<ol><li>Lack of sleep causes a loss in productivity that costs companies almost $2,000 per employee per year. </li><li>In the U.S. alone, this adds up to as much as $411 billion per year.</li><li>lack of sleep causes 1.2 million car accidents per year. That’s higher than the number of accidents caused by alcohol and drugs combined.</li><li>lack of sleep leaves us more vulnerable to diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.</li></ol>

 Cost Of Lack Of Sleep

<ol><li>Adequate sleep makes it easier to regulate our appetites and avoid overeating.</li><li>It puts us in a better frame of mind to pursue healthy activities.</li><li>Sleeping well is also vital to our social lives.</li><li>Good sleep offers our brains the chance to recalibrate our emotions and build our high-level thinking skills.</li><li>It also develops our ability to think about high-level problems and develop solutions.</li></ol>

What are the Benefits of Good Sleep?

<ol><li>Stick to the same bedtimes and wake-up times each day to help regulate your sleep-inducing hormones.</li><li>Avoid meals and exercise before bed, both of which can interfere with our bodies’ relaxation process. </li><li>if you’re going to take naps, make sure that they don’t go past 3pm. This might start to interfere with your sleep schedule.</li><li>Create an environment that’s conducive to sleep by removing lights and gadgets and cool off your room before bed.</li><li>If you take a hot shower or bath before bed, your body will experience a temperature drop when you get out, which can help you feel sleepy.</li></ol>

How Can We Get Better Sleep?

Great ideas about our importance of sleep

"Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity ... An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now ... neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming"--Amazon.com.

Why We Sleep

Our bodies change as we age, and so do our sleep needs. Snoring, newly diagnosed sleep apnea, and nasal congestion can cause you to experiment with different sleeping positions. Recovering from an injury or pregnancy could be another reason.

Reasons to change how you sleep

<ul><li>Side sleeping is ideal for back or neck problems, GERD and sleep apnea.</li><li>Snorers may benefit from turning over onto their side.</li><li>There is also some evidence to suggest sleeping on your left side is better for circulation, particularly during pregnancy or for anyone with high blood pressure or circulatory disorders.</li></ul>

Side sleeping

<ul><li>Sleeping on your back relives pressure points and is orthopedically more stable. You may want to sleep on your back if you are struggling with shoulder, hip or knee pain.</li></ul> <ul><li>Stomach sleeping works well for those suffering from sleep apnea because your airways are more likely to stay open.</li><li>The free-fall stomach position, with your hands above a supportive pillow, is the best sleeping position for digestive issues like indigestion and heartburn. However, it can be difficult to align your spine and potentially result in muscle and neck pain.</li></ul>

Back and stomach sleeping

<ul><li>Use a tennis ball. Side sleep training was traditionally done by taping a tennis ball to the back of the pyjama top. When a person turns on their back, the ball makes it uncomfortable, so they turn on their side again.</li><li>Put a pillow between your knees. Sleep with your knees drawn up slightly towards your chest. Or, place a pillow between your knees to help your spine correctly align.</li><li>Using a device. Sleep backpacks and belts are designed to help you sleep in a particular position.</li><li>Build a pillow buffer: Use pillows to provide proprioceptive reinforcement to sleep on your side.”</li></ul>

How to switch to side sleeping

Try putting a soft pillow under your stomach to make it more comfortable. It is easier to adjust to a new position if there is a strong incentive such as a tennis ball keeping you from your desired position.

Adjusting to stomach sleeping

Starting out on your back: Try to fall asleep on your back, then turn back if you wake up on your side. Buying an adjustable bed: Some beds allow you to put your body into specific positions, like zero gravity. Sleeping on an incline can make your bed mimic lying back in a recliner chair.

To learn to sleep on your back

Stashed ideas

How To Change Your Default Sleeping Position To A New One

Sleep has become an expensive benefit over the past years — one that people cannot ignore anymore. And no matter where you live, work, or relax, poor quality sleep will affect your performance.If you ignore your sleeping routine, you could suffer from many problems affecting your health, metabolism, or motivation. And the only way to solve all those problems is to find the perfect sleeping routine that fits your personality, preferences, and even commitments.

How sleeping became a benefit.

Using sleeping habits other people suggested to you is great for experimentation. It helps you understand what you like and what you will never want to do again. And it also makes you realize the benefits of good sleeping routines if experienced for long periods.But every person has their routines and commitments. So even if you love waking up at 5 a.m. as your idol does, it may affect your health if you can’t get to bed at 9 p.m. and therefore lose sleep hours. Over time, the disadvantages could overcome the benefits. So you need to search for your perfect sleeping routine.

