Sleep is arguably one of the most important things that people need to consider when trying to get the most out of their health and wellness in their lives. Individuals across all life spans struggle with getting enough sleep, and even more specifically getting quality sleep. Not getting “good” sleep, and enough “good” sleep, can quickly bleed into all aspects of your life, making work, relationships, and even exercising more difficult to accomplish. Not only does this immediately have consequences, as we feel tired and less productive throughout the day, but there is also long term health concerns as well. Not sleeping enough will age your body tremendously quicker, due to your body not being given the time to repair and recover from the varied stressors of the day. Many of the older adults that I have worked with could have likely aged much better if they made sleep a higher priority in their lives. Because of this, I wanted to highly a few sleep habits that are making you age much quicker than you need to.
Sleep Habits That are Making You Age Faster
There are a wide variety of things that somebody can do to have a worse sleep and age faster than somebody else. We will highlight three common things that individuals of all ages do that greatly increase how quickly their bodies age. The topics we will touch on are:
- Not Sleeping at a Consistent Time
- Looking at Your Phone Before Bed
- Sleeping in The Wrong Temperature
Not Sleeping at a Consistent Time
Not going to bed at a consistent time can quickly be a recipe for disaster when trying to get the best quality of sleep, and age slower. If you are trying to reverse aging, make sure you are getting to bed within a one hour range every night. For myself, I usually try to be within bed and asleep between 9 and 10 p.m. every single night. Doing this tells my body (and ultimately the hormones in my body) that I am ready for bed. Because of this, I can typically fall asleep quickly, because my bodies circadian rhythm is used to me going to bed at the same time. If your sleep schedule is extremely sporadic, that makes your body unsure on when to produce the hormones to help aid in sleep. Because of this, the length and quality of your sleep lacks heavily. Having poor sleep quality and length, as we know, is a sure fire way to feel tired and age fast.
Looking at Your Phone Before Bed
This is a problem that is common with nearly everyone. I myself included also used to look at my phone a long time before bed. Specifically, I used to watch YouTube videos on a large iPad every single night for at least an hour until I ended up falling asleep. There is a few problems with looking at your phone before going to bed. The first problem is that the phone screen itself produces a certain type of light called blue light. This type of light, when produced, mimics the same signal that sunlight gives to your body. In other words, sunlight tells your body it is time to stay awake. The blue light produced from your phone screen does the same thing. So instead of winding down, your body actually is told to stay up longer. The longer your body stays awake, the less chance you have to sleep. This is a perfect ticket to age faster and decrease your quality of life. In addition to this, there are a lot of things on your phone that can increase anxiety and stress. Whether it is your emails, news articles, or videos that are stress inducing, its a no brainer that looking at your phone before bed makes you age faster! I personally started using a Sunrise Lamp a couple of years ago to help with this. The sunrise lamp slowly dims my room at night, and slowly lights it up in the morning. Since I rely on this as my alarm clock, I can place my phone in a completely other room, removing the temptation to look at it. I highly recommend checking out the Sunrise Lamp if you have not yet. If you are interested in checking one out with my Amazon Associate link, you can view one here: Purchase a Sunrise Lamp.
Sleeping in The Wrong Temperature
The last sleep habit that is making you age faster not sleeping in the right temperature of room. Did you know that your body temperature actually needs to drop a couple of degrees before it can fall asleep. If your room is not the right temperature to sleep, you could be delaying the time it takes to fall asleep tremendously. A good rule of thumb, is to have the room cool enough so that if you didn’t have a light blanket on, it would likely be too cold for yourself to sleep comfortably. For many individuals, this is probably much cooler than you are used to having your room. If you still enjoy having a blanket on, but want your room colder, I personally use a cooling blanket to help with this exact issue. The cooling blanket is simply a light blanket that is very breathable and perfect for hot summer months where you want to remain cool, but still have the comfort of having a blanket. If you want to check out the cooling blanket that I use, feel free to view the Amazon Associate link here: Purchase a cooling blanket. Ultimately, you will probably have to buy an extra box fan or even turn up your air conditioning a little bit. To get the most out of your sleep, and reverse aging, focusing on the temperature of your room will help out tremendously.
What do you think? Do you do any of these sleep habits? Hopefully we made you aware of a few different things that may be making you age faster than normal. Try to work on some of these habits, and I am sure you will notice an improvement in your sleep quality and length. If you did want to check out the two products mentioned in the video, you can view the Amazon associate link for them below. Sweet dreams!!
Cooling Blanket https://amzn.to/3yn0WWG
Sunrise lamp: https://amzn.to/3Orek1J
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