What makes you sleep well?

The golden rule
Apply the golden rule of three-thirds to your sleep: divide your day evenly into 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for work and 8 hours for rest. “If at least one third suffers, unfortunately others will suffer too,” says sleep expert N. Berzina. According to her, a person with poor sleep is less able to work and does not have the energy for quality rest. Equally, if you work too hard and suffer the lack of rest, it is impossible to sleep well. Therefore, the specialist advises to sleep for at least 7 to 9 hours.

Less sleep, more calories
The expert says that even one lost hour of sleep can affect your body. It will take four well-slept nights to get this one hour back. Scientific studies also show that when there is a lack of sleep, a person consumes an average of 200 kcal more the next day than a well-rested one. So, if you don't want your body to crave for sweets or an extra portion of food, try to sleep for at least one hour longer.

Sleeping like a log isn't a must
Some people think that quality sleep is when you fall like a log and open your eyes only at dawn. But in reality it is absolutely normal to wake up 5 times at night. “The older you are, the more times you can wake up at night and the longer it takes for you to fall asleep. There is no need to worry about that. Take it with calm, because when you get upset, your body releases stress hormones and it becomes even harder to fall asleep,” advises the sleep expert.

“"Don't wait too long in bed to fall asleep - if you can't fall asleep for more than half an hour, get up and do some peaceful activities until you feel like sleeping, then you can go back to bed”.

Tips for better sleep
1. Create your bedtime rituals: take a shower, have a light snack, etc. You've read it right, it is not recommended to go to bed when you are hungry as a hunter. Bananas, ripened cheese, cottage cheese, milk and turkey are the products that can help you fall asleep. However, it should be a small bite rather than a large portion of food.
2. Get more light during the day. To fall asleep more quickly, you need to get enough light during the day. Go outside every day, especially if you are older, since the natural sunlight helps to release more sleep hormones at night. Reduce light in the evening as much as possible and avoid any sources of it during the night using the blackout curtains.
3. Warm up the body, cool down the room. It is much harder to fall asleep when you feel chilly. Warm up by taking a bath, drinking a cup of tea, putting a heater or a pair of socks on your feet. Your bedroom, on the contrary, should stay cool, ventilated and unlit. A TV, a phone and other devices that emit blue light will scatter the dreams.
4. No caffeine, smoking or alcohol before going to bed. Before going to bed, preferably during the whole second half of the day, you should not smoke or consume alcohol and caffeinated beverages such as coffee, coke or black tea. It is wrong to believe that alcohol helps to fall asleep. Yes, it makes you feel sleepy at first, but you will wake up in a few hours, since the alcohol metabolism products have an irritating effect that distorts the architecture of sleep.