Health and Fitness

Recently i went through an article in which i found that how a bad sleep can effect our day to day life activities and reduce our working efficiency. I feel sleep comes of its own in a relaxed manner and one has to master the art of catching up with sleep rather than fighting for it. Let's see how can we do this..

1. Keep worries off your mind at bed time. In other words, Relax. Do not fight with your mind. Keep the tensions, anxieties and pin pricks of the working hours of your night schedule. Let us not forget that the distractions of the day carried into bed produce nothing but poor sleep and nightmares, so relax your mind and body and surrender to the bliss of sleep.
2. If you do not feel sleepy do not force yourself to sleep. It has been rightly quipped, 'stop fighting with your pillows.' Relax with something like soft music or light literature.
3. Have a regular hour of sleep. Many people have a rhythm like necessity of going to bed and if by any chance they miss this point they find it difficult to go to sleep. The best sleep comes before midnight. if you go to bed around 10.0 p.m, the first hours of sleep are the best. There is always a sleeping point for every person and if he or she misses that, sleep becomes difficult to come by.
4. Have a natural sleep.Do not bargain for sleep bought by either sleeping pill or tranquilizer. Taken over long periods sleeping pills not only produce addiction but also prove dangerous. Moreover sleep induced by a pill is never refreshing.
5. Have a congenital surroundings. A darkened, well ventilated room which is neither too warm nor too cold is ideal. A room where cool fresh air ventilates is ideal for sleeping at night. Sleep with windows open. Too much noise and light are a great distration to sleep so have your own room where there is less noise since it is one of the greatest enemy of sleep. Let not extraneous light trickle into the bed room at night. Total darkness induces a peaceful sleep.
6. The evening food should not be too large or heavy but preferably light one. Bad digestion is poor solace for a sleepless night, so keep your digestion well. A light walk after dinner is very exhilarating. Think of this walk more as a pleasure rather than an obligation.
7. Many people prefer a warm drink before going to bed. A warm cup of milk with cocoa is welcome drink at bed time. A strong cup of coffee or tea if it interferes with your sleep must be cut though some people prefer to take a light cup of tea at bed time. There are no hard and fast rules in this matter but the basic rule is to avoid strong drinks at night.
8. A warm bath, a brisk rub, deep breathing, stretching yourself are ways to take you slowly towards the bliss of sleep.
9. Have comfortable bed to sleep which should be neither too soft nor too hard. The position of bed does not matter though there is popular belief that for a restful sleep the bed must be aligned from north to south to correspond with the earths magnetic poles. The bedding must be clean. Too high or too low bolster or pillows be avoided since they often put strain on neck muscles. The night clothing should be light and loose. Too tight clothing as night wear howsoever fashionable or attractive may be to look at shall cramp up the body and interfere with the body's natural mechanisms taking away along with it that very much desired commodity called sleep.
10. Lead an active physical life. Physical exercises loosen the muscles and bring a restful sleep.
11. Do not over tire yourself with the notion of inducing sleep. There can be nothing more harmful for sleep than an over tired exhausted body or mind.
12. Lastly prepare yourself for sleep. Get into a state of complete physical and mental relaxation.

simple tips to sleep better by sanjeev kapoor