If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself feeling tired and drained throughout the day.
You might’ve thought you got enough sleep, yet you’re still feeling tired and drowsy.
Although there are a lot of potential reasons for excess tiredness. But the main ones I’m going to be focusing on here are sleep related causes.
When it comes down to it, there are two main sleep related reasons why you’re always feeling tired.
The first one is maybe you think you’re getting enough sleep, but really you’re not. There’s a common misconception about how much sleep women should be getting, versus how much sleep we actually need.
Secondly, it might have nothing to do with how much sleep you’re getting. Rather, it might be a result of the quality of sleep you’re getting.
How much sleep do women actually need
The common understanding is that adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. This is considered the healthy amount of sleep, enough in order to recover and be fully rested the next day.
However, it turns out that this statistic originally came from a study done on only men.
The truth is, women actually need more sleep than men. On average, women need about 9-10 hours of sleep every night.
Which can be just a little more than the recommended 7-9 hours per night for adults.
I know, this was shocking for me to find out, too.
When you think about it, this explains a lot. Like why you might feel so much more tired than everyone else around you, even if you thought you got sufficient sleep. Or why your body naturally wakes you up after 9-10 hours of sleep those days when you allow yourself to sleep without an alarm to wake you up.
Although this might not seem like too much of a difference, a little more sleep goes a long way when it comes down to feeling rested or not.
When you sleep does matter
I think a common misconception among most people, especially young people, is that it doesn’t matter when you leave as long as you sleep. But this isn’t true, not all sleep is the same.
Someone who goes to bed at 3:00am and wakes up at 12:00pm won’t be as well rested as someone who went to bed at 9:00pm and wakes up at 6:00am.
Why? Because the best sleep comes between 10:00pm and 2:00am.
These are the prime hours of the night to be in bed ready to sleep. It’s best for you to already be asleep and be entering a deep sleep at this time.
The reason for this is because these are the hours when your body releases the most hormones essential for rest and recovery.
Hormones like melatonin are at an all time high and stress hormones production is at an all time low. Meaning this is the best time for your body to be relaxed and in a deep sleep.
How to stay asleep longer
Now that we’ve covered how long you should actually be sleeping, it’s time to learn a few things that can help you increase the amount of time you’re able to sleep, if you’re not doing these already.
Here are some tips to help yourself get the recommended amount of sleep.
1. Decrease naps during the day
Naps, especially in the evening, are the number one killer of a goodnights rest.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against taking a nap. Sometimes, they’re essential. I love taking naps.
However, if you take a nap too late in the day or for too long, this can make it much harder for you to fall asleep at night. Especially if you’re trying to fall asleep at a reasonable hour or before 10:00pm.
Instead, try and limit naps during the day. If you need to take a nap, try to take it before 3:00pm and limiting it to 30mins to an hour.
2. Find a routine for yourself
If you want to increase the length of your sleep, your body needs to get used to your sleep routine.
It’s going to be extremely hard for you to get consistent, quality rest if one night you go to bed at 9:00pm and the next you’re going to bed at 3:00am. There’s no way for your body to develop a rhythm and routine with this.
In order to create a routine for yourself, you need to be consistent in going to bed at relatively the same time every night. Then, waking up at relatively the same time every morning.
Of course, it’s impossible to always go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. Stuff happens and gets in the way of your sleep.
Instead, focus on the times when you can control how much you sleep. This isn’t something you need to do every single day, just a habit you need to try and make for yourself most days.
3. Try not to drink caffeine too late
Although an afternoon energy drink before the gym or a cup off coffee after school or work usually sound nice, it might not be the best option. Especially if you want to go to bed at a reasonable time and sleep for a long time.
Drinking caffeine too late in the day can cause a lot of disruptions to your sleep.
Whenever I drink coffee too late in the afternoon I end up not being able to fall asleep, waking up often during the night, and having weird dreams in a shallow sleep.
All of this interrupts the length and quality of my sleep.
Although it can be hard to drink this habit, try opting for your favorite caffeinated drink earlier in the day rather than later.
How to increase your quality of sleep
Another key aspect to feeling rested throughout the day is to make sure you’re getting enough quality sleep.
Now that we’ve covered how long you should actually be sleeping and how to get more sleep, we can talk about how to increase the quality of your sleep.
