The 11 Sleep Quality Tips from Matthew Walker

Even a little bit of sleep is necessary for every living thing on the earth. Human health depends on sleep, and not getting enough sleep can have a negative impact on how we operate in daily life. Matthew Walker, a sleep expert, emphasizes the value of sleep by offering some crucial pointers for enhancing sleep efficiency. The joe Rogan podcast with Mathew Walker helped me learn so many new concepts about sleep. This blog presents The 11 Sleep Quality Tips from Matthew Walker.

Who is Matthew Walker?

The founder and head of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Matthew Walker is an expert in the study of sleep. The famous British neurologist is the author of the 2017 international best-seller Why We Sleep, which Bill Gates and The New York Times both praised as “night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense.” In addition to investigating how sleep affects the brain and body, Matthew has also researched its effects on everything from depression and Alzheimer’s to learning and, possibly, life expectancy. He earned his Ph.D. from Nottingham University in London’s Medical Research Council in 1996, and in 2004 he was appointed an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Importance of sleep

Sleep is crucial because it facilitates physical recovery, sickness recovery, stress management, problem-solving, memory consolidation, and motor skill improvement. It’s important to consider both the quantity and quality of your sleep when determining whether or not you had a decent night’s rest.

NREM sleep promotes bodily healing : Rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep are the two fundamental types of sleep (REM). Your body may relax and enter a deep slumber thanks to NREM sleep, which makes you feel more rested the next day. NREM sleep can aid in physical healing, sickness recovery, stress management, and problem solving. Additionally, memory consolidation and immune system boosting are both aided by NREM sleep.

REM sleep improves memory and learning: Your mood, memory, and capacity for learning are all impacted by REM sleep. Getting adequate REM sleep might enhance memory consolidation and recall while also assisting your brain in controlling the synapses linked to specific forms of motor learning. The majority of our dreaming happens during REM sleep, which is the stage of sleep that is closest to consciousness. According to the ontogenetic concept, the REM sleep cycle’s neuron activity stimulates the growing brains of infants, promoting the formation of mature synaptic connections. Although scientists are unsure of the precise cause of dreams, they theorize that it has to do with how our brains process emotions.

 Also our previous article explains How sleep can help you improve your grades

11 Tips for Improving Sleep Quality

Matthew Walker, a sleep expert, offers the following advice to help you sleep better at night. These tips will help you improve your sleep naturally.

1. Establish a routine

The internal clock in your body has a set pattern for sleep and wakefulness. Your circadian cycle is disrupted if you go to bed late one night and early the next. A weekend attempt to make up for lost sleep (a sleep deficit) may not always be successful and may leave one feeling physically and mentally exhausted. So maintaining a regular sleep cycle can be quite advantageous for your general health and wellbeing.

2. Stop doing your cardio at night

You might be to fault for your morning fatigue if you worked out on the treadmill late at night. Some people find that an intense yoga practice or late-night workout makes it tougher for their brains to shut down before bed. Try to finish a vigorous workout two to three hours before going to bed. Find out more about how exercise affects the quality of sleep.

3. Limit your intake of caffeine and nicotine

Caffeine temporarily blocks the signal from adenosine, a critical sleep chemical in your brain, but it still accumulates. This accumulated adenosine eventually breaks through, resulting in a dramatic crash, often at inconvenient times. Another stimulant, nicotine, can cause very light sleep.

4. Limit your alcohol intake

While drinking alcohol before bed may help you chill, too much of it can interfere with your ability to sleep. Your ability to get the deep sleep your brain needs for the best healing is taken away by alcohol. Heavy drinking can make it difficult to breathe at night and makes it difficult to stay asleep (you frequently wake up, even if you don’t remember doing so).

5. Consume a light dinner

When it comes to late-night dining, small snacks are preferred over large meals because the latter can cause indigestion, which can disrupt your sleep. Avoid consuming liquids a few hours before bed to avoid numerous bathroom visits in the middle of the night that can disrupt sleep and cause fragmentation.

6. Discuss your drug schedule with your doctor

In addition to over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, some heart and lung treatments can interfere with sleep. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if a drug you are taking—and whether you can take it earlier in the day—might be the cause of your inability to sleep.

7. Allow time for relaxation

Before going to bed, establish a soothing routine that includes activities like reading, listening to music, or mild stretching. A worry notebook is another thing Matthew advises doing because it might help you work through your feelings before bed.

8. The best is a bath

Even though it seems counterintuitive, a hot bath before night can help you feel more relaxed and sleepy while also lowering your body temperature once you’re in bed.

9. Check your technology at the entrance:

Imagine the ideal bedroom as a cool, dark, gadget-free prehistoric cave located someplace in the Great North. Get rid of noisy technology, charge your phone in a different room, and skip the alarm clock, which can make you hyperaware of each passing second.

10. Take a sun break

Exposure to natural sunlight for at least 30 minutes per day can help you regulate your sleep patterns. To be more attentive when your day begins, try to capture those rays in the morning. Dim the lights before going to bed to prevent melatonin production from being hampered. Alex Fergus describes in detail, that how morning sunlight can improve our sleeps.

11. Prevent spending too much time in bed

Although it’s not a bad sleep approach, spending a lot of time in bed just waiting to fall asleep can leave you feeling nervous and frustrated. If you use your bed for anything other than sleeping or having sex, your brain will associate it with being awake. After around 25 to 30 minutes of lying in bed, if you are still unable to transition into wakefulness, get up and engage in a soothing activity until you feel asleep.

References:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/29/how-to-improve-your-sleep
2. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/matthew-walker-on-improving-sleep-quality