Sleep is something that we all have in common, and the main purpose of sleep is to get as much of it as possible and for you to feel rested. After all, we can all feel the positive benefits after getting a good night’s sleep. We have more energy, we feel ready for anything, and it can also affect our mood and mental health. However, the truth is, we don’t always know how to overcome a bad night’s sleep.
We can all have them. It might be that we stayed up too late watching Netflix, working late to meet a deadline, or you just couldn’t get comfortable. Tossing and turning and not being able to fall into a natural sleep, there is nothing worse. But, a bad night doesn’t always mean a bad day. So here are some of the hacks to help you overcome a bad night’s sleep.
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Ways to overcome a bad night’s sleep
Don’t hit the snooze button
Sleeping in is the biggest temptation if you have had a bad night’s sleep. However, it is actually one of the worst things that you can do. It is important to try and stick with your routine, which means getting up at the same time you would normally do. A consistent wake-up time helps to regulate your energy levels, which often means that one bad night’s sleep won’t affect you too much if you stick with your routine as much as you can.
Get outside and feel the fresh air
Getting outside and exposing yourself to sunlight and enjoying the fresh air is one of the best hacks to overcome a bad night’s sleep. Exposing yourself to daylight gives your body the cue to suppress the production of melatonin. Which is the hormone that makes you sleep. Because of this, you become more alert. The fresh air also can wake you up and have you feeling fresher.
Avoid overdoing the caffeine
If you usually enjoy a cup of coffee or tea as part of your morning routine, then go ahead and stick with your usual dosage. But don’t be too tempted to overdo the caffeine. We often think that an extra cup of coffee or two might help us to feel more alert, and while it may give you that short-term fixes the downside is that you can come crashing down later in the day. Caffeine in the afternoon can also hinder your chances of falling asleep when you want to.
25 is the magic number
Often we can feel tempted to embrace a nap during the day, and while it is often advised to avoid sleep during the day, a short nap can be beneficial. It is best to avoid falling into a deep sleep during the day as you can feel groggy and sometimes worse when you wake from it. However, a short 25-minute nap will give you just the right amount of rest you need without having fallen into too much deep sleep. Asleep during the day is not always a bad idea, but keeping it to a minimum will re-energise you rather than make you feel worse.
Do the oppositive when the afternoon slump creeps in
We can all feel that afternoon slump hit at around 3pm. That moment where you notice your eyes start to feel heavy and you have no energy. However, at this time it’s tempting to slow down but a great way to get through the afternoon slump is to do the opposite. That means get up, get outside, do something a bit more energetic or something that you enjoy doing. It will help you keep going.
Don’t change your bedtime
If you have had a bad night’s sleep and you are getting tired, it might be tempting to change your bedtime and get to bed earlier. However, this can be counterproductive. Stick to your usual bedtime, even if you are feeling tired. It will help you to have a deeper sleep and feel more refreshed the following morning.
Stick to your normal schedule
Finally, the sooner you stick to your normal bedtime routine and schedule, the better. Disrupting it can often mean that your body doesn’t know when to relax. Your bad night might have been due to a late-night, or staying up, so heading back to your usual routine will help you get back to normal sooner and overcome any of the feelings that a bad night has caused you.
Hopefully, these hacks will help you to overcome a bad night’s sleep.
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