17 ideas which help you to have a qualitative sleep

We humans have only limited body resources: when we wake up we are usually full of energy, but over the day we discover that from a specific moment our batteries are empty. We fight with ourselves to fulfill the tasks we have put on our to-do lists but we hardly manage to bring them to the end. We feel tired and need some sleep.

Sleep is essential to recover our lost energy and contributes to our performance and productivity level. For this reason it is important to schedule at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Sleep enhances our creativity and the ability to solve problems more efficiently. Because when we sleep our brain works to build new neuronal connections. So there are many arguments to take care of your sleep. Below you can discover them:

1. Avoid caffeine 4 to 5 hours before bedtime.
2. Try to have a balanced nutrition. Do not eat to much before sleeping – you will not sleep very well while your digestion tries to process heavy meals
3. Take a short nap, when your body is tired. This should not by any longer than 20 minutes.
4. Do not sleep immediately after work. Your body needs time to de-connect from the stress. Try to fill the time in between with relaxing activities like e.g. reading.
5. You should create a sleeping ambiance: try to keep your room as dark as possible. Wear pijamas and stick in ear-plugs.
6. Take care of your room temperature – not too cold but also not too hot.
7. Your bed should help your recovery. The blanket, mattress and pillow should be chosen adequately.
8. Try to stick to your sleep hours to avoid changing sleep rhythms.
9. Create a sleeping routine by doing relaxing activities before sleep- like a bath, listening to music or reading a book.
10. Meditation Exercises (Yoga, Autogene Training or Progressive Muscle Relaxation) might be helpful to calm down from daily troubles. The rule is that you have to do them repeatedly every day – the more you exercise the better the effect.
11. Aromatic oil can also help to become more sleepy. Beyond them you can count lavender and vanilla.
12. When in bed to not start to reflect on things that stress you out or unresolved conflicts you have. They can scary out your sleep.
13. If thoughts or ideas do not give you peace while you want to sleep there is only one solution: go out of bed and write them down.
14. Drinking milk before sleep can be also beneficial to make you more sleepy.
15. Do not drink too much liquid before sleep.
16. Alcohol diminishes your sleep quality.
17. Do not be too active before sleep! Doing sports regularly increases the sleep quality, but it is not indicated to schedule your sports lessons before sleep.