If you ask most adults how they feel each day, they will say that they are tired. They might also say that they feel other emotions or physical sensations, but tired is almost always part of their answer. The lack of sleep lifestyle is epidemic in modern life for grown ups and there are a host of issues that accompany consistent exhaustion that everyone, including doctors, intentionally tend to overlook due to the pressure to produce work and do amazing things each day.
Women in particular, are victims of health issues related to exhaustion due to their inherent need for more sleep than men. This is particularly true for women with children to care for. Women multi-task more throughout the day, fatiguing their brains and are often also responsible for many people’s well-being other than their own, leading to intermittent stress.
The physical stresses placed on the body from emotional concerns and high-level thinking can really only be recovered from with a good night’s sleep. That being said, many women do not know what they can do to help themselves to get a better night’s rest. While there is no solution to having to wake up to care for sick children or having to stay up late to help kids with their homework, there are ways to ensure a good night’s sleep that most women are not aware of.
Add White Noise: If your brain is going a mile a minute and you hear every little noise and jolt awake, adding the background noise of a fan or buying a white noise generator to produce gentle background hum can help your brain to rest and let you sleep.
Meditate: Meditation is one of the best ways to get your brain into sleeping mode. There are many styles of meditation so it is easy to find the one that is right for your needs. Meditation will teach your brain to calm down so that sleep comes easily. It has also been proven to improve the quality of your sleep and it helps your brain cope with stress more effectively.
Exercise Earlier: Many people are unaware that exercising close to bedtime makes it harder to sleep. It is a good rule of thumb to exercise at minimum two hours before you want to go to bed.
Take Some Time For Yourself: Women often have to care for many other people in their lives and trying to fall into bed when your brain is worried about lots of other people’s needs can be tough. Take time before bed to sit quietly, to read, or to take a hot bath and think about your own needs and your own health for a while.
Don’t Fight Your Body’s Sleep Patterns: While some people can train their body to sleep on any schedule, others among us cannot do this very well. If you are struggling to get to sleep and you are lying awake frustrated, you are working against yourself. Take a while to read or do another calming activity until you feel tired enough to try and sleep again.
Lastly, and sometimes most importantly, always make sure that you are sleeping on a good quality mattress. You can work as hard as you like trying to get good sleep and develop good sleep habits but if you are sleeping on a worn-out mattress, none of it will matter.
There are literally hundreds of kinds of mattresses on the market and most of them are made with specific sleep types in mind. If you are side sleeper, make sure you have a quality mattress for that type of sleep. If you are a back sleeper, make sure you have the right mattress for back sleepers.
Sleep is one of the most important necessities of all adults. Make sure that you are not neglecting your health by skipping out on the sleep that you need.
