There may be quite a lot of things in the world that are considered infuriating, but when it comes to genuine hair tearing frustration, nothing compares to struggling to sleep. Life flashes by incredibly quickly and yet it’s astonishing how long a single night can feel when you get the impression you are the only person on earth who isn’t sleeping. Of course, this isn’t really the case at all, but it nonetheless feels like it is.
But what’s altogether more bittersweet about the whole situation is the way in which the vast majority of those struggling to sleep from time to time in fact have none other than themselves to blame. According to the experts, there are certain incredibly common mistakes made by most of us at some point or another which effectively guarantee disturbed or insufficient sleep.
So if you have little choice but to put your hand up to any of the following, you may very well have your answer as to why you’re always tired:
1 – The Snooze Button
Everyone wants to Stay in Bed in the morning at least a little longer than they realistically can, but when it comes to feeling refreshed and sleeping better, snooze buttons are pure evil. You might think that extra 10 minutes in the morning is a big deal and is guaranteed to make you feel better, but in reality it does the opposite. Research has shown that hitting the snooze button has the reverse effect and will do little other than make you feel 10 times worse.
2 – No Routine
Of course it might be easier said than done to pull off, but experts have been adamant for generations that one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make in terms of sleep is not having any kind of routine to follow. You go to bed at one time Monday and then a totally different time every night for the rest of the week, getting up at rather random times and so on and so forth. This not only does nothing to help you sleep at night, but will leave you feeling perpetually tired.
3 – Too Many Naps
On-going research has shown that naps have the potential to be surprisingly beneficial for health and wellbeing in general. Nevertheless, there’s a difference between taking a 20 minute nap at around 4PM in the afternoon and taking 90 minute naps or multiple naps in the course of the average day. Napping too much can and will disrupt your sleeping paterns.
4 – Dietary Mistakes
At this juncture in time, the list of the foods and drinks which are known to interfere with sleep really do not need listing once again. Everybody knows them and to a large extent we follow the rules, but at the same time the same rules tend to get ignored quite frequently. From caffeine to sugar to alcohol to various preservatives and so on, chances are, you know what you should and should not be eating for a restful sleep, so it’s up to you to follow the rules.
5 – Worrying Too Much
When you can’t sleep, chances are you focus 5% of your energy on trying to get to sleep and the other 95% on panicking about just how tired you’re going to be if you don’t get to sleep soon. Suffice to say this is completely counterproductive, but at the same time an extremely hard habit to break, but one that can indeed be broken with time and effort. All you need to remember is that when and where your body is so tired it cannot go on without sleep, you will indeed fall asleep.
6 – Poor Beds or Bedding
Given the fact that you will be spending a third of your life asleep, how on earth can you justify sleeping in a bed that is falling to pieces and wrapped up in bedding which looks like it has been through five world wars? Getting to sleep at night is about so much more than just lying horizontally and waiting to drift off – you need to give your body and soul what it needs, which in this case is a bed that is wonderfully comfortable and healthy.
7 – Late Night TV
Last but not least, if it’s something you’ve never tried before, one of the first things you should do to see just how big of a difference it can make is to eliminate all TV and movies before going to bed and instead read a book…as in a real paper book…for an hour or so. TV and computer screens can be nothing short of evil when it comes to keeping you awake at night for hours after the lights are out, so try the alternative and see what happens.