Sleep and Stress: Strategies for Managing Stress to Improve Sleep Quality

Developing good sleep habits is one way to relieve stress and improve your mood, apart from exercise. Apart from maintaining physical health, we must also prioritize our mental health. Now we will discuss how to deal with stress by improving good sleep quality.

Calm

To calm yourself down before going to sleep, you can do this by stopping reading the news, putting yourself away from your cell phone, taking a warm bath, reading a book, or listening to calming music.

To get good quality sleep, you can start by teaching your body and brain to stay calm. So, try to start relaxing at least an hour before bedtime. Experts also say that you should get used to having a regular sleep time, even on weekends.

Avoid certain foods and drinks

Certain foods and drinks can sometimes be a trigger for difficulty sleeping and ultimately thinking a lot and causing stress.

For this reason, you can try avoiding drinking coffee after afternoon, especially if you experience insomnia. Apart from coffee, alcohol is another no-no. Maybe it helps you fall asleep. However, it actually makes you more likely to wake up at night when your body starts processing the alcohol.

Cold room temperature

Strive for cooler temperatures. Don’t watch television or work in the bedroom. Train your brain to think that the room is only for sleeping.

Mattress

One quite important factor is the mattress. Strive for a comfortable mattress, make sure the bed sheets, bed cover or quilt cover make it comfortable. The bed cover or bed sheet needed is cool, smooth and anti-bacterial. If the mattress cannot make you comfortable, then you will definitely have difficulty sleeping and your sleep will not be of good quality.

Sleep in the dark

Make sure to remove all bright light, as even the blue light of a cell phone or laptop can be distracting. If that’s difficult to achieve, consider using blindfolds and blackout curtains to keep the room dark. But during the day, try to get good exposure to natural light as it will help regulate your circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle.

Sport

One way to have good quality sleep is by exercising. When the body’s energy is used to exercise, it will make it easier to fall asleep.

Apart from that, exercise itself is also a way to relieve stress. According to a study of students, exercise to relieve stress does not need to be high intensity.