Sleep is crucial throughout all phases of recovery. Whether an individual is navigating their recovery from an addiction or is balancing their mental health, sleep is a core part of one’s day. Not only does the amount of sleep dictate how one approaches the day ahead, but also the quality of sleep therein.
Ensuring that one’s time asleep is sufficiently restful is essential in incorporating other healthy lifestyle strategies, with one’s sleep having a massive impact on one’s energy, focus, and emotional health. With how vital sleep is, incorporating strategies that can help one’s time asleep be more rejuvenating are essential in maintaining a healthy lifestyle while remaining physically and emotionally resilient to the stresses of daily life.
Diet Goes a Long Way
Like sleep, one’s diet affects the rest of one’s daily routine. Eating healthy meals allows the body to continue operating on a normal and effective rhythm, providing energy without the unnecessary detriments that may plague less healthy foods.
Excess sugars or unhealthy meals can throw off one’s normal processes, even compromising energy levels and digestive functions. Likewise, eating hefty meals just before bed can also keep an individual up or add to one’s discomfort, either by feeling groggy or causing an individual to get up in the middle of the night.
However, going to bed hungry can also be detrimental, with one’s hunger waking an individual up or making it difficult to get to sleep in the first place if one’s body is starved of sufficient nutrients. Planning a regular mealtime a few hours before bed and avoiding snacking in the interim can promote the healthiest sleep cycles.
Avoid Caffeine
Alongside the other effects of one’s diet on their sleep schedule, avoiding stimulants like caffeine is also paramount. These can artificially stimulate one’s body, keeping them awake while not actually providing healthy energy. Sodas, coffee, and especially alcohol can all make getting a full, restful night’s sleep incredibly difficult and should be avoided for the most rejuvenating nights of quality sleep.
Involve Physical Exercise
Preparing for a restful night of sleep begins long before one settles into bed. Incorporating a physically active element in one’s daily routine can help an individual improve their quality of sleep later that night.
Keeping active can allow the body to expend the energy gained throughout the day in a healthy way, challenging ones’ body and helping to balance one’s mental and physical needs. Going to sleep without sufficient physical exercise can cause one’s body to still have pent-up energies, making it more challenging to get to sleep or stay asleep. This excess energy can also cause one to wake up through the night or lie awake in bed, introducing unnecessary stress of compromising one’s sleep schedule entirely.
Creating the Right Environment
One’s environment plays a significant role in the quality of sleep. While this means finding a place that can be shut off from unnecessary light or excess noise is necessary, there are many other aspects to one’s environment that one can consider.
For some, keeping one’s most interesting hobbies in another room can allow an individual to associate their bedroom with only a place of rest rather than a place of activity. Eliminating electronics from the room, such as one’s phone, television sets, or computers, can also help moderate screentime and promote a healthy sleep environment.
Detaching for the Night
Letting go of the day’s stresses and allowing oneself to rest can be the most challenging part of getting to sleep. Some may still be reeling from stressful workdays, while others may be going over their accomplishments and wondering if they could have or should have done more. While this is common, it is also detrimental to one’s sleep.
Planning out the next day in advance or jotting down a list of one’s accomplishments can be instrumental in allowing oneself to detach from obligations or work expectations for a time. Knowing that there is a plan in place can help an individual schedule their time and feel more justified in taking the appropriate amount of time to sleep. It also helps one start off the next day with a clear goal and schedule, further adding a degree of structure to one’s day.
This kind of concrete approach to one’s responsibilities can help one visualize the next day as individual items on a list for which one already has a plan. This can be more helpful than a looming, amorphous cloud that can introduce unnecessary anxiety as an individual is trying to wind down for the night.
Sleep is an essential part of everyday life, and ensuring that your sleep is restful enough is crucial in employing the rest of your regular coping strategies. Whether you are navigating your first tentative steps towards sobriety or are coping with the daily stresses of anxiety, depression, or other mental health disorders, we at Everlast Recovery Centers are prepared to help you. Your time with us can be wholly personalized to fit your unique needs and goals. Our homey atmosphere and supportive community will work alongside you to establish your own effective recovery techniques while scaffolding effective routines and strategies to ensure that sleep is restful and fulfilling. Our comfortable and safe environment prides itself on its acceptance, working to help you build upon your strengths and overcome your weaknesses, all while teaching you to manage your energy effectively. For more information on how we can help you, call us today at (866) 388-6925.
