of the day has the effect of advancing our circadian phase, which makes someone naturally tired at the end of the night. ”Try to limit your phone use to an hour or two before bed and consider investing in a normal old alarm clock instead of your phone.
5. Do you sleep on weekends
Saturday and Sunday mornings may have been asleep all day free when you were in college, but it is destroying your sleep schedule now. Try to wake up and get out of bed at the same time each day – regardless of when you go to work – to keep your bedtime and wake up on track. “A lot of this is about setting personal limits, recognizing environmental factors and personal habits that have the ability to disrupt sleep programming,” says Dr. Varga, “and trying to minimize variation in daily sleep onset and clearing hours, particularly between the weekend and the days of the week. “
Sleep scientist Matthew Walker said NPR that sleeping until noon on weekends won’t make up for a week of bad nights. “Sleep is not like the bank, so you cannot accumulate debt and try to pay it off later. Therefore, the brain is unable to recover the lost sleep that you have been overloading it with during the week in terms of debt. . ” Sad but true.
RELATED: What is the best time to sleep? Here’s what the experts say