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5 Deadly Sleeping Sins

By Steven Carter

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 21Jul2008 Word count: 482 Viewed: 1545 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Getting enough sleep is vital for your health and well being. More importantly, inadequate rest can have deadly consequences. People who don't get enough sleep have response times roughly equivalent with those who are legally intoxicated. In fact, about 200,000 automobile accidents occur annually due to driving while drowsy. If you include the people who operate other equipment while tired, the number of accidents and deaths increases dramatically. While there are some who need medical intervention to ensure a good night's sleep, most people would do well by simply removing the following sleeping sins from their daily life.

Not Allowing Adequate Time

Too many people, especially college students, are guilty of simply not allowing themselves enough time to get the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep every night. Laying down to bed at midnight or later when you need to be awake by six in order to meet the demands of the day will wear on a person in very short order. In fact, most sleep experts deem that having a fairly rigid sleep schedule is equally important because when you shift the times you sleep, you will often find yourself lying awake - it can take days and even weeks for your body to adjust to a new sleep schedule.

Eating Too Close To Sleep

Eating can hinder a good night's sleep if done too close to the time you go to bed. Food, especially sugary snacks, raises your blood sugar, which can interfere with sleep. It is important to stop eating a couple hours prior to bedtime in order to ensure the best possible rest.

Exercise Too Close To Sleep

In a similar vein, exercise can rev you up, disrupting your sleep cycle and preventing you from getting a proper amount of rest. Experts say exercising in the morning is ideal, but if that is not possible for you, at least schedule your work out session for several hours prior to going to bed.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a stimulant, which means its purpose is to increase alertness. Obviously, this can make sleeping difficult. What most people don't know is how long the effects of caffeine last. While caffeine's eye-opening results peak within about an hour after ingestion, it can take over eight hours for the effects to wear off entirely. Therefore it is important to cease caffeine consumption many hours before sleeping.

Alcohol

Conversely, alcohol is a depressant, which means it should relax you. This makes it seem ideal as a sleep aid. Unfortunately, while alcohol might help you fall asleep; your slumber tends to be broken. In fact, alcohol disrupts all stages of sleep, making it inherently non-restful.

There are a number of things you can do to improve your sleep, but avoiding the above sleeping sins will put you well on the road to good sleeping habits. A restful night is just around the corner.

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