Difficulty falling asleep, not sleeping through and waking up too early are common complaints. Stress appears to be the biggest culprit, along with money worries and snoring partners. But fortunately, in many cases you can do something about it on this website.
1. Seize your moment of reflection
Don’t wait until you’re lying in your bed at night and all those thoughts keep popping up. Make sure that you take your moments of relaxation during the day. What works well is to build in a brooding moment during the day. A moment in which everything you worry about may pass. Take a pen and paper and write down your problems. And mull solution-oriented, that works so much better than thinking in problems.
2. Quietly phase out
Another tip is to always wind down the day quietly. Just like a computer, our brain is a hard drive. Only the brain doesn’t shut down immediately after a push of a button. Humans need an hour and a half to unwind. To gently bring our brain to a halt, you can, for example, meditate in the evening before you go to bed, do yoga exercises, go for a walk or take a nice warm bath.
3. Prefer not to drink
And a drink as a nightcap? That doesn’t work. Our “liver factory” must then, while the body wants to rest, work very hard to break down the alcohol. This in turn disrupts the other ‘factories’ in our body. The result is a less deep sleep and poorer quality sleep with pharmaceutical solutions.
Relaxed body, relaxed mind
Too much stress causes the brain to function less well. The hippocampus, which is involved in memory, is particularly affected. But the front areas of the brain, which we use for functions such as planning and decision-making, also suffer from stress. To sleep well, however, you need not only a relaxed body, but also a relaxed mind.
