One Reason Why You Can’t Sleep At Night

After a stressful or busy day, there is nothing better than lounging on the sofa and bingeing your favourite TV show. However, if you want a good night’s sleep, you might want to rethink your favorite habit.

A study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that binge-watching is linked to poor sleep quality, fatigue and increased insomnia. Researchers say when you binge-watch your favourite TV show, you become emotionally invested in the show. You want to know what happens next, how the characters develop, how everything plays out. These feelings make you more alert and can make it harder for you to calm down and fall asleep at night.

1. Invest in a good mattress
Mattresses vary drastically and to get the right one for you, you need to find products designed for your sleep position, personal preference, body weight and sleeping arrangements (if you sleep with a spouse and/or animals). Not only should you invest in a proper mattress, you also need a strong foundation and one designed for your specific mattress. Do extensive research before purchasing a mattress to ensure it has everything you need to get a proper night’s sleep.

2. Keep your room cool
The recommended temperature for your bedroom is between 60 to 67 degrees. This helps you sleep cool and prevents excess sweat and heat from disrupting your sleep cycles.

3. Avoid naps or excess sleep at night
While naps can be great to increase your energy, it can also make sleeping at night extremely hard. If you choose to nap, make it short and take one early in the afternoon. Additionally, avoid sleeping in several hours past your normal wake-up time. When you wake up late in the day, your body’s natural sleep schedule is thrown off, making it difficult to get more sleep.

4. Diary
Many individuals complain that they can’t sleep due to a racing mind. They lay down and can’t shut off their mind or they wake up, stressed and anxious about various items taking place in their lives. One way to minimize this anxiety and stress is to journal every night before going to bed. Basically, do a major brain dump every night and write about your day, your anxieties, worries, upcoming activities, to-do lists, etc. Get everything down on paper so you have less information swarming around through your mind during the night.

While watching your favourite TV show isn’t a bad thing, be mindful of how this one simple action can be wreaking havoc on your health.