What you do in the morning determines whether you sleep well
My sleep preparation happens in the evening. Keeping an eye on the time, setting alarms (yes, plural) and making sure my mind logs off before I go to sleep, because otherwise I end up tripping in bed. Letting go is not really my forte. But now it turns out that I'm doing it all wrong, because what you do in the morning actually determines whether you sleep well.
Sleeping makes your day. If I sleep too little, too long, or too poorly, then I'm about half of myself. I'm a gifted sleeper, yes, you can only be good at something. But if I perform a little less one night, I panic. And so does pretty much everyone else. Sleeping is always looked down upon a bit. Those who sleep a lot are softies, those who sleep little are on top of the world. Clinton managed with five hours a night, Churchill and Napoleon did it on four. I do well on seven to eight hours. It suddenly sounds like I'm wasting my time lying in bed indeed. Until you sleep too little or not at all, that's a recipe for madness. Then I might as well not become president. To sketch the right sleep situation: one in five Dutch people has sleep problems. It's logical that a trillion studies have been done on it, but if you do these three things in the morning, you might just have a better night.
1. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends. You may deviate by a maximum of 30 minutes, that's best for your biological clock and rhythm, and therefore you sleep better.
2. Get up and move for 45 minutes. This sounds quite intense for the non-sporty among us, but research shows that a walk, boxing class or bike ride of about three quarters of an hour leads to a better night in seventy percent of female cases.
3. Get up, open your curtains, and drink a glass of water. Natural light provides enough energy and you need to hydrate a bit, because at night you lose moisture. Both of these help keep your sleep-wake rhythm in order.
Sleep well, oh, and whatever you do: sleep naked.
Source: Women’s Health & VN.nl
