Fit & Healthy Today is the International Day of Sleep. Good to have a moment to reflect on the importance of a good night’s sleep. And that includes, of course, also some interesting facts. We gathered some of the practical book of First aid in a better sleep ” of experts Aline Kruit and Irma Leijten. It is normal that you wake up during the night
Who wakes up at night, thinking the next day, often that which is very good. Nothing is less true. According to slaapexperts Powder and Leijten is it normal that at night you woke up several times. A lot of people are just not aware of it and sincerely believe that they always have the whole night sleeping. Others run once or make a blitzbezoek to the toilet, and sleep in. And then there is still a restgroepje that immediately alert as they one eye open, so their gedachtemolen in motion, shoot.
How you react depends on several factors. Your personality, how sensitive you are to stimulation, or you are suffering from stress, or you until late in the evening have worked or that you have a quarrel you had with your partner.
the older you are, the more often you wake up during the night
“in the Past, was, during the night I never woke up. Now, it happens to me all too often.” Do you know that feeling? Then, you need not to worry, especially not if you vijftigplusser. As you get older, increases not only the number of times that you wake up during the night, but also the intensity and duration of it. It is therefore not strange that, you often notice that you’re awake than before. That does not mean that you are a slaapprobleem. It belongs to the parent.
The quality of your sleep is just as important as the amount of sleep.
If you’re in dreamland here, follow, you’ll find a similar pattern. The first 15 à 20 minutes, you’re asleep, then sinking into a light sleep. What the function is of this sleep, it is still not entirely clear. Much more important are the 2 following phases: deep sleep and remslaap. Then fix cells, your immune system strengthened which makes you less prone to a cold or flu, and find emotional processes.
It is so important that you have enough deep sleep and remslaap. There you will the next day also the benefit: you’re more creative, you can well to concentrate and your mood will turn it on.
No, you have really not every hour of the night the clock seen
You have the idea that you don’t have an eye closed. The night seems to take forever. The time crawls. And you is there, awake. Everyone has already experienced this. A small consolation: it just seems like you are awake.
From sleep research shows that a lot of people who think that they are up all night are, in reality, although several times to wake up, but after they at their alarm clock and looked again wegdoezelen in a light sleep. Moreover, you can during the light sleep, hear, think and smell. You sleep so often more than you think.
A common tip to make it easier to sleep: do not look at the alarm clock. If you find that you are irritable or get frustrated after you hit your alarm clock have a look, it is better indeed not to look. You’re just calmer – ‘phew, I can still a few hours of sleep, please feel free.
Melatonin is not a sleep hormone
Melatonin is a hormone by the pineal gland in the brain is produced under the influence of light. If there is a lot of blue light on the retina in the eye falls, the pineal, the signal that there is little melatonin is created need be. With less blue light the production. Melatonin, often called ‘sleep hormone’. That is not correct, for animals that are active at night, also have a high melatonin level has. So it was a ‘donkerhormoon’.
Good sleepers often have rituals
The rituals are not a requirement to be able to sleep, but they are functional things or things that people like. Think of reading a book, taking a shower, or your clothes for the next day all ready to submit. Such habits will ensure that you calm down and feel safe.
A good sleeper, however, is flexible to keep up with the rituals. A time, no shower or bath is also good. Poor sleepers, linking the habit of often sleeping in: “I need to read, otherwise I can not sleep” or: “I should exercise, otherwise, I am not tired and I can’t sleep”. Therefore, make sure that you of the ritual is not an obligation. So you put yourself under more pressure to sleep, which is counterproductive.