5 Tips to Improve the Quality and Duration of Sleep (A Natural PED)

5 Tips to Improve the Quality and Duration of Sleep (A Natural PED)

Sleep’s effect on the body can’t be overstated. Often described as the steroid that no one takes advantage of, or the only naturally occurring PED (performance enhancement drug), sleep is vitally important to the development and restoration of muscles torn through swimming and other physical activities. However, even though most people know the importance of sleep, no one seems to get enough of it. This is especially true for swimmers, who often have to get up very early for practices before school. If you are struggling with getting your eight hours in, here are five tips to get better sleep at night.

Tip 1: Make a Routine

One of the most important keys to getting good sleep consistently is having a routine. Making a consistent sleep schedule is the best way to prompt the body to have a good night’s sleep. The best way to do this is to get ready for bed and wake up at the same time consistently. Effectively, getting ready for bed at the same time over multiple nights helps to correlate bedtime with feeling sleepy.

Tip 2: Limit Phone Usage Before Bed

Sitting in bed and scrolling on phones before bed has unfortunately become a very common human experience. However, this bad habit is incredibly bad for the quality of sleep. The blue light emitted by phones limits the production of melatonin, tricking the brain into thinking it’s daytime. Most studies tend to emphasize cutting off screens 30 minutes prior to going to sleep for the best rest possible.

Tip 3: Limit Food Before Bed; Increase Water Intake

Doctors also discourage eating food before bed. Generally, avoid consuming any food for around two hours before bed. The primary reason for this is that eating can mess with the body’s circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is a major factor in what allows the body to become sleepy when night occurs, and messing with it can cause insomnia and poor sleep quality. In addition to this, at night is the most common time to make poor nutritional decisions.

Oftentimes, late at night is when we enact our cravings for sugar and other sweet things. Of course, sugar will make it even harder to fall asleep on time. So what should be done before bed? It turns out that water is the most helpful thing for consistent sleep that we can ingest before bed. Water not only makes sure that the body is hydrated overnight but also can adjust body temperature to ensure that the body is not too hot or cold while sleeping.

Tip 4: Shower Before Bed

Even if these other pieces of advice don’t work for you, this one might. Hot showers are great for good sleep quality for two reasons. First, when the body senses cold air after a hot shower, that lowers your internal body temperature, which is another trigger for a circadian sleep signal. Second, heat triggers the release of oxytocin which is why hot showers seem so relaxing. The relaxed state that oxytocin triggers, combined with a lowered internal body temperature and primed circadian rhythms, makes the ideal sleeping environment for the body.

Tip 5: Time Your Sleep to 90-Minute Cycles

It’s one thing to be able to fall asleep. It’s a completely separate issue to wake up feeling well-rested and ready to start the day. To solve this issue, it’s important to keep in mind that the body experiences REM sleep cycles in 90-minute cycles. Oftentimes, the reason why someone might feel tired when they wake up is that they woke up in the middle of deep sleep. To fix this, make sure that the sleep duration in question equals a time period that is divisible by a 90-minute interval so the body is woken up after the REM cycle ends and not in the middle of deep sleep.

Michael Phelps once said: “Eat, sleep, and swim, that’s all I can do.” Most swimmers put a lot of effort into swimming well at practice as well as eating nutritious meals, but sleeping can evade that level of commitment. Put simply, sleep is the body’s most important tool for recovery. It improves mood, reduces stress, reduces risks of serious health issues, helps to rebuild muscle fibers, and prevents injuries. If getting good sleep is not a priority for increased performance in and out of the pool, then everything one does will reek of wasted potential. To avoid this, keep these five tips in mind and improve the use of your body’s secret weapon.

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Sleepy

10 months ago

Point 4 – how do you manage that – technique?