Sleep is probably one of the most glorious acts we do each day. It is amazing how sleep helps us feel refreshed, restores our body, and relaxes our muscles.
However, approximately 30% of the population complains about sleep disruption.
To help you sleep better, I have listed three activities you must avoid doing before going to bed.
Exercising
No, this is not me giving you an excuse to quit your new year’s resolution of working out.
So please don’t go tell your spouse or your friends that you can’t workout because some mattress guy told you it affects your sleep.
So please do work out, just not close to bedtime.
The reason is two fold.
First it can over stimulate us and make it tougher for us to unwind.
Secondly, it can spike our core temperature and take it longer for our body to cool down which it naturally does when we go to sleep.
If you do exercise before bed and don’t think it interferes with your sleep try exercising in the morning and see if you notice a difference on how you feel throughout the day.
Watching TV
Have you ever stayed up late and watched something super random like Finding Bigfoot or The Lost Tapes of the Chupacabra?
No?
Well I have.
And just so you know it was definitely not worth it.
I don’t even believe in that stuff and yet there I was wasting away each precious moment of sleep as I sat in front of the TV watching one of those ridiculous shows.
Anyways, the point of the story is watching TV before bed time is bad.
It’s bad because the later it gets the worst we are at choosing a good show to watch.
And more importantly the light emitted from the TV suppresses our body’s natural production of melatonin which is our sleep hormone.
Taking a hot bath or shower
This is a tough one because a nice warm shower in the evening feels so relaxing.
However, If you are going to take a hot bath and then immediately after get ready for bed then this should be avoided.
Our body temperature naturally cools down in the evening to prepare us for sleep.
By taking a hot bath or shower just before bed we are fighting our body’s natural tendency and making it tougher for us to get a good night sleep because our body has to work harder to bring its core temperature down.
If you do take a bath or shower in the evening do so at least an hour before bedtime.
So in order for you to sleep like a boss then avoid these three activities before bed and you should notice improvements in your sleep quality.