Why should you make your Perfect Sleeping Routine?

There are many benefits and studies related to good sleeping routines and quality sleep. For example, people who get enough sleep have improved social skills, learning skills, and decreased health problems risk. Meanwhile, people who cannot get enough sleep tend to develop the opposite trait.1 — It improves learning skills.2 — It improves fat loss and weight control.3 — It decreases health problems risks.4 — It reduces stress and improves mood.5 — It increases energy levels.6 — Improved social skills.

The Benefits of a Perfect Sleeping Routine

How to make your P erfect S leeping RoutineWhen you work on improving your sleeping routine, you want to consider three things:What do you do during the day?What do you do before going to bed?How do you get out of bed?I’ve been working on my sleeping routine for a while now and tried many solutions. So here are a few suggestions you may want to experiment with to improve the quality of your sleep and, therefore, your mood and productivity.

How to make your Perfect Sleeping Routine

1 — Don’t drink coffee in the afternoon.I’ve been drinking coffee for many years without any rules because I thought I was immune.A few months ago, I started tracking my sleep data and comparing it with coffee consumption. So I noticed if I stop drinking coffee after 3 p.m., my sleep quality increases, and I can have longer deep sleep sessions. And deep sleep is the stage of non-REM that affects body healing and enhances ATP production.Also, I noticed I stopped waking up frequently during the night. So my sleep quality improved overall, and I feel more energized in the morning.

1 — Don’t drink coffee in the afternoon.

Nowadays, backlit digital devices like smartphones and laptops are the worst enemy of good sleeping routines. And if you take them into your bed, they will expose your eyes to artificial light that affects your ability to fall asleep.The scientific reason behind our <a href="https://www.cosmopolitanmindset.com/4-sleep-patterns-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-productivity/">sleep/wake pattern</a> revolves around many chemical reactions and hormones like melatonin, adenosine, and cortisol.<ul><li>The first increases in dark environments and helps us fall asleep.</li><li>The second increases in bright environments and makes us feel tired.</li><li>And the third helps us wake up feeling refreshed and restored.</li></ul>

2 — Stop using backlit devices before going to bed.

3 — Make sure there is no light in your room.The darkness affecting melatonin production doesn’t only matter before going to bed but also while you are sleeping. Therefore when preparing your sleep environment, make it as dark as possible to improve your sleep quality.In Italy, most of our homes have curtains that blacken the room completely. But I know some homes don’t have it. So if you are in one of those situations, try to make your room as dark as possible. For example, you could use darker curtains.

3 — Make sure there is no light in your room.

4 — Stay at a comfortable temperature.According to studies, the <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/best-temperature-for-sleep">optimal temperature for sleeping </a> is around 19°C. But this temperature is hard to maintain during summer. So I did not care about it too much in my experiments and aimed for the best solution.During winter, I noticed a good feeling when sleeping under a hot blanket when the temperature hovers at 19°C. But in summer, I am satisfied with 22–23°C. Otherwise, I feel cold.So try some setups, if you can, and make sure your temperature is around the optimal one.

4 — Stay at a comfortable temperature.

Each of us has his strategy to fall asleep. And some of us did not even need one. But in case you do, there are many to test out.<ul><li>Mindfulness is the technique that helped me the most, but it requires training before mastering it.</li><li>Relaxing yoga is a technique I tried a couple of times, but it never worked for me.</li><li>Breathing techniques are a great way to relax, decrease stress, and allow your body to fall asleep faster.</li><li>The pilot’s strategy is a technique that <a href="https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/want-to-fall-asleep-faster-combat-pilots-use-this-hack-to-get-to-sleep-in-2-minutes-or-less.html">soldiers use to sleep</a>. It is similar to a body scan but has relaxation instead of investigation purposes. </li></ul>

5 — Find a strategy to fall asleep.

When searching for your perfect sleeping routine, you also need to search for an efficient waking-up system.If you want to improve your sleep-wake pattern, you need to fall asleep and wake up at the same hour. This way, your circadian rhythm aligns with your new routine, and you can benefit from better sleep quality and improved energy when waking up.Many people suggest putting your smartphone away. But with vocal commands, this technique doesn’t have the same efficiency as before. Usually, an alarm clock is more challenging to deactivate than your smartphone, and it will wake you up.

6 — Get a good waking-up system.

