Health News / February-March 2009
Sleep Like a Baby and Wake Up Refreshed
Follow these tips to help ensure that your time between the sheets leaves you feeling refreshed and renewed. Make breakfast your heaviest meal of the day. Digesting food takes energy, so if you eat a heavy meal late in the day, your body will have to work hard to digest it while you’re trying to go to sleep. Many people sleep better if they have protein at breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner with some carbohydrates.
Cut back on the sleep robbers. Cut out caffeine after 2:00 p.m., and refrain from drinking alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime. You may become drowsy after a couple of glasses of wine, but too much alcohol will make you wake up frequently during the night. In addition, although coffee is the most obvious source of caffeine, don’t forget that there’s also caffeine in colas, chocolate, tea, and some medications.
Go toward the light. Get outside when it’s sunny, or at least turn on the lights at home in the morning. This will help you reset your awake-sleep cycle. Drink like a fish. Even mild dehydration—losing as little as ½ cup of body water—could turn into lowgrade chronic fatigue. Drink eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water a day, and add four to six more glasses when you exercise. To prevent unnecessary trips to the bathroom at night, empty your bladder before going to sleep, and don’t drink more than 4 ounces within an hour of going to bed.
Exercise earlier in the day. Regular exercise first energizes, then relaxes you. So if you start doing calisthenics or aerobics right before bed, nerve-stimulating hormones will be released and will raise your body’s core temperature, preventing you from falling asleep. Exercise—but do it earlier in the day.
Walk into sleep. You don’t have to walk far to get sleep-enhancing benefits. People who walked at least six blocks a day at a normal pace were one-third less likely to have trouble sleeping, according to one study of more than 700 men and women. Those who picked up the pace had even better sleeping habits. You get the same benefits with walking that you’d get by taking sleep medication—but without the medication’s side effects, such as grogginess, increased snoring, risk of sleep apnea, and possible addiction. Take a nap. It’s okay to nap, especially if you didn’t sleep well last night. Research has found that people who nap for 15 minutes feel more alert and less sleepy, even after a bad night’s sleep.
For more information, visit www. prevention.com.
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