With the heat and the change of schedules and light cycles it is uphill to rest at night. Take note of these tips so you can sleep well in summer.
According to the SEN (Spanish Society of Neurology), 4 million people in Spain have chronic insomnia and between 25-35% of the population suffers from temporary insomnia, being women more prone to suffer it. If you are late in falling asleep, you wake up frequently during the night or you keep awake and the next day you are tired, irritable, drowsy, headache, It's hard to concentrate and you need to eat foods with fat and sugar, you need to ensure a good rest.
Take a bath (or a shower) before going to bed
If you have a pool in your house or in your perfect holiday destination because you can take the last dip of the day before going to bed. If you do not have a pool by hand do not worry because a bath or shower at home will have the same effects. It favors the relaxation of the organism, it releases tension accumulated during the day and it will help you to rest and to fall asleep.
Dinner before and light
Advance your dinner time to make sure you have digested before going to bed. Dine lightly to avoid heavy digestion, swelling or burning, which are bothersome symptoms that can give you a bad night, and opt for a healthy menu with protein prepared on the grill, oven or steamed with vegetables. Avoid spicy dishes, processed foods or indigestible elaborations at night like breaded, breaded, fried …
With the drink also advances schedules, in summer you need to drink more water but Do not leave most of your intake for the end of the day because this will force you to get up several times to the bathroom overnight.
Check some schedules
According to SEMERGEN (Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians), keep the same hours both to lie down and to get up, helps the body to establish some routines that will allow the correct functioning of the circadian rhythms, responsible for regulating rest.
It is true that in the summer the schedules change and we have more social life but try to keep a schedule to achieve good sleep hygiene and gain at rest and health. Be careful with naps because they can not make you sleep at night, if you sleep nap that is not more than 20 minutes.
Turn off your electronic devices
If you use your tablet, computer or smartphone before going to sleep you may be causing a bad break because the light of these devices alters circadian rhythms and the natural sleep cycle, besides favoring night awakenings. Forget about using them and staying watching television until late if you want to fall asleep and sleep in one go. Choose to read a good book with warm light before going to bed, it will help you relax and provide a restful sleep.
Allies to fall asleep
The Center for Research on Phytotherapy (INFITO) and SEMERGEN insist on the importance of avoiding the use of synthetic drugs if insomnia is occasional. Experts recommend recourse to medicinal pharmaceutical dispensing plants such as Passionflower, California Poppy or Valerian. All these plants manage to alleviate anxiety and help to sleep without the side effects of sleeping pills of synthetic origin.
Experts do not recommend very intense physical activities in the late afternoon, but leave a minimum of two hours without exercising before going to bed to prevent the body is more active. The sport generates adrenaline and increases the heart rate so it will be more difficult to get to sleep.
If you want to include in your daily routine a very effective help to relax body and mind at the end of the day, you can do a few minutes of meditation before going to bed, even guided meditation to promote relaxation and prepare the body for rest.
The best conditions for rest
The temperature of your bedroom should be between 18 and 22 degrees to achieve good sleep hygiene, and between 50 and 70% humidity, without light and avoiding noise. As it is not always possible to have these conditions, much less in summer, if you have air conditioning put it a while before lying down so that the room is cool and if you use it at night put a humidifier in addition because the air conditioners dry out a lot. ambient. Another option is the fan and put a container with water in the room.
After taking a relaxing bath, take a natural remedy to sleep, read for a while, have a few moments of meditation and refresh the stay in which you sleep, surely you will be able to enjoy the best dream of a summer night.