Final ThoughtsSleeping is one of the central systems of our body, so you can’t neglect it.If you want to live a healthy life, you need to find your perfect sleeping routine that improves your sleep quality and duration.<ul><li>Limit coffee usage in the afternoon.</li><li>Avoid backlit devices before going to bed.</li><li>Darken your bedroom as much as possible</li><li>Keep the temperature of your bedroom around 19°C.</li><li>Find a strategy to fall asleep.</li><li>And get an efficient waking-up system.</li></ul>

Final Thoughts

Improve your content marketing strategies!  Subscribe to <a href="https://www.cosmopolitanmindset.com/contact-me/the-challenge/">The Challenge</a> to receive exclusive infographics for content creators and personal growth challenges each month!(You can also find me on <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/">Substack</a>)

The Challenge

Sleep has become an expensive benefit over the past years — one that people cannot ignore anymore.

Sleep has become an expensive benefit. And if you want to remain healthy, you need to create your perfect sleeping routine.

Self Improvement

The Perfect Sleeping Routine: How To Never Get Tired Again

<ul><li>Securing good sleep is essential for physical and mental health.</li><li>Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep to feel sufficiently rested, though the exact duration needed vary from person to person.</li><li>Insomnia can have a serious impact on a person's quality of life and day-to-day functioning.</li><li>It can affect performance at work, relationships, and motivation to exercise and keep a healthy diet.</li><li>People with insomnia often stop doing the things they enjoy as they no longer have the energy or drive to do them.</li></ul>

Insomnia Is Awful, But Treatable

<ul><li>Identify behaviors that could be fuelling your insomnia.</li><li>One of the main culprits behind insomnia tends to be going to bed early in an attempt to give yourself more opportunity for sleep.</li><li>Drinking coffee or consuming other forms of caffeine in the afternoon or evening poses a risk to sleep.</li></ul>

The Solution To Insomnia

Another strategy that people sometimes turn to when they are desperate for a good night's sleep is drinking alcohol.Sleep myth: it helps you to sleep.Sleep truth: it might help you fall asleep more quickly, but it wreaks havoc on your sleep quality as the sleep you get is less restorative, your heart is working harder, and you're more likely to wake up in the night and have fragmented sleep.

The Myth Of Drinking Alcohol To Get Good Sleep

Have a 60- to 90-minute winding down routine before you go to bed every night. This means doing things to help your body and mind feel relaxed and calm, and avoiding anything that overly stimulates the brain. Reading, light exercise, meditation, listening to relaxing music, having a bath, and self-care routines can all help. Avoid checking work emails, turn off notifications, don’t start planning or strategising, no gaming or social media. Think: gentle, relaxing, calm.

How To Sleep Well Again: The Winding Down Routine

<ul><li>Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary: get the best bedding and mattress you can afford, make sure it’s dark, use ear plugs if it’s noisy, and keep the temperature pretty cool.</li><li>If you wake up at night, do not check the time.</li><li>Stay hydrated during the day and avoid consuming too much liquid just before bed.</li><li>Get up at the same time every morning, even on non-working days. This will strengthen your body clock.</li><li>Get outside and soak up the daylight as much as possible, especially in the morning. Even if it’s overcast. If you can’t get outside, sitting by a window is the next best thing.</li></ul>

Better Sleep: Tips And Tricks

Stimulus control is all about keeping your bed and bedroom for sleep (and intimacy) only. If you have insomnia, that ideally means no eating, reading, working, watching TV, gaming, online banking, to-do lists and so on when you’re in your bedroom. This is because we want your brain to form a strong association between your bedroom environment and sleep.

Stimulus Control

<ul>
<li>Notice: what are my thoughts about sleep right now? How true do they feel?</li>
<li>Spot the trigger: what is happening right now that might be causing me to think this way?</li>
<li>Practise self-compassion: it’s understandable that my sleep problems would make me think this way.</li>
<li>Step back and question: am I willing to be wrong about this? Is there another way of looking at this?</li>
<li>Rebalance: what’s the actual evidence for this? When I’m feeling less tired/stressed/fed up, how would I be thinking about this?</li>
<li>Recognise your needs: what can I do for myself right now to feel a little better?</li>
</ul>

What To Do If Your Mind Keeps You Awake

Lots of people struggle with racing thoughts, where, as soon as they wake up, their brain suddenly switches on and their head is full of things they need to do, worries, memories and so on.  A strategy that can reduce the impact this has on your sleep is the ‘brain dump’ exercise – you might want to try doing this at least an hour or so before bedtime. Jot down everything that is swimming around in your thoughts. The idea is that getting it out of your head and onto something physical, like a notepad, can help to ‘declutter’ the brain, and can even give you new insights and perspectives.

