Having trouble sleeping? This time of year can be a source of sleep trouble for may, despite the longer nights! Fixing your insomnia is critical though, because sleep is critical to staying healthy through cold and flu season.
So, first step first: Give in to sleep. You can’t sleep too much. Your body decides how much sleep it needs two ways—first, genetically. Some people need closer to 9 hours, others make do just fine with 7, but everyone should fall somewhere in that range. EXCEPT, when your immune system is weakened. When you’re fighting off an infection, you’ll sleep more. Give in! You feel tired because your body needs rest, so listen!
Next, watch out for the extra pitfalls of winter months. What am I referring to? If you saw the study about natural sleep patterns a while back, you might already know what I’m about to get at. According to research and modern studies, before electricity humans had a very different sleep pattern. Without a cell phone to stimulate your brain with light and keep you awake, you’d go to bed earlier, and have a meditative-like waking hour in the middle of the night (when many things were, historically, created or invented). With longer nights, it’s less practical to practice anything close to this by turning lights off at dusk. Keeping that in mind, pay attention to the clock, and step back from things that cause insomnia at a reasonable hour.
Work harder to get sunshine. With shorter days, you might be missing out on Vitamin D. Vitamin D is important to your immune system, so I’m sure you can figure out why getting enough can lead to a better night’s rest! If your schedule keeps you from getting enough, be sure to take a high-quality multivitamin!
If you’re still having troubles, focus on a natural sleep aide. Provide your brain with everything it needs for a good night’s rest with our Sleep Support Pack. It even has melatonin, which helps your body fall asleep and stay asleep (going back to the whole natural sleep thing, lights interfere with producing melatonin).
Do you sleep better or worse in the winter?
