Are you having trouble sleeping? Don’t worry – there are many causes for insomnia, and it’s a fairly common occurrence. If that’s the case, you may need to devote time and effort to dealing with that issue. Long-term sleep disorders can lead to depression and all kinds of other issues. But the problem may be more easily solvable than you think.

First of all, ask yourself – is your day ruining your night’s sleep? Many people think that the only thing affecting their sleep is what they do immediately before bed. But in reality – your actions throughout the day have a major effect as well. Which is why we’ve got a couple of tips on how to tune your daily life for maximum sleep at night!

Declutter Your Surroundings

While many people disregard this factor completely – your surroundings have a major effect on your mental wellbeing. And that includes how well you sleep. Just think about it – when you’re surrounded by a lot of clutter and a huge mess, are you productive?

Or do you just lose the will to do anything? For most people, it’s obviously the latter. Which is why you should definitely think about putting your personal space in order, if there’s a need for that.

Take a look around your household; after all, it’s the place where you spend most of your time. Plus, it’s the space that affects you in the most personal way. If there’s a lot of things you have to get rid of or a constant mess, try to take care of that on a daily basis.

Put everything you don’t really use in a storage unit – even minimal hoarding will make you more stressed out during the whole day which will inevitably lead to worse sleep at night. If you’re wondering about your day ruining your night’s sleep – this is the way to go.

Not Skipping Meals

If you want to have a sleep-friendly day, this is something you have to work on from the moment you wake up. And we know how busy many people are in the morning – in fact, so busy that they tend to skip breakfast. If you think about your day ruining your night’s sleep – this is one of the major factors.

Why? Well, skipping breakfast has an effect on your blood sugar control. There’s a part of your brain that deals with high-stress situations – and when you don’t eat in the morning, you put it in a ‘survival’ state for the rest the day. And if it works in overdrive – you’ll find a hard time relaxing even in the evening.

In fact, if you don’t eat breakfast and start dealing with work emails and other stressful tasks, you won’t be helping yourself at all. Your body won’t be running on nourishing food, but on the produce of stress hormones instead.

And while this can give you a lot of energy and drive in the short term, by the end of the day, you will have been more anxious and less relaxed. And sleeping in spite of anxiety is not easy, so make sure not to skip your basic meal in the morning.

Eating Properly

So, what should you do instead? Well, we recommend eating some food within the first hour of waking up. Preferably, if you can manage it – even within 30 minutes. But it’s not just any food that will be beneficial. We recommend a balanced meal, but not too large. It should contain a healthy combination of fat, carbohydrate and protein.

For example – a piece of rye toast with peanut butter and a boiled egg. But if that seems like too much for you, eating some dry fruits and some sort of nuts would also be enough for the moment. This will stabilize your blood sugar, but you still need to eat a real meal within the next couple of hours.

Avoid Dozing off in Front of the TV

We can picture it right now – after a long day of work, you basically collapse down on your couch, and turn on the TV.

You may not be physically tired so you don’t really feel like sleeping, but you need to rest mentally. If you don’t take a break from work during your day every now and again, you may not even have the capacity to finish a TV show.

So, you’ll fall asleep on the couch for a couple of hours, completely ruining your sleeping patterns at night. And crucially – beginning a vicious cycle where you do that every day.

Yes, not being sleepy throughout the day is difficult, especially after work. But it’s important not to have this kind of ‘false rest’ in front of the TV. Doing so, you put your body in a sort of a ‘hypnagogic trance’.

This is a term that describes the body’s state somewhere between sleeping and wakefulness. If you wonder about your day ruining your night’s sleep – this is a big culprit.

Have Some Healthy Rest

Instead of this, how can you be less tired throughout your day? If you worry about your work day ruining your night’s sleep, try to take more breaks at work. If that’s possible, it’ll go a long way towards maintaining a decent amount of energy throughout your day.

Also, try doing some simple exercises after you come home from work. It doesn’t have to be a full-blown workout, just something to get your blood pumping enough so you don’t fall asleep on the couch.

Good sleep hygiene is important to have a healthier night and over health, too.  If you think you need help retraining your own sleep patterns, subscribe to our Alaska Sleep Clinic Sleep Education blog.  Our website is the 5th most visited website in the world for sleep education, with over 5 million views in 2018.