Here’s what you can do to increase the quality of sleep you’re getting.
1. Decrease screen time before bed
For most people, scrolling on your phone right before bed is a calm activity you look forward to after a long day.
Although I completely agree with this, I’m guilty of it too, it’s really not the best activity if you’re trying to get the highest quality sleep.
This is because your phone emits a blue light from it’s screen, which actually causes you to be more awake.
The way this works is the blue light that’s emitted tricks your brain into thinking that it’s day time, not night time.
Once your brain thinks it’s daytime, it releases hormones to wake you up and keep you awake.
This isn’t something you want to do right before bed.
Instead, try turning off your screen at least 30 minutes for bed. Try to find another pre-bedtime habit that helps you feel relaxed without stimulating your brain too much.
Something like reading a book or listening to music are both great options.
2. Make sure your room is completely dark
Just like the blue light from your screen is bad for your sleep, so is any light.
If you’re sleeping in a room that’s not completely dark, if there’s any light at all, this light will impact your sleep.
Even if it’s just the light from something small like your alarm clock, heater, or fan.
If you sleep next to something that emits light, there are a few things you can do to try and to minimize the light that’s visible to you.
For example, you can try putting your alarm clock face down on your nightstand so the light doesn’t shine as much. Or you can try covering the light coming off of your fan with a piece of fabric like a clothe so that the light can’t pass through.
Whatever it may be, try and be creative in finding ways to stop things from shining so bright.
However, don’t stress yourself out if you can’t make your room pitch black.
Even if you can’t stop the light completely, dimming it will help you have a much better nights rest.
3. Try white noise
White noise is a great thing to try if you have a hard time falling asleep at night.
Many people have a hard time falling asleep in a room that’s completely silent.
Often times, complete silence can increase anxiety, alertness, and unease in someone trying to fall asleep.
The purpose of white noise is to counter this feeling. It’s noise you put on in the background to help lull you off to sleep.
Some ways to get this light, background noise are turning on a fan, a heater, or turning on rain sounds or any other soothing noise on my phone. I usually find these sounds on YouTube or Spotify.
Turning this noise on, even if you don’t have a hard time falling asleep, will help soothe your mind and increase your sleep quality.
4. Make sure your phone is silenced and faced down
When we see or hear a notification on our phone, many of us jump to check our phones and see who it’s from.
Checking our phone’s notifications causes a rush of excitement and anticipation.
Well, when your phone emits the same sounds and brightness when you’re asleep, your body has the same reaction.
Although you may not know it, even though your phone is off, your body still reacts when you get a notification.
Whether it be the ding, buzzing, or lighting up of your screen, all of this will interrupt your sleep. Even if it’s just slightly, it’s still decreasing the quality of your sleep.
That’s why it’s important to keep your phone silenced at night.
As well as far enough away from you and face down so you can’t see the light being emitted from the screen when you get a notification.
5. Try not to eat a big meal at least two hours before bed
When you eat a big meal, your body has to spend time digesting it.
Well when you’re trying to go to bed and you eat a big meal before bed, your body won’t be able to fully rest.
Instead, it’ll be up digesting the food you just ate.
However, as much as you don’t want to eat a big meal before bed, you also don’t want to go to bed hungry.
If your body’s hungry and longing for food, it’ll be more focused on getting food to repair itself during the night then it will be on going to sleep.
It’s best to go to sleep with a satisfied stomach but not a full stomach.
If you find yourself hungry before bed, try having a light snack that’s satisfying and not too hard to digest.
6. Try taking a Magnesium supplement
Among many of the benefits of taking a magnesium supplement, one of them is increased quality of sleep.
If you’re someone who regularly takes melatonin, you might want to try giving magnesium a try.
Magnesium relaxes your mind and your body allowing you to feel more calm. This decreases stress and anxiety, helping calm you down before bed.
Magnesium works like melatonin in helping you fall asleep and stay asleep.
If it’s not something you’ve considered trying yet, try talking to your doctor about taking a magnesium supplement to improve your sleep.
Takeaways
Your sleep is a main culprit in allowing you to feel rested all throughout the day.
Things like how long you sleep, when you sleep, and the quality of your sleep are all extremely important to getting a good nights rest.
It’s important to start prioritizing all elements of your sleep. If you do, you’ll be sure to have energized days ahead.
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