Sleeping Habits

Are you awake around the clock? If so, your health could be at risk!

Good Sleeping Habits

1) Try to have a fixed time for going to bed and waking up. Your body gets immune to falling asleep at a certain time everyday. Ideally, you need at least eight hours sleep every night. If you wake up and hit the snooze button on your alarm clock, you are not getting enough sleep. Don't go back to sleep when you wake up after 7am. You will feel weak and boggy throughout the day.

2) I am not the type of person who goes to the gym or goes on a jogging session for a few hours a day. I do go out in the fresh air, if I can. Instead of taking the bus to my local shopping center or work, I try to walk to my chosen destination. Fresh air is the best thing to wake you up in the mornings, because it will improve your circulation system.

If your looking for something a bit more interesting, try aerobics or any kind of keep fit class. This kind of exercise is ideal for beginners; because you are doing, steady exercises non-stop for an hour. Which is perfectly healthy and more than sufficient for the average person. If you go in head first, running and sprinting, you will give up after 2 minutes.

3) Many people say to have a nice warm soak in the bath, before you go to bed. I disagree strongly; I have my bath at a lukewarm temperature and keep the cold tap running cold, slowly! When you are in bed, you will warm up anyway. If you overheat your body, you feel sweaty, itchy and you will not be able to sleep. Read a book in bed in a dimly lit room.

4) Have some herbal tea or a glass of water before bed. Keep a pint of water beside your bedside, incase you feel thirsty. This will save you dragging yourself at of bed to get a drink.

5) Try to avoid watching television or playing on the computer in the bedroom. If you can't avoid this, try leaving about 1 hour between finishing playing on the computer and going to bed. Make sure you clean your bedding weekly and have your room as dark as possible.

6) Don't sleep in the afternoons; you will not sleep at night. Don't drink caffeine drinks, alcohol and smoke. Don't eat a large meal before bed; eat a small non-sugary snack instead.

7) If you are having one of those dreadful nights, when you can't seem to drift off. Try getting up and do something boring. For example, reading a book, plan the next day or update your diary. If you do anything that involves reading or writing, you will certainly feel drowsy after 15 minutes.

What happens when you don't get enough sleep?

Many people think that tiredness is a sign of hard work, but it actual means you're not getting enough sleep. Work takes up too much of our time; it takes up 70% of our lives. We are not supposed to wake up at 5.30am. It doesn't matter what time you go to bed, you will always feel tired in the morning. You can reduce the tiredness if you follow good sleeping habits.

What are the outcomes of poor sleeping habits?

• Drowsiness
• Lack of concentration
• Reduces your performance
• Weakness
• Skin feeling itchy
• Blood shot eyes
• Insomnia
• Disrupts the production of white blood cells, which cause infections and illnesses.

I go to sleep if I can't stay up any longer, but I need to switch off a few electric goods (computer, television) about 45 minutes before I go to bed. During that time, I would either write or read in bed, and I would fall to sleep within 20 minutes.

When you are awakened by the alarm clock, get out of bed straight away and go to the kitchen and make yourself some breakfast. Don't snooze, you will only fall back to sleep and eventually crawl out of bed at 11.30am.

I know it's difficult to get up straight away, it's like putting your whole body under cold water. The best thing to do is, to get some fresh air as soon as you get up. It doesn't matter if it's a walk to the local newsagent or sitting in the back garden. This will improve your circulation and stop you from feeling tired.

Ideally you should aim for a sleeping pattern of 10.00pm - 6.30am, make sure you try to get at least 7-8 hours sleep.