Bad Habits That Can Rob You of A Good Night's Sleep

Your performance and productivity during the day is strongly dependent
on how well you slept the night before.

Leaving the office late, getting stuck in traffic and having a late,
heavy, starchy dinner may just be setting you up for "a rough next
day" if you don't get the reward of a good night's sleep.

Here are sleep robbers that you should guard against:

1) Taking coffee, tea or caffeinated drinks after 6pm.

2) Television in your bedroom; watching TV from your bed.

3) Carrying out mental work in your bedroom; your bedroom is now an
extension of your office or workplace.

4) Being on medications like steroids, anti-hypertensives, anti-depressants.

5) Eating a heavy starchy meal before going to bed.

6) Using your mobile phone a lot in the evening.

Tips to Help Improve Your Sleep:

1) Keep a regular sleep cycle; make it a habit of going to bed and
rising in the morning around the same time (even on weekends).

2) Make your bedroom sleep friendly; throw out bright lights, TVs,
PCs, Laptops, Mobile phones and pets. Firm up your bed and invest in
cotton bed sheets.

3) Squeeze out time to exercise daily; Exercise helps to flush out
stress hormones produced from a hectic day at work thereby boosting
the quality of your sleep. You may even choose to get a threadmill or
stationery bike if you usually get home after dark.

4) No caffeine after 6pm! No coffee, no tea, no caffeinated drinks.

5) Nicotine and Alcohol are no go areas.

6) Clear Your mind! Use a pen and paper to get those predominant
thoughts out of your mind; the "to dos" "should haves" "I need tos"
and " how could I"s.

Insomnia (poor quality of sleep, abnormal wakefulness) can make you
highly irritable, anxious and unproductive during the day so please
invest in getting a good night's sleep.