March 28, 2022

Sleep well: tips on how to improve sleep quality

The practice of following appropriate behaviors and fixed schedules, establishing a routine and eliminating the impact of external factors, thus allowing a more restful and effective sleep is called sleep hygiene .

There are several factors that influence sleep, such as ambient temperature and light, meal times, physical exercise and sleep routine, mainly due to the effect they have on the circadian cycle. By limiting some external factors and changing some behaviors, it is possible to get a longer and more satisfying sleep.

These habits include:

- Acquire a sleep routine - to guarantee, daily, a period of seven to nine hours of sleep, (care must be taken to sleep even more in winter in order to prevent seasonal disturbances), preferably following the body's biological sleep cycle.

- Avoid blue light screens (mobile phones, computers, television) before going to sleep – it is known that this light interferes with the amount of melatonin produced. You should opt for warmer colored light.

- Avoid drinking alcohol and caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, colas and other soft drinks) after 5 pm . This type of stimulating drinks inhibit sleep.

- Try to have lighter meals at night, and choose foods well . Foods such as bananas, sweet corn, ginger and barley, when eaten at night can help you fall asleep. Foods such as bacon, eggplant, raspberries, and red wine, on the other hand, have the opposite effect, promoting wakefulness. And when you eat a lot before bed, it can lead to heartburn or gastric reflux, making it difficult to sleep. Thus, one should prefer light meals and also not eat immediately before going to sleep.

- Practicing physical exercise regularly, avoiding its practice close to bedtime . It has been proven that physical exercise can improve sleep quality, directly, by reducing sleep fragmentation and latency, and indirectly, through weight control and the acquisition of healthy lifestyle habits.

- Do not smoke, especially close to bedtime : nicotine is a stimulant and can impair the quality of sleep;

- Provide conditions conducive to rest in the bedroom, with an adequate temperature, low light and no noise - the bedroom should not be used for watching television or working on the computer, especially in the two hours before bedtime.

- Avoid naps longer than 15-20 minutes – A nap of this duration has a great power to recover from fatigue without interfering with the rhythm of sleep.

- Do relaxation exercises and aromatherapy – Stress is a powerful disruptor of many systems in the body, including sleep. This can lead to serious sleep disturbances by interfering with the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone).

The ideal will always be to avoid stress, but nowadays there are so many situations that cause stress, at least try to reduce its action before going to sleep, through relaxation rituals, such as a hot bath/shower where you can read a book and introduce relaxing essential oils into the water or shower gel (if you are taking a shower), such as lavender or chamomile, and do breathing exercises:

- Close your eyes and become aware of your natural breathing, feeling the air entering and leaving your body. “Push” the tension or stress you have in your body to the outside and focus on your breathing. If your focus of concentration shifts to another subject, calmly redirect your attention to your breath.

In addition to sleep hygiene, there are some food suplements that can help improve sleep quality. To find out which one would be most suitable for you, you should understand what is affecting your relaxing sleep:

Having trouble falling asleep?

Supplements with melatonin can facilitate this process, as this hormone, naturally produced by the body, but whose concentration decreases over the years, is recognized by the body, inducing a natural and comforting sleep.

Valdispert Night Rapid - 20 orodispersible tablets, Ref: 7068304 , BioActivo Melatonin - 60 tablets, Ref: 6237826 , Melamil oral solution - 30 ml, Ref: 7370015 and Advancis Passimela drops - 30 ml, Ref: 7471730

Do you have micro-awakenings during the night that prevent you from getting a full sleep?

Supplements with calming characteristics will help your body relax, allowing you to sleep through the night. Valerian and Passiflora are two of the compounds most used for this purpose. There is usually a combination of these with melatonin, as many times after a micro-awakening it is difficult to fall asleep again, so maintaining a stable level of melatonin throughout the night has a concomitant action, allowing for quality sleep.