Sleep, a balanced diet, and physical activity are very important for our mental and physical wellbeing. Sleep regenerates our body and mind. Lack of sleep can cause emotional turmoil, affects our memory and can be a high-risk factor of getting diabetes, depression, heart disease, and many other medical conditions.
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle. When properly aligned, a circadian rhythm can promote consistent and restorative sleep, but when this circadian rhythm is thrown off, up it can create significant lasting sleeping problems.
When people talk about circadian rhythm, it’s most often in the context of sleep. The sleep-wake cycle is one of the most known examples of the importance of circadian rhythms.
During the day, light exposure causes the master clock to send signals that generate alertness and help keep us awake and active. As night falls, the master clock initiated the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep, and then keeps transmitting signals that keep us stay asleep through the night.
General guidelines are that healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development.
A rare genetic mutation lets some people function with less sleep, but that goes for only about five percent of the population.
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How To Sleep Better
You should drink water consistently during the day to stay hydrated but cut back a little in an hour or two before going to bed, to avoid waking up to go to the bathroom.
Have your last caffeine-containing drink no later than midday, as the body takes about five to six hours to eliminate any caffeine that was consumed.
Eat your main evening meal at least four hours before sleep. If you absolutely have to have a snack before bed, a glass of warm milk and a whole-grain cookie are a good option.
Drinking alcohol can make you fall asleep faster, but it contributes to poor quality of sleep. Alcohol blocks REM sleep can aggravate breathing problems, lead to additional bathroom trips, and can interrupt your circadian rhythm, meaning you might wake up before you are truly rested. Smoking regularly has similar effects on your sleep to alcohol, also affecting your sleep cycles.
Similarly to alcohol, smoking regularly can also affect the quality of your sleep.
Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed.
Blue light can suppress the secretion of melatonin even more than other lights and throws the body’s biological clock out of rhythm.
Leave your mobile phones and other electronic devices out of the bedroom. You can read a book instead.
We sleep better if we sleep alone. This can have a positive effect on our health and partnership by avoiding disagreements over bedding, room temperature, levels of light and sound, as each individual can set her or his own sleep times in order to maintain a consistent and healthy sleep schedule.
Try to stick to consistent bedtimes and wake up times as often as possible so your body can find its natural rhythm and settle into a regular sleep-wake cycle.
The room temperature should be between 18 and 21 degrees.
Your body’s internal temperature shifts during a 24-hour period. The body begins to shed warmth right about the time you go to bed and continues to cool down until reaching its low point near daybreak, at around 5 a.m.
If the temperature in your sleeping environment is too hot or cold, it may affect the drop in your body’s internal temperature and cause you to have disrupted sleep.
If you need extra help to relax, yoga is a gentle and restorative way to wind down your day. Use gentle and calming yoga techniques for 15-20 minutes before bedtime.
Although a hot shower might sound tempting, hot showers or long baths raise your core body temperature and might make it harder to drift off to sleep if you don’t cool off after. Take a quick, lukewarm shower instead.
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Summer Tips
If air conditioning isn’t an option, try to make a path of air by opening several windows or use a fan.
Use natural, breathable materials like cotton, linen or bamboo for your bed linen and sleepwear.
Blackout your windows to avoid light entering your bedroom past bedtime or before waking up.
Catching Up On Sleep
What if you occasionally don’t get a good night’s sleep? It’s totally ok to sleep late the next day or take a nap in the early afternoon. But that’s only a short term solution. Don’t depend on it regularly. Late and long naps can push back your bedtime and affect your sleep schedule.
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Sleep and beauty
When we sleep, our bodies recharge - and so does our skin. During sleep, we heal, restore, and eliminate toxins from our body. Our skin is busy regenerating itself from the damage we might have sustained during the day from UV rays or pollution. Skkin cells renew faster while we sleep - this is why a good night's sleep is important.
Take advantage of this period of skin renewal and restoration by cleansing your skin before bed and choosing products that will optimize the recovery period so that you wake up with healthier looking, more beautiful skin. Wash your face every night with a gentle, pH-balanced cleanser that will not strip your skin of its healthy oils and will maintain the slightly acidic environment your skin barrier needs to remain glowing. Next, apply skin treatments that will help maintain your flawless and healthy looking complexion.
Our MIDNIGHT BEAUTY Rich Revitalizing serum, with a powerful combination of nature’s most effective plant oils, penetrates deeply to nourish your skin, working with your body’s natural rhythms to brighten, improve fine lines and wrinkles, and replenish skin’s moisture balance.
Beauty sleep also contributes to beautiful, fuller hair. Sleep is needed for proper protein synthesis of your hair and it can impact your hormones which will have an impact on your hair’s growth and appearance.
When we sleep, our bodies recharge - and so does our skin. During sleep, we heal, restore, and eliminate toxins from our body. Our skin is busy regenerating itself from the damage we might have sustained during the day from UV rays or pollution. Skkin cells renew faster while we sleep - this is why a good night's sleep is important.
Take advantage of this period of skin renewal and restoration by cleansing your skin before bed and choosing products that will optimize the recovery period so that you wake up with healthier looking, more beautiful skin. Wash your face every night with a gentle, pH-balanced cleanser that will not strip your skin of its healthy oils and will maintain the slightly acidic environment your skin barrier needs to remain glowing. Next, apply skin treatments that will help maintain your flawless and healthy looking complexion.
Our MIDNIGHT BEAUTY Rich Revitalizing serum, with a powerful combination of nature’s most effective plant oils, penetrates deeply to nourish your skin, working with your body’s natural rhythms to brighten, improve fine lines and wrinkles, and replenish skin’s moisture balance.
Beauty sleep also contributes to beautiful, fuller hair. Sleep is needed for proper protein synthesis of your hair and it can impact your hormones which will have an impact on your hair’s growth and appearance.
Good nigh, have a guilt free sleep in and wake up even more beautiful every day! ;)
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