Write Down Your Jumbled Up Thoughts In A Notepad

Progressive muscle relaxation is a great way to help the body relax. It’s a simple technique that you can practise when you first get into bed. Here’s how to do it:<ul><li>Get yourself into a comfortable position in your bed. </li><li>Close your eyes and breathe calmly for about 30 seconds.</li><li>While continuing to breathe calmly, imagine slowly scanning your body from the top of your head down to your toes. </li><li>When you find some tension in your muscles, focus your attention on that muscle group </li><li>Repeat this with the same muscle group, then continue your body scan, and move on to another muscle group.</li></ul>

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is usually provided by clinical psychologists and cognitive behavioral therapists, as they have the necessary skills and knowledge to help facilitate changeCBT-I helps deal with the root cause of the issue and the factors that are making it worse, rather than just managing the symptomsMake sure to ask about the therapist's credentials and any specialist training they have in sleep and about their experience and successes in treating insomnia

Getting Help From The Therapist

Insomnia is awful, but highly treatable. Look beyond pills and potions, and use these effective methods to get your life back

How to sleep well again | Psyche Guides

As often as we talk about the <a href="https://www.domino.com/content/good-sleep-tips-benefits/">benefits of sleep</a>, more than a third of Americans are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html">not getting the proper amount of shut-eye</a>. Instead, we push aside our rest to complete more work, hang out with friends, or—let’s be real—binge another episode of Succession. But even though most of us are still yawning into our <a href="https://www.domino.com/content/caffeine-detox/">coffee cups</a>, taking a nap might be the cure to combat those midday crashes because of its health benefits.

The Premise

Taking a nap can enhance your sleep cycle, regulate your sympathetic nervous system, help you think and let go of things that are causing you stress, and be used as a circadian marker to help your body understand where you are in the 24-hour cycle. Like meditation, it can be used as a quiet time in the middle of a chaotic day.

Reducing Stress

Taking a midday nap doesn’t mean you can sleep the day away. To reap most of the benefits, you want to be mindful of the amount of time you plan to hit the hay. Note that some <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1433851/Daytime-nap-is-as-refreshing-as-a-nights-sleep.html">studies suggest</a> allowing yourself to go through one full sleep cycle (which is about 90 minutes) to receive the most benefits. Ideally, you should avoid waking up in the deep sleep stage.

90 Minutes Of Sleep

While you may want to sneak a small nap into your day, you might have a hard time getting a little shut-eye if it’s not something your body is used to doing. On your first day, you’ll probably have no trouble falling asleep at all, especially if you sleep less than eight hours a night. But once you wake up from napping, you may feel the first benefits—a clear mind and restored alertness.

Effects On The Body And Mind: After One Day

Make sure you don’t oversleep. Sleeping more than the recommended time on the first day can backfire and make you feel groggy and tired. The recommended nap duration is 20 to 30 minutes.If you sleep beyond that on your first day, you are likely to wake up to the opposite effect, which may discourage you from ever continuing to take consistent naps

Don't Oversleep

This period is going to be the hardest, as you will have to constantly adjust your regular schedule to fit the naps in. Your body may have a hard time getting used to this new activity, too. The good news is, once you figure out the ideal schedule to incorporate a daily 20- or 90-minute nap into your routine, you’ll begin to notice the benefits almost instantaneously.

After One Week

One month of napping can make a huge difference in your professional and personal life. When taken the right way, naps can improve memory, boost creativity, and enhance emotional control and stamina. All of these things can help you achieve more in your career and build healthy personal relationships.

After One Month

Basically, adding a nap into your daily routine will give your body a major health boost. After six months, the long-term benefits of napping kick in. O<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021200626.html?noredirect=on">ne study on Greek adults that found</a> a short nap during the day reduces the risks of dying from heart disease and regularly getting more rest may increase your sex drive. Overall, napping can help you get on a more consistent schedule, and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/consistent-routines-sleep-daily-habits_n_4532150">research finds</a> the consistency to be extremely beneficial for your sleep.

After Six Months

Curious about the benefits of napping? Here's everything to know after one day to six months down the line.

Why We Sleep

How To Change Your Default Sleeping Position To A New One

The Perfect Sleeping Routine: How To Never Get Tired Again

How to sleep well again | Psyche Guides

What Happens to Your Body When You Take Naps Every Single Day?

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