4 Ways
to Get Better Sleep

Getting an adequate amount of sleep will always play a vital part in everyday health. If you're the type of person who loses out on a couple of hours a night in order to get more work done during the day, you may be putting yourself at risk of reducing the quality of your work. In order to be on top of your game and perform at your max, you will need to get a good night's sleep.

In today's busy work culture, this may be a challenging task, and it's very common that sleep is the first thing to go in order to improve efficiency. How many people feel like there seems to be not enough hours in the day. They think what's the big deal if I lose a couple of hours of rest at night? However compromising sleep maybe mean compromising your productivity, and in the long run, potentially compromising both physical and physiological health.

In addition to reducing your ability to be present and alert at work, an absence of quality sleep can increase your potential of oversleeping and actually missing work or show up late. Many experts believe that overall anywhere between 7-9 hours of sleep is sufficient for a healthy adult.

Here are a few ways that you can ensure that you get some quality rest at night:

Say no to coffee, soda, and other forms of caffeine prior to bedtime.

Caffeine is a well-known stimulant that can make it hard to go to sleep and will interfere with the quality of your sleep. If you're a heavy caffeine drinker, try to at least avoid it around 4-6 hours before heading to bed. Other things that you may want to avoid include alcohol, non-prescription medications, and nicotine products which may also affect your sleep pattern.

Establish and maintain a routine sleep schedule every night.

It helps to put your body on a regular routine by going to sleep and getting up around the same time seven days a week. Put yourself on a daily sleep schedule by deciding what time you want to go to bed every night, and then creating a workflow for your day.

Set up your bedroom.

Your room should be peaceful, dark, and cool in order to assist with getting a night of deep and peaceful sleep. It also helps if you remove any distractions in the space. If you're a night worker and require sleep hours throughout the day, think about setting up a few drapes that will shut out any sunlight coming through the windows.

Workout earlier in the day.

Getting a good workout is an excellent way to really tire yourself out for the day, however, when the workout time is too close to your bedtime, you may become restless and have trouble falling asleep. Try to work out either early in the morning or during the afternoon in order to promote a much healthier sleep pattern. It's also a good idea to avoid any other high-stimulating activities prior to going to bed. This includes video games, television, and cell phone usage.

Adapting to a better nighttime regimen can be a bit challenging at first, however, staying with it will definitely be gratifying. If you give yourself time to develop a much healthier sleep pattern, the outcome will be obvious in your work and home life.