How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep is the body’s natural restorative state. It provides your brain and muscles with a chance to recharge, and it can improve your health by helping you maintain a healthy weight, manage stress, and think clearly. If you aren’t getting enough quality sleep, you may start to feel irritable, withdrawn or anxious. You might not remember things you learned or did during the day, and you may struggle to focus at work or on your hobbies.

Sleep deprivation can also cause memory loss, affect your ability to learn new information and can increase your risk of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. And poor-quality sleep can have serious consequences on your physical health, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. That’s why it’s important to understand how important a good night’s sleep is, and to make it a priority in your life.

Scientists are learning more and more about how sleep works, but it is still an enigma. During slumber, the brain is busy consolidating memories and clearing out waste that accumulates throughout the day, and it produces a host of hormones that have wide-ranging effects on your body and mood.

Many of the functions that happen during sleep are governed by bodily rhythms called circadian rhythms, which operate on a daily schedule. For example, the biological clock in your body keeps track of the day and night, so your desire for sleep increases and decreases over the course of the day. These cycles are controlled by the hypothalamus, a portion of the brain that releases sleep-inducing chemicals.

While you’re sleeping, your brain goes through four distinct stages of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, light NREM sleep and deep REM sleep. Each stage is associated with a different pattern of brain waves and muscle activity in the body, and each has its own specific benefits for your mental and physical health.

The first step to improving your sleep is developing healthy habits that you can stick with over time. Some of the most common tips include:

Keeping a regular bedtime and wake-up routine, even on weekends and holidays. Practicing relaxation techniques before bed, such as meditation or reading a book. Avoiding large meals or caffeine or alcohol before going to sleep.

It can be difficult to develop these sleep-promoting behaviors, especially if you’re already struggling with an existing mental health condition or a chronic pain disorder, but making small changes and sticking with them over time can help. Be patient and kind to yourself as you work toward better sleep, and consider working with a partner or consulting your doctor if you have trouble making improvements on your own. They can provide guidance for establishing more consistent, healthy sleep habits and offer recommendations based on your unique situation.