Track Your Sleep Effortlessly & Have A Better Day At Work!
A goodnight’s sleep is very much essential to be productive the next day as sleep deprivation causes lack of concentration and lower performance levels. If your job profile demands more involvement of your brain, then your body requires more sleep. Sleep deprivation can result in brain cell damage and other long-term consequences. Our sleep cycle includes different stages. Researchers have divided our sleep into the following stages. Let us understand each stage and how our body and brain respond in each stage:
Stage 1
This is also known as the ‘light sleep’ stage. In this stage, you will have a shallow sleep not very restful and it is a quick transition stage hence you won’t stay in this stage for a prolonged time. In this stage, your senses are still awake and you can hear the noises around. That means you dip into sleep but you are not deeply asleep.
Stage 2
During this stage, the person is fast asleep but can be woken up easily. Nearly half of the night is spent in this stage. This stage is very important because, it is during this stage our body process memories, emotions, and controls metabolism. In this stage, our heart rate and breathing decrease and maintenance happen.
Stage 3
This is considered the deep sleep stage where one becomes less responsive to any stimuli from outside. This stage is all about your body. Your heart rate will be regular, breathing rate slows down, and body muscles relax. During this stage, the growth hormone is secreted thus facilitate cell repair and rebuilding. This deep sleep stage also helps to boost up our immune system thereby keeping the infections at bay.
Stage 4 or REM
REM, Rapid Eye Movement stage is a very important one. If the deep sleep stage denotes our body, Rem denotes our brain. During this stage, our body is actively paralyzed and the brain is actively under process. This is when our heart rate goes up and the person experiences irregular breathing patterns. At this stage usually dreaming happens and the brain deletes all unwanted emotions and memory from our body. Protein synthesis that happens at the cellular level is at its peak during this stage and all bodily functions occur properly.
To be more productive at work, one shall indulge in a healthy sleeping culture. There are several ways to create a better sleep environment to enhance good quality sleep. We will walk you through these ways one by one.
How to Create a Better Sleep Environment?
Sleep Schedule: Follow a regular sleeping schedule and train your brain about sleeping time and wake up time. Always follow the regular sleeping schedule. This will help you get good quality sleep. Try to get a minimum of seven to eight hours of sleep daily.
Avoid Lights that Disturb you: Create a dark, cool and calm environment in your bedroom. You can use blind screens that block outside light entering your bedroom in the night. Keep all the electronic gadgets away. Also, keep blue light-emitting sources outside your bedroom. Make your bedroom more welcoming by using candle lights with essential oils. Take a warm water bath and aromatherapy before bedtime to soothe your system.
Do Regular Exercise: People who exercise regularly have a better sleep pattern and wake up refreshed the next day which improves their work efficiency. A sweating session improves the quality of sleep and keeps you energetic throughout the day.
Early and Light Dinner: When you eat a late dinner combined with a heavy one, your body takes a longer time to digest and absorb the nutrients. Your body will be busy metabolizing the food that you have consumed closer to your bedtime rather than putting you to good sleep.
Stress Management: Work stress should not be carried home. Stress and anxiety will harm your sleep. Practising meditation and yoga regularly can help manage stress effectively. Any simple relaxation techniques like speaking to a close friend or walking alone a short distance on the terrace or listening to music before bedtime can help you manage stress. Warm water bath and aromatherapy with scented candles will help you relieve your stress during the day.
Wear Minimal Clothes: Sleeping with lesser clothing, helps to keep your body temperature low and keeps you cool. Sleeping with your partner can contribute to closeness and happiness in your relationship. This is because, contact triggers the release of oxytocin, the so-called ‘love hormone’ helps in the interpersonal and emotional bonding between the partners. This helps to manage stress and reduce anxiety and lower blood pressure. Regulating body temperature to a minimum is one of the best ways to improve sleep. However, body temperature reduces naturally throughout the night which is an important part of the body’s adaptation to sleep. Try to stay cool while sleeping which will ease the process of falling asleep faster and get more sound sleep.
Stay away from Caffeine and Alcohol: Avoid consuming caffeinated drinks and alcohol later in the evening. Caffeine and alcohol stimulate your brain and keeps you awake during the night. Also, the metabolism of alcohol takes a much longer time. So when your body is intending to sleep and allowing the brain to rest, it will be busy metabolizing the alcohol you consumed just before bedtime, which keeps you awake.
Comfy Mattress and Pillows: Make your bedroom more inviting with a comfortable mattress and cosy pillows in addition to throws and appealing bedsheet, and duvets explain experts from Wakefit. Investing in good quality bedding means you are investing in good quality sleep. So do not compromise on getting sound and restful sleep by choosing the regular ones. You will surely enjoy the cuddling of your pillow and fall asleep faster. Besides, make sure that you use your bedroom only for sleep. Do not convert it into your workplace by attending calls and receiving emails sitting on your bed.
Besides following the above instructions, there are many other ways to tackle sleep disorder; Sleep trackers such as digipill, sleep time, pzizz, and relax and sleep well are applications that will help you track your sleep quality by analyzing your sleep using sound and vibration. If none of the above methods helps you get sound sleep, it is better to take help of these applications for better sleep.
